To Remain Human

TO REMAIN HUMAN

Mindfulness of body has to do with trying to remain human, rather than becoming an animal or fly or etheric being.
It means just trying to remain a human being, an ordinary human being.
The basic starting point for this is solidness, groundedness.
When you sit you actually sit. Even your floating thoughts begin to sit on their own bottoms.

From "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness," in THE SANITY WE ARE BORN WITH, page 27.

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

Having Faith and Compassion

Having faith and compassion, even if one has no great knowledge of the
Dharma and no opportunity to practice much, the day will come when one
ceases to wander in the cycle of existence.

--Kalu Rinpoche, Secret Buddhism

Do not seek a delightfully blissful mind

Do not seek a a quietly resting, vividly clear, and delightfully blissful mind. Practice with whatever arises without accepting or rejecting anything.

-- Orgyenpa

Motivation is a kind of alchemy

"Motivation is a kind of alchemy which transmutes actions into
something positive or negative. Everything we do—having breakfast,
sleeping, whatever—can be transmuted into dharma [pure, religious or
spiritual] action. We may be involved in an activity we do not consider
to be dharma, like cooking for example, but cooking can be transformed
into dharma. How? Through motivation. The right kind of motivation can
transform any action into dharma."

For the full article see:
http://www.snowlionpub.com/pages/N72_12.php

When you are convinced that all exits are blocked

"When you are convinced that all the exits are blocked, either you take tobelieving in miracles or you stand still like the hummingbird. The miracleis that the honey is always there, right under your nose, only you were toobusy searching elsewhere to realize it. The worst is not death but beingblind, blind to the fact that everything about life is in the nature of themiraculous."

Henry Miller

if we see others in trouble

...if we see others in trouble, although we cannot immediately take their suffering upon ourselves, we should make the wish to be able to relieve them from their misfortunes. Prayers like this will bear fruit eventually. Again, if others have very strong afflictive emotions, we should think, 'May all their emotions be concentrated in me.' With fervent conviction, we should persist in thinking like this until we have some sign or feeling that we have been able to take upon ourselves the suffering and emotions of others. This might take the form of an increase in our own emotions or of the actual experience of the suffering and pain of others. This is how to bring hardships onto the path in order to free ourselves from hopes and fears--hopes, for instance, that we will not get ill, or fears that we might do so. They will thus be pacified in the equal taste of happiness and suffering. Eventually, through the power of Bodhichitta, we will reach the point where we are free even from the hope of accomplishing Bodhichitta and the fear of not doing so. Therefore we should have love for our enemies and try as much as possible to avoid getting angry with them, or harbouring any negative thoughts towards them. We should also try as much as possible to overcome our biased attachment to family and relatives. If you bind a crooked tree to a large wooden stake, it will eventually grow straight. Up to now, our minds have always been crooked, thinking how we might trick and mislead people, but this [Bodhichitta] practice, as Geshe Langri Tangpa said, will make our minds straight and true. --from Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven Point Mind Training by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications

Dalai Lama Quote of the week

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week Q: ...what is the nature of the mindstream that reincarnates from lifetime to lifetime? A: ...If one understands the term "soul" as a continuum of individuality from moment to moment, from lifetime to lifetime, then one can say that Buddhism also accepts a concept of soul; there is a kind of continuum of consciousness. rom that point of view, the debate on whether or not there is a soul becomes strictly semantic. However, in the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness, or "no soul" theory, the understanding is that there is no eternal, unchanging, abiding, permanent self called "soul." That is what is being denied in Buddhism. Buddhism does not deny the continuum of consciousness. Because of this, we find some Tibetan scholars, such as the Sakya master Rendawa, who accept that there is such a thing as self or soul, the "kangsak ki dak" (Tib. gang zag gi bdag). However, the same word, the "kangsak ki dak," the self, or person, or personal self, or identity, is at the same time denied by many other scholars. We find diverse opinions, even among Buddhist scholars, as to what exactly the nature of self is, what exactly that thing or entity is that continues from one moment to the next moment, from one lifetime to the next lifetime. Some try to locate it within the aggregates, the composite of body and mind. Some explain it in terms of a designation based on the body and mind composite, and so on.... One of the divisions of [the "Mind-Only"] school maintains there is a special continuum of consciousness called alayavijnana which is the fundamental consciousness. --from Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective by the Dalai Lama, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications

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. All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo

reflect upon the horros of the states of sorrow

Reflect upon the horrors of the states of sorrow! Weapons, poisons, fires, and yawning chasms, Hostile foes-these worldly pains are slight Compared with what we get as fruit of our desire! And so, revolted by our lust and wanting, Let us now rejoice in solitude, In places where all strife and conflict cease, The peace and stillness of the greenwood. --Shantideva, The Way Of The Bodhisattva, Pg. 122, Shambhala Publications

If my acts are wholesome

If my acts are wholesome, mirroring my mind, Then no matter where I turn my steps, Respect and honor will be paid to me, The fruit and recompense of merit.

