Saturday, January 24, 2009

Obama Had The Dalai Lama's Scarf In His Pocket During His Swearing In

1. Obama Had The Dalai Lama's Scarf In His Pocket During His Swearing In

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Beliefnet.com - New York

Friday January 23, 2009

Lama Surya Das passed on this fascinating bit. Richard Blum, who is the
husband of California Senator Diane Feinstein, also happens to be a major
supporter of Buddhism. He was up on the platform during the swearing in.

Beforehand, he told Barack Obama that he had with him a white khata -- a
silk Tibetan scarf -- given him by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Blum
described what happened next in a letter to an associate of the Dalai Lama:

"I offered it to President Obama before the ceremony. I said that I
could get it delivered to him later. He said, no, that he was going to take
it and have it with him; in fact, it was in his pocket when he was
sworn-in."

Friday, January 23, 2009

A Kind Heart

To make things as easy as possible to understand,
we can summarize the four boundless qualities
in the single phrase -"a kind heart."
Just train yourself to have a kind heart
always,and in all situations.


Patrul Rinpoche

Thursday, January 15, 2009

INDIVIDUAL LIBERATION

It might be a somewhat depressing prospect to realize that you are so thoroughly soaked in this greasy, heavy, dark, and unpleasant thing called samsara, or confused existence, but that realization is tremendously helpful. That understanding alone is the source of realizing what we call buddha in the palm of your hand -­ the basic wakefulness already in your possession. Such vajrayana possibilities begin at this point, right here, in realizing your samsaric anxiousness. Understanding that anxiety, which is very frustrating and not so good, is the key to realizing where you are.
The only way to work with this anxiety is the sitting practice of meditation, the taming of your mind, or shamatha practice. That is the basic idea of pratimoksha, or “individual liberation”: taming yourself. The way to tame yourself, or to talk yourself out of this particular anxiety, is through the concentrated practice of
shamatha or meditative discipline. The beginning of the beginning of the path...is about how you can actually save yourself from samsaric neurosis.

From Chapter One, "Recognizing the Reality of Suffering," in THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING AND THE PATH OF LIBERATION, edited by Judith Lief, forthcoming this Spring from Shambhala Publications. To preorder your copy at a 20% discount, go to:
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-59030-668-0.cfm

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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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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Thursday, January 08, 2009

Basic NO

January 8, 2009

BASIC NO

Basic NO is accepting discipline in our life without preconceptions.
Normally, when we say the word "discipline," it comes with a lot of
mixed feelings. It's like saying "oatmeal." Some people like hot
cereal, and some people hate it. Nevertheless, oatmeal remains
oatmeal. It is a very straightforward thing. We have similar feelings
about discipline and the meaning of NO. Sometimes, it's a bad NO: it
is providing oppressive boundaries that we don't want to accept. Or
it could be a good NO, which encourages us to do something healthy.
But when we just hear that one word, NO, the message is mixed.
Fearlessness is extending ourselves beyond that limited
view. In the Heart Sutra, an essential teaching given by the Buddha,
it talks about going beyond. Gone beyond, gate, is the basic NO. In
the sutra, it says there is no eye, no ear, no sound, no smell -- all
of those things. When you experience egolessness, the solidity of
your life and your perceptions falls apart. That could be very
desolate or it could be very inspiring, in terms of shunyata or the
Buddhist understanding of emptiness. Very simply, it is basic NO. It
is a real expression of fearlessness. In the Buddhist view,
egolessness is pre-existing, beyond our preconceptions. In the state
of egolessness everything is simple and very clear.

From "Overcoming Doubt," in CONQUERING FEAR, forthcoming from
Shambhala Publications, Fall 2009. [Chogyam Trungpa gave the first
teachings on Big No 30 years ago today.]

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

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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.
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Sunday, January 04, 2009

BUDDHA SAW THE PROBLEM

With tremendous deception, we create samsara -- pain and misery for the whole world, including ourselves --but we still come off as if we were innocent. We call ourselves ladies and gentlemen, and we say, "I never commit any sins or create any problems. I''m just a regular old person, blah blah blah.” That snowballing of deception and the type of existence our deception creates are shocking.

You might ask, "If everybody is involved with that particular scheme or project, then who sees the problem at all? Couldn't everybody just join in so that we don't have to see each other that way? Then we could just appreciate ourselves and our snowballing neuroses, and there would be no reference point whatsoever outside of that." Fortunately -- or maybe unfortunately -- we have one person who saw that there was a
problem. That person was known as Buddha. He saw that there was a problem, he worked on it, and he got beyond it. He saw that the problem could be reduced -- and not just reduced, but completely annihilated, because he discovered how to prevent the problem right at the source. Right at the beginning, cessation is possible. Cessation is possible not only for the Buddha, but for us as well. We are trying to follow his path, his approach.

From "Introduction" to THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING AND THE PATH OF LIBERATION, edited by Judith Lief, forthcoming this Spring from Shambhala Publications. To preorder your copy at a 20% discount, go to:
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-59030-668-0.cfm

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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 6,579 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.
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