When Westerners hear this, we think the entire philosophy is an exercise in rationalist solipsism. However, Vicotr Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, comes to the same conclusion: we may not have a choice of historical circumstances, but we can choose how we behave in response. Thus, it might be beneficial to map emotional reactions in terms of the dharma dyads (pleasure-pain, loss-gain, praise-blame, fame-disgrace).
The process of mapping our reactions using the dyads provides a means for looking at our responses in a not-judging manner. For example, our reaction to losing a job might be composed of the following:
- pain: for the loss of something good,
- loss: of income and status,
- blame: directed at others and/or self, and
- disgrace for the inability to retain employment.
- attachment (to the job, money, career, stuff, house, food, etc.),
- desire to avoid negative change and maintain material well-being, and
- ignorance regarding the impermanence of all things, including those that sustain our well-being.
- attachments: the amount of money, status and stuff necessary for continued well-being; examining our needs, wants, desires and investments in work can also lead to fruitful new paths that produce new opportunities