But if, in search of happiness, my works are evil, Then no matter where I turn my steps, The knives of misery will cut me down- The wage and retribution of a sinful life.

--Shantideva, The Way Of The Bodhisattva, Pg. 104, Shambhala Publications

An appearance can only exist if

An appearance can only exist if there is a mind that beholds it. The
'beholding' of that appearance is nothing other than experience; that is
what actually takes place...All the elements are vividly distinguished as
long as the mind fixates on them. Yet they are nothing but a mere presence,
an appearance. When the mind doesn't apprehend, hold, or fixate on what is
experienced...'reality' loses its solid, obstructing quality.


--Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Milarepa

You, young men and women here, Don't think that death will come little by little; It comes fast as lightning.

--From: The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

Kalu Rinpoche

Bless me that my mind may merge with yours; Inspire me to renounce ego's hold; Bless me that I may experience true contentment; Bless me that I may experience loving-kindness and compassion; Bless me that I may give rise to sincere devotion; Bless me that I may cut off pervasive thoughts; Bless me that I may pacify confusion in it's own ground; Bless me that I may perceive ultimate reality, Mahamudra; Bless me that I may attain Buddhahood in this very life.

--Supplication to the Lama, by Kalu Rinpoche

From: Timeless Rapture, Pg. 196, Published by Snow Lion

The essence of samsara

The essence of samsara is this tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain, to seek security and avoid groundlessness, to seek comfort and avoid discomfort. The basic teaching is that that is how we keep ourselves miserable, unhappy, and stuck in a very small, limited view of reality.

--Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape, Shambhala Publications

To make things as easy as possible to understand

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

The aspiration to rejoice in the good fortune of others can feel feeble compared with our resentment or self pity

The aspiration to rejoice [in the good fortune of others] can feel feeble compared with our resentment or self-pity. We know how easy it is to let our emotions hook us in and shut us down. We'd be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain. It's rather like eating rat poison and thinking the rat will die... Whenever we get caught, it's helpful to remember the teachings-- to recall that suffering is the result of an aggressive mind. Even slight irritation causes us pain and we indulge in it. This is the time to ask, "Why am I doing this to myself again?"

--Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You, Shambhala Publications

We have mistaken our non existent personal experience

We have mistaken our nonexistent personal experience to be objects, and by the power of ignorance, mistaken self-awareness to be a "self." This dualistic fixation has made us wander in the sphere of samsaric existence. May we cut ignorance and confusion at the very root.

--H.H. the III Karmapa, Aspiration of Mahamudra

The practice of Dharma

The practice of Dharma should bring you to the point where you can maintain the same constant awareness whether in and out of practice sessions. This is the quintessential point of all spiritual instruction.

--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Always scrutinize your own shortcomings

Always scrutinize your own shortcomings. Ignore the faults of other people. Keep the attitude: "Whether they are pure or impure, It is none of my business!" Be your own teacher; keep a strict check on yourself. That is sufficient!

--Tulku Orgyen Rinpoche, from: The Tibetan Buddhism Pocket Reader, by Reginald A. Ray, Shambhala Publications

Give up the mind that wants to meditate

Give up the mind that wants to meditate and calm down. Focus on nothing at all. Disturbing thoughts and lazy indifference are not liberation. Remain unstained by thoughts and circumstances; Rest relaxed in the uncontrived nature of mind, free of elaborations or alteration. For the benefit of one and all, simply preserve peerless awareness.

--Sukkhasiddhi

Uninterrupted Wisdom of Consciousness

The uninterrupted wisdom of consciousness manifests as the world of desire. The nature of consciousness manifests as the world of form. The essence of consciousness, which is unborn, manifests as the formless world.
--Kunjed Gyalpo, The Fundamental Tantra Of The Dzogchen Semde

Quoted In Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche's Book, The Supreme Source, Published by Snow Lion

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The unborn essence beyond concepts is dharmakaya. Consciousness that enjoys it's own nature is sambhogakaya. The emanation of consciousness that benefits beings through mind is nirmanakaya.

The moment they discover the equanimity of the non-conceptual state, even beings of the hell realms and of the other realms of samsara who have fallen prey to the sufferings of heat and cold, of hunger and of thirst, of foolishness and speechlessness, can liberate themselves in the authentic, natural condition.

--Kunjed Gyalpo, The Fundamental Tantra Of The Dzogchen Semde

Quoted In Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche's Book, The Supreme Source, Published by Snow Lion

Without Fixating

Without fixating, look naturally into the essence of whatever occurs. The watcher and the watched will then mingle into one, Without any fixation concerning 'looking' and 'meditating.'

