THE BOREDOM OF MOUNTAINS AND WATERFALLS

Boredom is important in meditation practice; it increases the psychological sophistication of the practitioners. They begin to appreciate boredom and they develop their sophistication until the boredom begins to become cool boredom, like a mountain river. It flows and flows and flows, methodically and repetitiously, but it is very cooling, very refreshing. Mountains never get tired of being mountains and waterfalls never get tired of being waterfalls. Because of their patience we begin to appreciate them. There is something in that....If we are to save ourselves from spiritual materialism and from buddhadharma without credentials, if we are to become the dharma without credentials, the introduction of boredom and repetitiousness is extremely important. From "Boredom" in THE MYTH OF FREEDOM AND THE WAY OF MEDITATION, pages 70 to 71. Shambhala Library Edition.
From "Boredom" in THE MYTH OF FREEDOM AND THE WAY OF MEDITATION, pages 70 to 71. Shambhala Library Edition. All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo.

FEARLESSNESS AND SPEED

Fearlessness is the absence of cowardice. That is to say, cowardice, or uncertainty, comes from speed, from not being on the spot, and from not being able to lead life properly and fully. You miss a lot of details, and you also miss the overview. To correct that, you need ROOM for fearlessness, which comes from having faith in your existence. Basically speaking, fearlessness is not particularly a reward or a goal, but fearlessness is part of the journey on the path. Fearlessness alternates with fear, and both of those are kindling for the fire. You are nervous, speedy, fearful. Then that brings another area of steadiness, solidity, and calm. So fear and fearlessness constantly alternate. rom "Sacredness: Natural Law and Order," in GREAT EASTERN SUN: THE WISDOM OF SHAMBHALA, page 90.

THE PROCLAMATION OF DHARMA IS FEARLESS

As is said, all dharmas [elements of experience] are marked with emptiness, so confusion is one of the most fundamental dharmas of all. That is what is known as the Lion's Roar of Buddha. That fundamental proclamation of the conch shell of dharma [the teachings], the trumpet of dharma, the gong of dharma sounds constantly all the time. The light of dharma shines constantly, because there is nothing to defeat, there are no ideas to be defeated by. So the proclamation of dharma is fearless. It is beautiful that we could take part in this process of fearlessness, rather than trying to defend ourselves or protect ourselves or develop ourselves. The whole process of fearlessness seems to be the topic, or the theme, that develops from the inspiration of buddhadharma, the Buddhist teachings. It is something to be joyful about; it is a rejoicing process; it is not regarded as a solemn or serious matter. It is beautiful, because fearlessness also has life in it. It contains tremendous energy constantly, all the time.

Excerpts from "The Ultimate Truth Is Fearless," the Opening Ceremony of the Karma Dzong Meditation Center, 1111 Pearl Street, Boulder, Colorado, 25 February 1972.

WILLING TO BE A FOOL

There is lots of room to make mistakes. That's true, absolutely true. But such room for mistakes cannot be created unless there is surrendering, giving, some kind of opening. It cannot take place if there's no basis for it. However, if there is some basis --if we can give
away our aggression or attempt to give it away, if we attempt to open up and strip away our territoriality and possessiveness -- then there is lots of room for making mistakes. That doesn't necessarily mean there is room for dramatic mistakes, but lots of little dribbles of mistakes can take place, which usually occur in any case -- we can't avoid it. We have to allow ourselves to realize that we are complete fools; otherwise, we have nowhere to begin. We have to be willing to be a fool and not always try to be a wise guy. We could almost say that being willing to be a fool is one of the first wisdoms.

From "Wise Fool" in DHARMA ART, page 75.

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright

NATURAL INSPIRATION

Genuine inspiration is not particularly dramatic. It's very ordinary. It comes from settling down in your environment and accepting situations as natural. Out of thatyou begin to realize that you can dance with them. So inspiration comes from acceptance rather than from having a sudden flash of a good gimmick coming up inyour mind. Natural inspiration is simply having something somewhere that you can relate with, so it has a sense of stableness and solidity. Inspiration has two parts:openness and clear vision, or in Sanskrit, shunyata and prajna. Both are based on the notion of original mind, traditionally known as buddha mind, which is blank,nonterritorial, noncompetitive, and open.

From "One Stroke" in DHARMA ART, page 100.

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

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BEYOND REASSURANCE

Question: How does one get away from the need for reassurance?

Chogyam Trungpa: Acknowledge needing reassurance, acknowledge it as an effigy that looks in only one direction and does not look around. (It is) an effigy with
one face, possibly only one eye. It doesn't see around, doesn't see the whole situation. Do you see what I mean?...Whenever you need reassurance, that means you
have a fixed idea of what ought to be. And because of that, you fix your vision on one situation, one particular thing. And those situations that are not being observed
because of the point of view of needing reassurance, (those things) that we are not looking at, are a source of paranoia. We wish we could cover the whole ground,
but since we can't do that physiologically, we have to try to stick to that one thing as much as we can. So the need for reassurance has only one eye.

Question: And the way to get beyond that one-eyed vision...?

Chogyam Trungpa: Develop more eyes, rather than just a unidirectional radar system. You don't have to fix your eye on one thing. You can have panoramic vision,
vision all around at once.

From "Genuine Madness and Pop Art" in ILLUSION'S GAME: THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF NAROPA, pages 30 to 31.

NOT ENTRAPPED IN KARMA

If you are captivated by the past, then you can't make a move. But if you have the faintest, slightest doubt of your existence, the faintest suspicion that it could be
changed -- any progressive mentality, rebellious approach, revolutionary approach, whatever -- that breeds further freedom. In other words, the potential of the
embryonic enlightened mind in us can't be undermined by the heavy karma of the past all the time. Sooner or later it's going to break through. So we are not
entrapped in karma, particularly. There is free choice from that point of view.

From "Past, Present and Future," page 16 in THE KARMA SEMINAR, a sourcebook available from Vajradhatu Publications at shambhalashop.com