Although a wholesome or harmful act may have been minute

Although a wholesome or harmful act may have been minute while it was
still a mere motivation,
by the time it yields its result it will have grown considerably.
Harmful deeds lead to miserable states of existence;
wholesome deeds lead to happy ones.
None of your deeds will be impotent.
You will not experience the results of that which you have not done

Jamgon Kongtrul, The Torch of Certainty, Pg. 82, Shambhala
Publications

However Much You Suffer

However much you suffer,
the suffering is just the dance of what is,
so you shouldn't be depressed.

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, The Great Path of Awakening

If you are not free now, when will you ever be free?

If you're not free now,
when will you ever be free?
People of Tingri, your chance to comes only one time in a hundred.


When a delicious feast is offered to you,
take it while you can.
The clock of Dharma has struck noon,
seize the chance before it passes!


Padampa Sangye & Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Hundred Verses of Advice, Shambhala Publications

NO ENEMY

NO ENEMY
For the Shambhala warrior, the actual, basic notion of victory is not
so much that you have one-upped your enemy and therefore you are
victorious. Rather, no enemy exists at all; therefore, there is
victory. This is the idea of unconditional warriorship and
unconditional victory. In connection with this, the concept of
sacredness is that fearlessness is carried into everyday life
situations, even brushing your teeth. So fearlessness occurs all over
the place, all the time. Fearlessness here is also unconditional. In
this way, fearlessness becomes cheerful and very light. There's no
need for cowardice or fear at all, or any moments of doubt. Actually
what we're talking about is doubtlessness, we could say, rather than
fearlessness. There's no doubt. There are no second thoughts.
Everything is a complete warrior's world. So here victory is not
having to deal with an enemy at all. It is the notion of no enemy.
The whole world is a friend.

From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. 365
Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 119.
[Unpublished excerpt from Talk Five of Warriorship in the Three
Yanas. August 1978, Rocky Mountain Dharma Center.]

*** This new book of short teachings by Chogyam Trungpa contains
quotes from the Ocean of Dharma list serv as well as much new
material. Order your copy now at shambhala.com.

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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,449 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 Gimian

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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the
following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

UNCONDITIONAL CHEERFULNESS

Transplanting the moon of wakefulness into your heart and the sun of
wisdom into your head can be natural and obvious. It is not so much
trying to look for the bright side of life and using that side of
things as a stepping stone, but it is discovering unconditional
cheerfulness, which has no other side. It is just one side, one
taste. From that, the natural sense of goodness begins to dawn in
your heart. Therefore, whatever we experience, whatever we see,
whatever we hear, whatever we think -- all those activities begin to
have some sense of holiness or sacredness in them. The world is full
of hospitality at that point. Sharp corners begin to dissolve and the
darkness begins to be uplifted in our lives. That kind of goodness is
unconditionally good, and at that point, we become a decent human
being and a warrior. Such an approach has to be accompanied by the
sitting practice of meditation. The practice of meditation acts as a
training ground and stronghold. Out of that, the seed of friendliness
begins to occur. The main point is to appreciate your world. That
kind of world is known as the vajra, or indestructible, world. It is
a cheerful world. It never becomes too good or too bad.



From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. 365
Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 98.
[Unpublished excerpt from Talk Five of Warriorship in the Three
Yanas. August 1978, Rocky Mountain Dharma Center.]

*** This new book of short teachings by Chogyam Trungpa contains
quotes from the Ocean of Dharma list serv as well as much new
material. Order your copy now at shambhala.com.


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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,447 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 Gimian

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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the
following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

Our Vision of this life

Our vision of this life is just like when we wake up from sleeping,
at that moment we discover what kind of dream we had and that it is
all impermanent and unreal. For that reason, even if we have some
happiness, at the end we will leave all these things and go away.
Even if we became very famous, a very important person, with so many
dependents and great wealth, when we go away we go alone. All these
things are of no use. For that reason, it is very important that we
try to apply and integrate the Dharma.

âChogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

FRIENDLINESS TO ONESELF

The recognition of sacredness comes from developing a basic sense of
gentleness towards ourselves, so that the irritation of being stuck with
oneself is taken away. When that kind of friendliness to oneself has
occurred, then one also develops friendliness towards the rest of the
world, at the same time. At that point, sadness, loneliness, and
wretchedness begin to dissipate. We begin to develop a sense of humor. We
don't get so pissed off if we have a bad cup of coffee in the morning. A
natural sense of dignity begins to occur.



