Transforming adversity · Verse 13 of 37
Verse 13: When harmed though innocent: take on their suffering
Verse 13 of The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, the fourteenth-century Tibetan poem by Gyalse Tokme Zangpo (1295–1369). It belongs to the section on transforming adversity.
Even if someone cuts off your head when you haven't done anything wrong, take upon yourself all their misdeeds through the power of compassion. This is the way of a bodhisattva.
Even if others should seek to cut off my head,
Though I've done them not the slightest wrong,
To take upon myself, out of compassion,
All the harms they have amassed—this is the practice of all the bodhisattvas.
Even if you have done nothing wrong at all
And someone still tries to take your head off,
Spurred by compassion
Take all his or her evil into you — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
A facilitator's reading across the commentaries
The extreme case is deliberate — every teacher reads it as the stress-test of verse 11's exchange. AB's point that your reaction changes the perpetrator's karma is the most distinctive addition; GR's "rehearse before the crisis" is the most practical.
GR Garchen Rinpoche · HHDL H.H. the Dalai Lama · AB Dr. Alexander Berzin · KTGR Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche · KS Khenpo Sodargye · TC Ven. Thubten Chodron · KM Ken McLeod
What the teachers say
Garchen Rinpoche Drikung Kagyu
Past-life killing karma ripening; retaliating loses body and bodhicitta — "the most important part is that you should never lose your Bodhicitta." Extend compassion to both victim and perpetrator (the killer faces punishment, hatred, and hell — pitiable). Rehearse now: without prior contemplation, "we will immediately take out our gun."
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
H.H. the Dalai Lama Gelug
Brief but direct: even toward one who wishes to kill you while you are innocent, generate strong compassion — "we must practice taking upon ourselves his unskillful deeds, while giving him our merit."
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
Dr. Alexander Berzin Gelug
Ties it to karmic mechanics: an act's karmic weight depends partly on the victim's suffering, so rage and grudges heavier the perpetrator's burden; compassion lightens the outcome for both sides. Sharply distinguished from guilt-based Western forgiveness — it's compassion, not moral bookkeeping.
Full commentary: studybuddhism.com
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Karma Kagyu
The attacker is like a beloved mother gone mad — help, don't punish. Through tonglen absorb the attacker's negativity; the Buddha's former lives show unjust deaths becoming occasions for merit and deepened compassion.
Full commentary: dharmaebooks.org (Free ebook, trans. Suzanne Schefczyk.)
Khenpo Sodargye Nyingma, Larung Gar
Three reasonings: retaliation forges another bad karmic link; separate the person from the affliction (all beings have buddha nature; the harmer has lost self-control and faces terrible ripening); and the deluded "I" is a mere label like calling many trees a "forest" — "our true enemies are not somebody else, but exactly our ego."
Full commentary: khenposodargye.org (Free ebook PDF.)
Ven. Thubten Chodron Sravasti Abbey, Gelug
Winter Retreat vv10–15 talk.
Full commentary: thubtenchodron.org
Ken McLeod Shambhala / independent
Talk 5; Tricycle v13 reflection: how does the fantasy of control indicate a lack of freedom?
Full commentary: unfetteredmind.org (Tricycle's per-verse written commentary is behind a subscriber paywall.)
Further reading: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Heart of Compassion (Shambhala). A purchased book — no text is reproduced here.