--Karma Chagmey Rinpoche, from: 'The Quintessence Of Spiritual Practice, The Direct Instructions Of The Great Compassionate One'

From Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche's Book: The Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, Rangjung Yeshe Publications

A minute to be-Give yourself a break

A MINUTE TO BE Give yourself a break....Just enjoy the day, your normal existence. Allow yourself to sit in your home or take a drive into the mountains. Park your car somewhere; just sit; just be. It sounds very simplistic, but it has a lot of magic. You begin to pick up on clouds, sunshine and weather, the mountains, your past, your chatter with your grandmother and your grandfather, your own mother, your own father. You begin to pick up on a lot of things. Just let them pass like the chatter of a brook as it hits the rocks. We have to give ourselves some time to be....We have to learn to be kinder to ourselves, much more kind. Smile a lot, although nobody is watching you smile. Listen to your own brook, echoing yourself. You can to a good job. In the sitting practice of meditation, when you begin to be still, hundreds of thousands, millions, and billions of thoughts will go through your mind. But they just pass through, and only the worthy ones leave their fish eggs behind. We have to leave ourselves some time to be. You're not going to see the Shambhala vision, you're not even going to survive, by not leaving yourself a minute to be, a minute to smile....Please give yourself a good time. -- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, =46rom "Blamelessness: How to Love Yourself" in GREAT EASTERN SUN: THE WISDOM OF SHAMBHALA All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo.

Don't worry, you're all tulkus

Don't worry... You're all tulkus ... incarnations of beings who have taken the bodhisattva vow to raise all sentient beings to the level of complete enlightenment...Just because you don't have an important title attached to your name doesn't mean that you haven’t appeared in this life to fulfill your bodhisattva vow.... Historically, the term "Rinpoche" referred to a person who is born with a "wealth" or "precious inheritance" of knowledge, whereas nowadays, it often refers to a person born into a wealthy family....Be grateful that you don't have a title...and rest assured that you entered this life and have the opportunity to continue in the stream of Buddhist teachings as a result of the vows and practices you engaged in during previous lives.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Crazy Wisdom, Shambhala Publications

Humor means a sense of delight

Humor means a sense of delight, rather than mocking everything. When the setting sun people rule the world, they get more uptight, more tough and tough and tough. Queen Victoria said, "We are not amused." I'm afraid so. But when we rule the world, we are very amused. That's how you stay in your saddle, so to speak, in order to become a permanent ruler, in order to rule a long time.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From "Vision of the Great Eastern Sun" in THE 1978 KALAPA ASSEMBLY TRANSCRIPTS, page 106.

We don't need to shut out the outside

We don’t need to shut out the outside, and neither should we shut off the inside.

– Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Carefree Dignity

The Jewel in the Crown Sutra States

The Jewel in the Crown Sutra states, "Donning the armor of loving-kindness, while abiding in the state of great compassion, practice meditative stabilization that actualizes the emptiness possessing the best of all qualities. What is the emptiness possessing the best of all qualities? It is that which is not divorced from generosity, ethics, patience, effort, meditative stabilization, wisdom, or skillful means." Bodhisattvas must rely on virtuous practices like generosity as means to thoroughly ripen all sentient beings and in order to perfect the place, body, and manifold retinue.

--from Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila

Although I have high status

Although I have high status,
my merit is less than an evil spirit's.
Although I am a great religious teacher,
my passions are grosser than a demon's.
Roar and thunder on the head of the destroyer,
false construction!
Mortally strike at the heart of the butcher,
the enemy, Ego!


--Dharmaraksita, Peacock In The Poison Grove, Wisdom Publications

Phenomena are the radiance of the innate absolute

Phenomena are the radiance of the innate absolute; Mind's nature is the wisdom of the innate absolute. The ultimate teacher - phenomena and mind merged in one taste - Dwells naturally within myself. Ah Ho! What a Joy!

--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Attentiveness

Attentiveness is the path to true life; Indifference is the path to death. The attentive do not die; The indifferent are as if they are dead already already.

--Dhammapada

If you want to see where the mind is going

The Buddha Shakyamuni said, “If you want to see where the mind has been look at your body; and if you want to see where the mind is going look at your present actions.”

--H.E. Kalu Dorje Chang

Read the Whole Teaching At The Link Below: http://www.shenpen-osel.org/issue6.pdf

Something is Thinking

No trace of substance remains in us unchanged. we live in the midst of a uninterrupted current of relations which condition our existence at every instant. We have no possibility of speaking of our self, our being. The Buddhists can't follow Descartes in his famous "ergo." Nothing naturally follows from thought to being, since both are elements of the same changing stream. Instead of affirming, "I think therefore I am," we could say, at most, "I think, therefore I think," or else, as Nietzsche says, 'Something is thinking."

--HH the XIV Dalai Lama, Violence and Compassion

This quote courtesy of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShangpaNY/

Can a thought look at a thought?

Can thought look at thought? No. Just as a blade cannot cut itself, or a fingertip touch itself, so thought cannot see thought.

--Sikshasamuccaya

If we are speaking of a way out all the time then we are dealing in fantasy

Q: You describe some seemingly inescapable situation situation in which we are all trapped,
in which we have become enmeshed... (Samsara?)


