Breaking up?? But when was I hanging together with a poisonous friend in the first place?? Can’t connect? Well! Let’s first meet these poisonous friends to find out the answers.
Buddha tells us that the three poisonous friends we have are our ignorance or stubbornness, our ego, and hatred represented symbolically through a pig, cock, and snake respectively. These three poisonous creatures are in fact the source of all evil and negative mental states.
First Poisonous Friend: Our Ignorance or stubbornness (represented by “The Pig”)
In the words of His Holiness Dalai Lama,” Ignorance, the belief that things exist as they appear, independently and autonomously without depending on causes, is the root of all delusions.”

A pig is intelligent, social and strong physically. However, it doesn’t have wide consciousness to differentiate between right and wrong. For instance, many a times a mother pig will herself attack her own piglets leading to injury or death of the child. It doesn’t utilise its full intelligence before acting.
Similarly, many times out of our immense desires we also become ignorant about the unbeatable truth of “cause and affect relationship “of our actions (Karmas) and we forget that the fruits of the Karma have to be borne without any possible escape route. It may take one life or numerous life cycles to complete the same Karmic lesions if we don’t act consciously.
Second Poisonous Friend: Our Ego (represented by “The Cock”)
Many times, our strong desires to control the external circumstances and people are the root cause of our pain and suffering. It is nothing but our “Ego” that doesn’t allow us to accept the situation and people as they are instead of trying to control and dominate them as per our own perceptions of self-righteousness.

In this self -created agony, we not only hurt ourselves but creates immense pain and sufferings for others. It is well said that our external world is a perfect mirror of our internal world.
Imagine! how beautiful and peaceful our lives will be if we release this poison completely, if we accept the external world as it is and be immensely compassionate for others. What a high level of energy frequencies we will be vibrating at!
Third Poisonous Friend: Heartedness (represented by “The Snake”)
Hatredness or anger towards self or others is another strong poison we intake on regular basis not knowing that at the end it is going to harm us only. It is nothing but the suppression or lack of expressions of emotions that build up too much tensions inside and erupts like a volcano after the heart resists further suppression.

Any moment we can decide to work on stopping or reducing the intake of this poison by shifting our inner reality. Lower emotions can never lead us towards higher vibrations instead the pattern will follow and we will only get more opportunities to hate self and others. The moment we give up the need to establish our supremacy and give space to others it will brings miracles of love, abundance and positivity in our lives which will ultimately open up our path to enlightenment.
Conclusion: In the words of the Founder and Executive Director of Chakrasamvara Centre, Ms. Hoang Mai DechanLa,” Giving up these poisons requires us to work on activating the brain with a compassionate heart. When we achieve Great Compassion, ALL interference and blockages cease igniting a transcendence upward. There is no more aversion and no more attachment. We only have a blissful mind of complete compassion of consciousness and Emptiness.”
