DON'T MISS YOUR EXIT

In life, if you are being too watchful, too mindful, it is possible that you will lose your awareness. That is to say, if you are driving a car and watching the highway more than necessary, you may not see the signposts on the side of the road. You aren't aware of them. You are completely mindful of your driving, watchful of your driving. You are so concerned about your driving and about watching the car in front of you and the car behind you that you miss your exit, because you aren't aware of it. In the practice of meditation, to begin with, it's necessary to have that kind of caution. As we drive on the highway, you need the directness of watching the guy in front of you and behind you, while keeping to the speed limit and watching out for cops. But then, you need something else. However, I wouldn't suggest to students that they try to shift their practice of meditation. Stick to the basic practice of concentration. Then at some point, you will naturally begin to develop some sense of expansion, a sense of greater awareness.
From Talk Four of MEDITATION: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, a five talk seminar at Naropa University, July 1, 1974, Boulder, Colorado. Edited from the transcript.All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 328 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 GimianOcean 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 Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com