From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. 365 Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 10. [Unpublished excerpt from Talk Five of Warriorship in the Three Yanas. August 1978, Rocky Mountain Dharma Center.]

*** This new book of short teachings by Chogyam Trungpa contains quotes from the Ocean of Dharma list serv as well as much new material. Order your copy now at shambhala.com.

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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,441 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 Gimian

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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

SEE THE WORLD AS SACRED

Usually in life, when we act, when we exist, we tend to have a very
wretched and small notion of what we are doing. Sometimes, we try to
be good boys and girls. We struggle, taking our journey stitch by
stitch. We go to sleep at night, we get up the next day, and we
struggle to lead our life. The ordinary approach to that is
undignified and very small, like flat Coca-Cola. Sometimes we feel
better, we try to cheer up, and it feels pretty good. But then,
behind that, there is the same familiar "me" haunting us all the
time. We don't have to be that way, at all. We actually could see our
world as a big world and see ourselves as open and vast. We can see
our world as sacred. That is the key to bringing together the sun of
wisdom with the moon of wakefulness.

From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. 365
Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 284.
[Unpublished excerpt from Talk Five of Warriorship in the Three
Yanas. August 1978, Rocky Mountain Dharma Center.]

*** This new book of short teachings by Chogyam Trungpa contains
quotes from the Ocean of Dharma list serv as well as much new
material. It is officially available as of April 8, but you can order
your copy now at shambhala.com.


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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,427 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 Gimian

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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the
following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

Meeting My Teacher

April 4, 2008 [The 21st Anniversary of the Parinirvana (death) of Chogyam Trungpa]

MEETING MY TEACHER

Meeting my teacher, Jamgon Kongtrul, was remarkable. Throughout the whole time I was studying with my tutor and being educated at the Surmang monastery in Tibet, they were telling me stories about their admiration for people who had died, great teachers they had met, who lived in the past. I had never met any of them. According to these stories, the whole spiritual thing is that you have to be a completely religious person. Even if you are not, you should pretend. You pretend to be good, and you keep smiling at everybody. You say nice things to everybody, and you half close your eyes all the time, as if you are pretending to meditate all the time. That was the kind of story I heard.
But then, meeting Jamgon Kongtrul, I began to actually see what people really meant. It was not so much that he half-closed his eyes all the time or behaved in a saintly way, particularly. He joked around, he was very jolly, and he was very kind and soft and insightful. Sometimes he didn't even sit upright. I had been told to always sit upright. He lay down in his seat, and he accommodated people. There was immense power coming to you from that presence. From that time onward, I would say that the journey was very definite and really committed. Before that particular point, I felt that I was being made to be a charlatan and asked to make a fool of myself.

From "The Eleventh Trungpa," in MISHAP LINEAGE: THE LINE OF THE TRUNGPAS, forthcoming.

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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,405 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 Gimian

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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

Basic Sanity

April 2, 2008

BASIC SANITY

In contrast to the traditional medical model of disturbances, the Buddhist approach is founded on the belief that basic sanity is operative in all states of mind. Confusion, from this point of view, is two-sided: it creates a need, a demand for sanity. This hungry nature of confusion is very powerful and very important. The demand for relief or sanity that is contained in confusion is, in fact, the beginning point of Buddhism. That is what moved Buddha to sit beneath the bodhi tree twenty-five hundred years ago -- to confront his confusion and find its source-- after struggling vainly for seven year in various ascetic yogic disciplines.
Basically, we are faced with a similar situation now in the West. Like Siddhartha before he became the Buddha, we are confused, anxious, and hungry psychologically. Despite a physically luxurious prosperity, there is a tremendous amount of emotional anxiety. This anxiety has stimulated a lot of research into various types of psychotherapy, drug therapy, behavior modification, and group therapies. From the Buddhist viewpoint, this search is evidence of the nature of basic sanity operating within neurosis.

From OCEAN OF DHARMA: 365 Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion, number 34.

*** This new book of short teachings by Chogyam Trungpa contains quotes from the Ocean of Dharma list serv as well as much new material. It is officially available as of April 8, but you can order your copy now at shambhala.com.


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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,386 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 Gimian

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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com