Usually When We Breathe

Usually when we breathe, we breathe in and, as soon as we have finished breathing in, we immediately start breathing out. And as soon as we have finished breathing out, we start breathing in again. There is never any space or gap in between the in-breath and the out-breath. Now, many different ways of focusing the mind on the breathing have been taught.... There are basically six methods taught in the abhidharma. But here we have something different from any of those. This is called gentle threefold breathing. It is called gentle because there is no particular attempt to manipulate the breathing, except that instead of breathing in and then immediately breathing out, after breathing in, you wait before you breathe out...here the duration of the inhalation, of the retention, and of the exhalation should all be equal, three equal periods within each complete breath.
In doing this, some people combine the phases of the breath with the mental repetition of the three mantra syllables: OM AH HUM (HUNG)--OM coordinated with the in-breath, AH with the retention of the breath, and HUM (HUNG) with the out-breath. But what is most important here is simply to recollect, as they occur, the inhalation, retention, and exhalation, so that, while you are inhaling, you are aware that you are doing so; while you are retaining the breath, you are aware that you are doing so; and while you are exhaling, you are aware that you are doing so. In the beginning, it is recommended that beginners start with doing, for example, twenty-one of these breaths as a series, and it is important to practice with enough mindfulness so that, while you breathe in, and so forth, you maintain an awareness of what part of the breathing process you are in.
--from The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive Meaning, by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal, published by Snow Lion Publications

CONSTANT SELF-EXPRESSION

When you are painting or composing music, you have no mind. You just don't think. You are inspired. You are more concerned with the boundary of course, where your mind begins to function in a habitual way. But when you are in the center, inside the boundary, you have no thought, no mind. It's a complete state of existence, meditation, or whatever you call it. With artistic creation, that's the kind of situation we are talking about. At that level, there's no room to think about whether what you are doing is for the public or whether it's personal. It's just constant self-expression. A lot of works of art have been ruined by self consciousness. As an artist, trying to be good is not so good.

>From "The Doha Tradition," Talk Twelve of THE TIBETAN BUDDHIST PATH, Naropa Institute, Summer 1974. Edited from an unpublished transcript.


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THE GROUND OF ART

The practice of meditation consists of sitting practice as well as meditation in action in everyday life situations. This provides some guidance as to how to conduct your life and how to relate to a work of art....When a person becomes a Buddhist or a Buddhist-inspired person, you are already an artist; you are already a poet; you are already a painter; you are already a craftsman. We have to understand this, not only in terms of being arty, clever, resourceful or cunning, but in terms of the solidity [of discipline] in our life situation. We decide to step into the understanding that there is no ego, and we find that there is no maker of ego either. Such a brave step seems to be necessary.
To begin with, it is necessary to emphasize this solid ground [of egolessness and discipline] again and again. Sometimes we find ourselves inspired, but we find it very difficult to be grounded. We have to watch our step very carefully. If things are presented to you in a dramatic way or a fantastic way, there is something else to look into. A sense of stillness, a sense of austerity and a sense of solidity are very important. I would like to present the difficult way to you first, because there is enormous value in that. The hinayana or basic discipline is extremely valuable and necessary before we go beyond.
From "The Doha Tradition," talk twelve in the TIBETAN BUDDHIST PATH, Naropa Institute, July 6, 1974. Edited from an unpublished transcript.
All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo.

When looking for the self

When looking for the self it is very important to remember it is an emotional response that one is examining. When one responds to an event as if one had a self, for example when one feels very hurt or offended, one should ask oneself who or what exactly is feeling hurt or offended.
-- Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness

HOPE FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE

It is fine to look back on the lives of great spiritual teachers, but
equally, it is not particularly romantic. They had the same problems
and difficulties in searching for the teachings that we have in this
century. So there's always hope for all of us; we don't particularly
have to be born perfect. We could just be ordinary people, perfectly
ordinary in the rugged sense; but equally we have a chance to develop
spiritual understanding, as well as to attain enlightenment. So
therefore, the point of looking back to various great teachers is not
that there is something mysterious, something magical about them, but
that they were just ordinary when they began. The point is to see the
way they proceeded through the various necessary situations which
forced them to develop.

From "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation," unpublished seminar, 1970,
Karme-Choling, Vermont.

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

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Because there is the spirit of tree within a tree

Because there is the spirit of tree within a tree, therefore its flowers blossom fragrantly, it turns green, its branches and leaves flourish; this is called the marvel. Even though you may break wood down, you do not see anything you may call the spirit of tree; yet if there were no spirit, the flowers and foliage would not come out. This is also true of the human spirit; even though you cannot open the body to see something you may call the spirit; it is by virtue of the existence of the spirit within you that you perform various actions. --Mayamoto Musashi, The Book of 5 Rings, Shambhala Publications

TRUTH IS LIKE A THUNDERBOLT

July 4, 2007 [Independence Day in the United States]

TRUTH IS LIKE A THUNDERBOLT

Dharma literally means "truth" or "norm." It is a particular way of
thinking, a way of viewing the world, which is not a concept but
experience. This particular truth is very painful truth -- usually
truths are. It rings with the sound of reality, which comes too close
to home. We become completely embarrassed when we begin to hear the
truth. It is wrong to think that the truth is going to sound
fantastic and beautiful, like a flute solo. The truth is actually
like a thunderbolt. It wakes you up and makes you think twice whether
you should stay in the rain or move into the house. Provocative.




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

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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.
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Consciousness is not limited by time and space

Consciousness is not limited by time and space, ultimately speaking. This is why, even in our present somewhat limited level of experience, we can think of a place like China and an image of that place comes immediately to mind. The mind doesnt worry about the fact that there is a large distance between here and there. -- Kalu Rinpoche, The Gem Ornament of Manifold Oral Instructions Which Benefits Each and Every Being Appropriately