A: You see, the whole point is that if we are speaking of a way all out all the time,
then we are dealing in fantasy, the dream of escape, salvation, enlightenment.
We need to be practical. We must examine what is here, now, our neurotic mind.
Once we are completely familiar with the negative aspects of state of our being,
then we know the "way out" automatically.


But if we talk about how beautiful and joyous our attainment of the goal will be,
then we become extremely insincere and romantic; and this approach becomes an obstacle.


That is why the Buddha first taught about suffering - Dukkha,
and why he did not begin by teaching the beauty of the enlightenment experience.


--Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism,
Shambhala Publications

Stepping out ofthe bureaucracy of ego

It is important to see that the main point of any spiritual practice is to step out of the bureaucracy of ego. This means stepping out of ego's constant desire for a higher, more spiritual, more transcendental version of knowledge, religion, virtue judgement, comfort or whatever it is that the particular ego is seeking. One must step out of spiritual materialism.

--Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism,

Transparency of Concepts

In the absence of thoughts and emotions, the Lords (the forces of materialism) bring up a still more powerful weapon, concepts. Labeling phenomena creates a feeling of a solid, definite world of "things." Such a solid world reassures us that we are a solid, continuous thing as well. The world exists, therefore I, the perceiver of the world, exist. Meditation involves seeing the transparency of concepts, so that labeling no longer serves as a way of solidifying our world and our image of self. Labeling becomes simply the act of discrimination.

--Chogyam Trunpa Rinpoche, From: "The True Spiritual Path," in THE ESSENTIAL CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Pg. 46

Obstacles

Obstacles can arise from good as well as bad circumstances, but they should never deter or overpower you. Be like the earth, which supports all living creatures indiscriminately, without distinguishing good from bad. The earth is simply there. Your practice should be strengthened by the difficult situations you encounter, just as a bonfire in a strong wind is not blown out, but blazes even brighter.

--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
http://www.shechen.org/teach_three_dkr.html

Each Individual

Each individual has an opportunity to make a difference.

--H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama

We need to correct or overcome all the wrongs and bad circumstances we experience

We need to correct, or to overcome, all the wrongs or bad circumstances that we experience. Instead of having a negative attitude toward practice and not wanting to practice any longer-- --whenever such perversions and problems occur, they should be overcome...

To correct all wrongs means to stamp on the kleshas. Whenever you don't want to practice-- --stamp on that, and then practice. Whenever any bad circumstance comes up that might put you off--

--stamp on it. In this slogan you are deliberately, immediately, and very abruptly suppressing the kleshas.



--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from: Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness , Pg. 212-213, Slogan # 40

The experiences that you normally regard as pleasurable and happy

Generally, the experiences that you normally regard as pleasurable and happy, such as having the physical comfort of good facilities and so forth, if they are examined at a deeper level, will be revealed to be changeable and therefore in the nature of suffering. They provide you with temporary satisfaction; because of that temporary satisfaction you regard them as experiences of happiness. But if you keep on pursuing them, they will again lead to the experience of suffering. Most of these pleasurable experiences are not really happiness in the true sense of the word, but only appear as pleasure and happiness in comparison to the obvious sufferings that you have.

--H.H. the Dalai Lama, Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to Stages of Meditation, Snow Lion

Buddha Shakyamuni

Accept my words only when you have examined them for yourselves; do not accept them simply because of the reverence you have for me. Those who only have faith in me and affection for me will not find the final freedom. But those who have faith in the truth and are determined on the path, they will find awakening.

--Buddha Shakyamuni, from Majjhima Nikaya

The Instructions of Gampopa

Not to tame your own mind or transcend the confusion that arises in your own experience, but rashly attempting to tame the minds of others, is extremely bewildered. If you do not first tame your own mind, then attempting to tame the minds of others or alleviate the bewilderment of others will not work, because you will still be so confused that you will not know how to do it, and you will probably only generate mental affliction. --The Instructions of Gampopa, Snow Lion Publications

The basic problem

The basic problem is that one believes that everything is real, and thus everything is treated as such. --Kalu Rinpoche, Gently Whispered

Beyond there is no greater friend than gift.

Possessions are ephemeral and essenceless
Know this and give them generously to monks,
To brahmins, to the poor, and to your friends:
Beyond there is no greater friend than gift.

Having realized that possessions such as food are inconstant and fluctuate, that in changing and transforming they are devoid of essence, in order to make them meaningful try to use them properly, giving to those with good qualities (monks and brahmins), to those who suffer (the poor, the sick, and so forth), to those who help you (friends) and to those you venerate (spiritual teachers and parents). Even beyond the world there is no friend more sublime, more beneficial, than giving, because it gives rise directly and indirectly to ripened effects that are inexhaustible.

-- from Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche by Nagarjuna, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications

the word for "practice"

In the Tibetan tradition, the word for "practice" is the same as that for "attain." That is, in a sense, to practice is to attain. This is not necessarily a rarified goal; it is something everyone can cultivate to the extent that they try. -- Daniel Goleman, Mind-Science: An East-West Dialogue

If you love the sacred and dislike the worldly...

