BRINGING TOGETHER THE SUN AND MOON

The wretched familiar "me" is like a lead shoe that weights us down.
However, we don't actually have to live that way at all. We could
have a sense of celebration and positive arrogance. It's not that we
should abandon one part of ourselves and cultivate the other part,
but we could simply look at our Joe-Schmidt-ness, the you-ness, with
openness. When we do that, there is space to fall in love with
ourselves, in the positive sense. You begin to like Joe Schmidt, and
at that point, the other wretched Joe begins to phase out. It's not
that your personality has changed, particularly, but rather that the
positive aspect of yourself has expanded. We could see our world as a
big world and see ourselves as open and vast. We can see our world as
sacred, which is the key to bringing together the sun and moon.

From CONQUERING FEAR: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery,
forthcoming August, 2009, from Shambhala Publications.

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.
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A BASIC ATTITUDE OF GOODNESS

The final characteristic of a dharmic person, which is a basic attitude of goodness, or a general sense of goodness, comes from your own practice and discipline. There is nothing to say about this, except: keep on sitting and you will find out that both sanity and insanity exist in you. Insanity is not particularly regarded as an obstacle; it is simply regarded as kindling wood. Because of your insanity, you are here. But you don't stop there; you go beyond and you brighten up your sanity by sitting and perfectly watching your activities. The basic, hinayana, approach has nothing to do with big explosions of enlightenment, big orgasms of enlightenment on the spot. Instead, we are talking about paying attention to details and to your mind and to your behavior pattern. When you wake up and before you fall asleep, just look and be genuine; you can't fool yourself. If you have been attempting to fool yourself, please don't. It won't work.

From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, page 489.

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

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UNDERSTANDING WHO YOU ARE

UNDERSTANDING WHO YOU ARE

Propagating prajna, or your intellect, fully and thoroughly is a characteristic of a dharmic person. That is to say, you should find out and understand who you are and what you are made of. You should find out what your mind is made out of, what your mind's projections are made out of, and what your relationship with your world is made of....The myth of original sin can be wiped out by realizing and studying how your mind can be unwound by undoing what you are. There are positive and good qualities, or basic goodness, in everybody.

From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, pages 488 to 489.

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

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Bob Dylan & Allen Ginsberg - Vomit Express

http://tiny.cc/crYsk

The Essence of Bodhichitta is the Heart that Thinks

The essence of bodhichitta is the heart that thinks,
"I alone, personally, will establish all sentient beings in the state of complete enlightenment."
This is quite a great heart, isn't it?
Whether we are or are not able to establish sentient beings in enlightenment in that way does not matter.
It is first important to think that we are going to do it.


Yongey Mingyur Dorje Rinpoche

Contentment

Contentment is connected with appreciating what you have, with some sense of rejoicing, which is often very hard. You are constantly involved with possibilities of change, all the time changing from one thing to another. You cannot celebrate your own life as what you have, what you are. You are unable to celebrate the simplicity of the practice itself and the simplicity of life. But being contented with what you have IS a celebration.

From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, page 485.

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

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NO CHEWING GUM IS SIMPLICITY

Supposing you feel an itch in your pocket, but you don't have any chewing gum on that particular day. You should feel contented; you should feel relieved. "For heaven's sake, I don't have any chewing gum! That's fine." A chance to appreciate that simplicity has been presented to you. Ordinarily, people talk in terms of obstacles: "I had a bad time. I didn't have any chewing gum in my pocket. I had a bad day." But you could switch gears altogether: "It was such a relief to find that I didn't have any chewing gum in my pocket. I feel fine; I just let go." You can have some appreciation of obstacles becoming simplicity.

From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, pages 485 to 486.

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

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Preventing Too Many Activities

One characteristic of a dharmic person, someone who practices meditation and the teachings of the Buddha, is to prevent too many activities, or you could say, reduce too many activities. According to tradition, that actually boils down to cutting nonfunctional talking, cutting the baby-sitter mentality, the entertainment mentality. You can get yourself into all kinds of projects, all kinds of engagements. You can become chummy with the world so that you don't have to hold your discipline or your mindfulness properly. ....If you don't like tea, you can have coffee. If you don't like coffee, you could switch to Coca-Cola. If you don't like Coca-Cola, you can drink scotch or vodka. You involve yourself in constant, constant activity. Sometimes you don't even know what you are doing; you just come up with the idea that you need to be occupied with something, but you can't put your finger on anything:" Do I need sex or do I need money or do I need clothes? What do I need?"....You could think about anything; the possibilities are infinite. Getting chummy with the situation involves lots of activity. According to the basic principles of Buddhism, you have to cut that down. When you become too chummy with your world, too familiar with your world, it becomes endless.

From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, pages 486 to 487.

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

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Like A Bird Without Wings

If your mind becomes firm
Like a rock
And no longer shakes
In a world where
Everything is shaking
Your mind will be your greatest friend
And suffering will not come your way.


Buddha Shakyamuni, From: The Theragata

AWARENESS IS THE BASIS OF GOOD CONDUCT

For a dharmic person, good conduct is a sense of mindfulness and awareness: whatever you are doing, you should try to see it as an extension of your sitting practice, your general sense of awareness and refraining from too much, unnecessary activity....You could look at yourself and smile. You could be awake and aware and, at the same time, on the spot. Constant sunrise happens. You reflect that yourself, and you always look awake and aware of what you are doing. That is good conduct. You respect yourself and you respect the sacredness of your whole being, your whole existence. When you have that kind of self-respect, you don't spill your tea or put your shoes on the wrong feet. You appreciate the weather, your coffee, your tea, your clothes, your shower. There is a tremendous sense that for the first time you have become a real human being and you can actually appreciate the world around you. That appreciation comes from being aware.

From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, pages 487 to 488.

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

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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.