Thursday, October 16, 2008

Tension

Student: If you make a decision, it is going to bring you tension, because you don't know how it is going to work out, whether it's a good or bad decision. Do you just go along and accept it?

Chogyam Trungpa: Ultimately, decisions don't come out in terms of yes and no, black and white. The ultimate answer, so to speak, would say you're right, but at the same time you are wrong. [Understanding that,] releases tension, the ultimate tension. If you are involved with something and if you reject or accept it absolutely, one hundred percent, then the tension is going to remain all the time. There is no way of solving the problem of tension by making black-and-white decisions, in other words. The only way of transcending that tension is through the acceptance of all aspects.Nothing is going to be a magic sedative. But strangely enough, once you begin to accept that, then half of the problem has been solved.

From "The Bardo of Dreams," in TRANSCENDING MADNESS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SIX BARDOS, page109.

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Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
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