If you love the sacred and dislike the worldly, you will go on floating and sinking in the ocean of birth and death. The passions arise depending on the heart. If the heart is stilled, where then do you seize the passions? Do not tire yourself by making up discriminations; and quite naturally you will find the way. --from Rinzai Roku, translated by Irmgard Schlogl

We have to be genuine, which means not having aggression and being true to oneself. In that way, we can build an enlightened society. Enlightened society cannot be built and cannot develop on the level of dreams or concepts. Enlightened society has to be real and good, honest and genuine.
Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche

All sentient beings including ourselves

All sentient beings, including ourselves, already possess the primary cause for enlightenment.

– Gampopa, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation

Regradless of the emotion being expressed

Regardless of the emotion being experienced -- be it desire, anger, pride, jealousy, envy, greed, or whatever -- what is really going on is a shift in attention. The mind is expressing itself in a different way. Nothing implicitly requires one to presume that this emotion has any reality in and of itself...It is just that the mind is expressing itself in a different way than it was a moment ago.

--Kalu Rinpoche, Gently Whispered

When you feel completely desolate

When you feel completely desolate, you begin to help yourself, you make yourself at home. You begin to realize all kinds of beauties around you.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Illusion's Game

When we get a sense of the nonexistence of the self

When we get a sense of the nonexistence of the self, we might feel afraid. However, there is no need for fear. If the self were to exist, we could be harmed, but since the self does not exist, there is no "I" to be harmed. With the realization that the self does not exist comes great courage, and fear simply disappears.

--THE TRADITION AND PRACTICE OF VIPASHYANA -- by Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Bodhi Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 4

Ego

Ego is pain, and pain is ego.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Illusion's Game

The Root of Delusion

The root of delusion is one’s own mind grasping external appearances as being truly existent.

-- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, The Essential Points of Creation and Completion

No trace of substance remains in us unchanged

No trace of substance remains in us unchanged. we live in the midst of a uninterrupted current of relations which condition our existence at every instant. We have no possibility of speaking of our self, our being. The Buddhists can't follow Descartes in his famous "ergo." Nothing naturally follows from thought to being, since both are elements of the same changing stream. Instead of affirming, "I think therefore I am," we could say, at most, "I think, therefore I think," or else, as Nietzsche says, 'Something is thinking."

--HH the XIV Dalai Lama, Violence and Compassion

"buddha" literally means awake

“Bodhi,” which related to “buddha,” literally means “awake.” “Chitta” is a Sanskrit word meaning “heart,” or occasionally, “essence.” So “bodhichitta” is the essence of the buddha, the essence of the awakened ones.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Heart of The Buddha

Compassion is open space

Compassion is open space in which things can be accommodated. It contrasts strongly with our repulsing situations because we are not willing to accommodate anything. So compassion is creating open space, accepting things happening. --Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Orderly Chaos

Developing compassion

Developing compassion is the most fruitful way of "getting even" with people who make you angry.

--Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Crazy Wisdom

A problem remains a problem

A problem remains a problem. Nothing dissolves into a love-and-lighty beautiful creamy honey lotus lake.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, "The 4th Moment", Shambhala Sun Magazine, March 2006

You are not basically condemned

You are not basically condemned. Your naughtiness is not necessarily regarded as your problem- although it is witnessed, obviously. You are not fundamentally condemned; your temporary naughtinesses are regarded as coming from temporary problems only. Therefore, to follow up on that, this slogan says, "Always maintain only a joyful mind." It is a joyful mind because you do not have to be startled by any situation of wretchedness or, for that matter, sudden upliftedness. Instead, you can maintain a sense of cheerfulness all along. --Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from: Training the Mind, Shambhala

The hinayan version of taming ego

The hinayana version of taming ego is to cut through sloppiness and wandering mind by the application of Shamatha discipline, or mindfulness. Shamatha practice cuts through the fundamental mechanism of ego, which is that ego has to maintain itself by providing lots of subconscious gossip and discursive thoughts.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from: Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness

The Firewood

The firewood is not itself the fire.

–-Nagarjuna, The Fundamental Wisdom Of The Middle Way

This quote courtesy of Shangpa NY, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShangpaNY/

When he was dying the Buddha said

When he was dying, the Buddha said to his followers:

Hold fast to the truth as a lamp that shines in the darkness. Seek salvation in the truth alone.

Those who either now or after I am dead hold fast to the truth as their lamp and do not look for light from anywhere else - it is they who will reach Nirvana.

--Majjhima Nikaya

Intention

Intention is the karma of the mind.

-– Gunaprabha, The Treasury of Abhidharma

In absolute terms

In absolute terms, each moment of experience is empty of a difference in nature of perceiver and perceived. Rather than regarding consciousness merely as the seeing or observing aspect of a moment of experience, it is also the content of that experience.

-- Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness

The mistaken ideas about the essence

The mistaken ideas about the essence arise from fixated attachment that solidifies the present mind as being negative. You believe that noble and positive wisdom will be attained only if present mind is relinquished. This is a mistaken idea in the Mahamudra tradition, because there is no wisdom higher than present mind itself.

--Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Introduction to HH the IX Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive Meaning

Fear of basic space

In constant work to fill all spaces, or in constant busyness with work, one is seeking to fill time with work out of fear of basic space. This need of work and constant speed is a neurotic process. The opposite reaction, refusing and resisting work is a refusal to associate with the practical matters of life, and is fundamentally a blind negativistic approach to work.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Heart of the Buddha

Ego-hood

Ego-hood is the state of mind in which you are either repelled or attracted to the phenomenal world. What you would like to see depends on your mentality, on what you think is desirable in order to maintain your “I am-ness,” your “me-ness.”

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Heart of the Buddha

Like birds landing on a tree top together

Like birds landing on a tree top together, and then dispersing, we are together for a very short time, so it makes sense to live in harmony, in unconditional friendship.

-- Bokar Rinpoche

To protect the mind of another

To protect the mind of another, avoid all conflict and always have patience. Do not be a flatterer or fickle, but always be capable of remaining steadfast.

--Dipamkara Shrijnana's The Bodhisattvamaniavali - The Jewel Rosary Of An Awakening Warrior

--From the book: Advice From A Spiritual Friend by Geshe Rabten and Geshe Dhargyey, Wisdom Publications

You might "kil time"

You might “kill time” walking, moving, sleeping, or sitting: ineffectual acts which are neither wholesome nor harmful, and which mature into neither good not bad experiences. But since such actions simply waste this human life, instead of throwing your ability away in idle amusements, make a conscious effort to devote your time exclusively to wholesome action.

--Jamgon Kongtrul, The Torch of Certainty

Abandon misleading friends

When seeing your master or teacher perform services with respect.
Towards a person having the eye of doctrine and towards sentient beings who are beginners develop the recognition of them as teachers.
When seeing any sentient beings, develop the recognition of them as parents and children. Abandon misleading friends and rely on virtuous spiritual companions.
--Dipamkara Shrijnana's The Bodhisattvamaniavali - The Jewel Rosary Of An Awakening Warrior --From the book: Advice From A Spiritual Friend by Geshe Rabten and Geshe Dhargyey, Wisdom Publications

Abandon all doubts

Abandon all doubts and cherish exertion for accomplishing the practice. Abandon sleepiness, dullness and lazyness and always exert enthusiastic effort.
--Dipamkara Shrijnana, From: The Bodhisattvamaniavali - The Jewel Rosary Of An Awakening Warrior

Have a good heart, act with kindness, nothing is more important

Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887) Patrul Rinpoche spent most of his life wandering in the mountains, living in caves, forests, and hermitages lost in the wilderness, There he constantly meditated on love, compassion, and bodhicitta-the wish to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment. These he held as the very root of spiritual practice. To everyone, high and low, he would say, "Have a good heart, act with kindness; nothing is more important than that."

Eeverybody thinks that compassion is important.

Everybody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has compassion. True enough, but the Buddha gave uncommon quintessential instructions when he taught the methods for cultivating compassion, and the differences are extraordinarily important. Generally, everyone feels compassion, but the compassion is flawed. In what way? We measure it out. For instance, some feel compassion for human beings but not for animals and other types of sentient beings. Others feel compassion for animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for humans. Others, who feel compassion for human beings, feel compassion for the human beings of their own country but not for the human beings of other countries. Then, some feel compassion for their friends but not for anyone else. Thus, it seems that we draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for those on one side of the line but not for those on the other side of the line. We feel compassion for one group but not for another. That is where our compassion is flawed. What did the Buddha say about that? It is not necessary to draw that line. Nor is it suitable. Everyone wants compassion, and we can extend our compassion to everyone. -- from Lectures on Kamalashila's 'Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School' by Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, translated by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion

The Battle of Ego

THE BATTLE OF EGO

Student: The desire of ego to be fulfilled -- how does one liberate those desires of fulfillment that ego presents?

Chogyam Trungpa: It seems that trying to fulfill is another escape -- equally the same as trying to suppress. Generally there is a conflict between you and your experiences, your desires. It is a kind of game between ego and its extensions. Sometimes ego tries to overpower the projections, and sometimes the projections try to overpower ego -- that kind of battle goes on all the time. So the point is to see that battle as it is, rather than fulfill the desires or try to suppress them.

-- From TRANSCENDING MADNESS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SIX BARDOS edited by Judith Lief, page 141.

There are in a sense Two aspects of your mind

Dharma For Fri, Dec 23rd

There are in a sense two aspects of your mind.
There is how your mind is in it nature,
and how it appears or manifests in your experience.
From the point of view of the appearance of your mind,
you could say your mind is full of lots of suffering
and all sorts of confused or deluded projections.
But from the point of view of how your mind really is,
there is nothing in any of this confusion because all of this confusion
is secondary to the nature of mind itself.
Your mind as it is, is Buddha nature.

-- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Commentary on the Essence of Creation and
Completion

Never Speak Harsh Words

Never speak harsh words for they will rebound upon you. Angry words hurt And the hurt rebounds. Like a broken gong Be still, be silent. Know the stillness of freedom Where there is no more striving. --Buddha Shakyamuni, The Dhammapada, Shambhala Pocket Classics

Adverse conditions

Adverse conditions are spiritual friends. Devils and demons are emanations of the victorious ones. Illness is the broom for evil and obscurations. Suffering is the dance of what is.

-- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, The Great Path of Awakening

Pain in healed by empathy

Pain is healed by empathy rather than confrontation. The impulse to cooperate identifies the healer. The Sutra of the Immaculate Friend

merit accumulation

We cannot accumulate merit if we have a macho sense of pride and arrogance that we already have enough truth and virtue collected and now we are going to collect some more. The person who collects merit has to be humble and willing to give rather than being willing to collect. The more a person is willing to give, that much more effective, in some sense, is the accumulation of merit.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving Kindness

Continue practice into everyday life

Continue practice into everyday life with a single meditation, always keeping in mind the intention to help others in all activities, eating, dressing, sleeping, walking, or sitting.
Jamgon Kongtrul, The Great Path of Awakening

Desire is the source of endless problems

Desire is the source of endless problems. The more desires we have, the more we have to plan and work hard to realize them. Some time ago a businessman told me that the more he developed his company, the more he felt like making it even bigger. And the more he tried to make it bigger, the more he found he had to lie and fight mercilessly against his competitors. He had come to realize that wanting more and more made no sense, and that he only had to reduce the size of his business for competition to become less fierce so he would be able to carry out his work honestly. I found his testimony very true.

--His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from 365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the Heart

Gampopa

Childish sentient beings always cherish themselves and work for their own benefit, so they suffer. The Buddhas cherished others and worked for their benefit, so they attained Buddhahood.

-- Gampopa, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation

Elegance

Elegance here means appreciating things as they are. Things as you are and things as they are. There is a sense of delight and of fearlessness. You are not fearful of dark corners. If there are any dark, mysterious corners, black and confusing, you override them with your glory, your sense of beauty, your sense of cleanness, your feeling of being regal. Because you can override fearfulness in this way, tantra [or the highest stage in Tibetan Buddhist practice] is known as the king of all the yanas [stages on the path]. You take an attitude of having perfectly complete and very rich basic sanity.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From THE LION'S ROAR: An Introduction to Tantra

Deepak Chopra says...

God won't go away as long as human beings feel afraid and lonely. He might evolve--so one hopes--into something other than a white-bearded authority figure with a taste for vengeance. In moderate denominations that happened a long, long time ago. But modern life couldn't handle a nicer God. Millions of people feel too hollow and afraid, angry and attacked, lonely and disconnected. This phenomenon is called alienation. It was well diagnosed by Marx and Freud, who pointed out that the human psyche suffers terribly when people are yanked out of a connection with Nature, when traditions stop being a safety net, and when dislocation and insecurity are the daily norm.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/why-god-wont-leave-us-al_b_11238.html

It is true that we can say everything is illusion like a dream.But...

It is true that we can say everything is illusion, like a dream. But even a dream is real for us while we are sleeping. When we wake up we finally discover that everything we thought, saw and did was not real, but only a dream. In the same way life can be considered as a big dream, and death the moment we wake up.

--Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, From: The Mirror, Advice on the Presence of Awareness, Station Hill Press

That vulnerability is compassion

The rest of us could be covered with iron cast shields, but some sore spot always exists in us, which is fantastic. That sore spot is known as embryonic compassion, potential compassion. At least we have some kind of gap, some discrepancy in our state of being, which allows basic sanity to shine through.... Not only that, but there is also an inner wound, which is called tathagatagarbha, or buddha nature. Buddha nature is like a heart that is sliced and bruised by wisdom and compassion. When the external wound and the internal wound begin to meet and to communicate, then we begin to realize that our whole being is made out of one complete sore spot altogether. That vulnerability is compassion. We really have no way to defend ourelves anymore at all. A gigantic cosmic wound is all over the place -- an inward wound and an external wound at the same time. Both are sensitive to cold air, hot air, and little disturbances of atmosphere which begin to affect us both inwardly and outwardly. It is the living flame of love, if you would like to call it that.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From: TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING-KINDNESS, Shambhala

Compassion is based on some sense of "soft spot"

Compassion is based on some sense of "soft spot" in us. It is as if we had a pimple on our body that was very sore -- so sore that we do not want to rub it or scratch it....That sore spot on our body is an analogy for compassion. Why? Because even in the midst of immense aggression, insensitivity to our life, or laziness, we always have a soft spot, some point we can cultivate -- or at least not bruise. Every human being has that kind of basic sore spot, including animals. Whether we are crazy, dull, aggressive, ego-tripping, whatever we might be, there is still that sore spot taking place in us. An open wound, which might be a more vivid analogy, is always there.... We are not completely covered with a suit of armor all the time. We have a sore spot somewhere, some open wound somewhere. Such a relief! Thank earth!

