Why you might be a diamond in the rough

This week I am going to get a little academic. I want to talk about something I learned many years ago when I studied Tibetan Buddhism in India. It's something that has always stuck with me: Tibetan Buddhism has a concept called Buddha nature. There are tomes written on Buddha nature, but the idea is that each living being is inherently good and has the potential for good. Our innate nature is pure and “luminous.” According to Buddhism, the problems arise not from the inherent corruption of our basic beings, but from believing thoughts that obscure our pure selves. If our basic nature is gold, the causes of our suffering are the dirt on top. The path to Enlightenment is learning to clear away the dirt and let the purity of our inner being shine. We are each a diamond in the rough.

I bring this up because whether we are personally religious or not, our Western culture is very much steeped in the idea of original sin - that humans are born with a “tainted nature and a proclivity to sin.” Over the many years, this has developed into an individually carried cultural belief that there is something inherently wrong with us. I have spent some time digging into my own unconscious, inherited beliefs and found this one in myself. I do my best to consciously choose Buddha nature instead because I find it makes kindness and understanding much easier to cultivate. 

The coaching I've been trained in has helped me, and my clients, to work on clearing away the dirt that obscures our gold. There is nothing wrong with you. Your true self is inherently good.