Revoked: Via The Tricycle Community \\\ Three Teachings on Misplaced Blame

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Via The Tricycle Community \\\ Three Teachings on Misplaced Blame

October 16, 2025

Beyond Blame

It’s no secret that we’re quick to blame others. Even at a young age, children will readily claim, “He did it first!” or, “It wasn’t my fault!” before they even fully understand the implications of their accusations.

This innate self-defense breaks down pretty quickly when we remember the Buddhist truth of interdependence. We see that in blaming others, we forget our own responsibility, and we overlook the causes and conditions that resulted in the offending actions or incidents. Compassion awakens and we see that blame is misguided and unskillful.

This week’s Three Teachings works at uprooting that impulse to blame by encouraging empathy and offering the foundations to go beyond ingrained thought patterns and relationships.

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Beyond Blame
By Mark Epstein

Listening to a Bruce Springsteen interview where “the Boss” reflects on his own parents, psychiatrist and author Mark Epstein takes to heart the capacity we all have for empathy, and to let go of what doesn’t serve us. We can all move beyond what psychoanalyst Jessica Benjamin calls the framework of “doer and and done to.”

Drive All Blames Into One
By Judy Lief

In a series offering commentary on Atisha’s 59 mind-training (Tib. lojong) slogans, Buddhist teacher Judy Lief explains a practice for uprooting our automatic blaming of others. The teaching doesn’t encourage us to blame ourselves for everything, but to recognize how quickly and how often we immediately cast blame.

An Appropriate Response
By Christina Feldman and Chris Cullen

Citing a practice by Thai Forest teacher Ajahn Sucitto to recite the phrase “Oh, just like me” when someone behaves in a way we find unacceptable, meditation teachers Christina Feldman and Chris Cullen call upon our shared vulnerability.

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