Tuesday, September 15, 2009

MEDITATION AS SACRIFICE

The practice of meditation is largely based on some kind of sacrifice
and openness. Such sacrifice is necessary and has to be personally
experienced. Ordinarily, we might sacrifice something for the sake of
developing goodness, or because we are willing to suffer on behalf of
humanity. However, the sacrifice that has been recommended in the
Buddhist tradition is to sacrifice something without any
purpose....Sacrificing something without a purpose is outrageous and
precisely heroic and fantastic; it is very beautiful. The practice of
meditation is sacrifice and openness without techniques, without
means, without gloves, pliers or hammers. You have to use your bare
hands, bare feet, bare head, to relate with the whole thing.

From "Is Meditation Therapy?" in THE SANITY WE ARE BORN WITH,
condensed from pages 183-184.

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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Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the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.

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