Confusion as a stepping stone

CONFUSION AS A STEPPING STONE

Student: How do you deal with confusion? How do you use it?

Chogyam Trungpa: Well, what else do you have? [Laughter.] The point is that we should find some working basis as soon as possible, and what else do we have? Confusion is the first ordinary thing; it's how to begin. It think it's very important and absolutely necessary for everyone to know that we should find a stepping stone rather than looking for an ideal situation. People may say, "When I retire from my job, I'll build my house on a beautiful coast, plant my garden, organize my house, and THEN I'm really going to sit and meditate!" That is not quite the way to go about it. We have to do something right away.

From "Bodhisattva and Paramita," Talk Nine of THE TIBETAN BUDDHIST PATH, a seminar at the Naropa Institute, Summer, 1974. Unpublished.

Of interest to readers: For continuing reports on the activities of the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project, see the blog at ChogyamTrungpa.com

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission.

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 4,878 subscribers.Please send comments on and contributions to OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK to the list moderator, Carolyn Gimian at: carolyn@shambhala.com.

Carolyn Rose Gimian

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources. TO SUBSCRIBE click on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com. The Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project is now at ChogyamTrungpa.com.