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From: TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING-KINDNESS, Shambhala

They knew Plame was undercover

They knew Plame was undercover
by kos
Fri Oct 28, 2005 at 12:56:32 PM PDT
They knew, as Josh notes.
Go to page 5 of the indictment [PDF]. Top of the page, item #9.
On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Divison. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.
This is a crucial piece of information. the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) is part of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, i.e., not Directorate of Intelligence, the branch of the CIA where 'analysts' come from, but where the spies come from.
Libby's a long time national security hand. He knows exactly what CPD is and where it is. So does Cheney. They both knew. It's right there in the indictment.
::
Tags: Valerie Plame, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney (all tags)

The truth here

The truth here is that the calm state is the essence of the mind, and the movement is it's energy: they are two inseparable aspects of the same reality, like an ocean and it's waves or the sun and it's rays.

If we consider the calm state something positive to be achieved, and the movement of thoughts something negative to be abandoned, thereby cultivating the dualism of acceptance and rejection, then we will never overcome our ordinary mentality.

So, maintaining presence without unwanted diversion, one must simply acknowledge whatever thoughts arise - - good or bad, relevant or insignificant - and just continue observing the state of "movement"- - this point is vitally important.

--Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, From: The Mirror - Advice on the Presence of Awareness, Published by Station Hill Openings/ Barrytown, LTD.

When you have met your match

When you've met your match, you've found a teacher.

--Pema Chödron, Start Where You Are

THE ULTIMATE ASPECT OF THE DHARMA

There are many people who are more learned than I and more elevated in their wisdom. However, I have never made a separation between the spiritual and the worldly. If you understand the ultimate aspect of the dharma, this is the ultimate aspect of the world. And if you should cultivate the ultimate aspect of the world, this should be in harmony with the dharma. I am alone in presenting the tradition of thinking this way.
--From Chogyam Trungpa's Unpublished Diary, 1966.

That which is most important as an object of scrutiny

That which is most important as an object of scrutiny is the mind itself. We experience happiness and sadness, we experience attachment and aversion, we experience faith and devotion, and all of these experiences are thoughts or styles of thought that arise in our mind. External objects do not produce them. Therefore, it is our minds themselves that must be scrutinized and it is the true nature of our minds that must be recognized.

--Thrangu Rinpoche

To See what you have done

To see what you've done, look at your body. To see what you'll be, look at your actions.

--Jamgon Kongtrul, The Great Path of Awakening

When sunlight falls on a crystal

When sunlight falls on a crystal, lights of all colors of the rainbow appear; yet they have no substance that you can grasp. Likewise, all thoughts in their infinite variety- devotion, compassion, harmfulness, desire- are utterly without substance. That is the mind of the Buddha. There is no thought that is something other than voidness.

--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

"Before the apex stone is fitted"

Ever heard of Changing Images of Man?The report was issued by Stanford Research Institute in 1973, having been commissioned by the US Department of Education five years earlier, and its influence has far outstripped its limited circulation. Its one brush with a general readership came in 1982, when Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press republished it as "one of the 1,000 most important works of modern times," though at this writing even used copies are unavailable at any price through Amazon.The report found that "Analysis of the nature of contemporary societal problems leads to the conclusion that...the images of man that dominated the last two centuries will be inadequate for the post-industrial era."
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/10/before-apex-stone-is-fitted.html

The pure state of enlightenment

The pure state of enlightenment is our own mind... not some sort of dazzling light coming from outside. If we recognize our primordial state of pure presence, pure from the beginning, albeit temporarily obscured, and we stay present in this recognition without getting distracted, then all the impurities dissolve: this is the essence of the path. Now the nature of the primordial state as total purity truly manifests, and recognizing it for what it is, we become it's owner forever.

--Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

When thoughts arise

When thoughts arise,

Instead of regarding them as faults,

Recognize them to be empty and leave them just as they are.

-- Gyalwa Götsangpa, quoted in The Ocean of Definitive Meaning by H.H. IX Karmapa

Compassion is the ultimate attitude of wealth

Compassion is the ultimate attitude of wealth: an anti poverty-attitude, a war on want. It contains all sorts of heroic, juicy, positive, visionary, expansive qualities. And it implies larger-scale thinking, a freer and more expansive way of relating to yourself and the world... It is the attitude that one has been born fundamentally rich rather than that one must become rich.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

In the universe

In the universe there are infinite sentient beings, including all enlightened beings. All these beings, either enlightened or in samsara, have the same base. One of the most important things we learn in Dzogchen is what the base is. The base is our real condition. When we explain the base, we use the explanation of essence, nature and energy. There is no difference, enlightened or not. That is why in Dzogchen we say that since the beginning our state is the enlightened state. Our real base or condition never changes or is modified. If we follow the teaching and use methods or practices for purification, we purify obstacles, but that doesn't change our nature. Our real condition is the same base since the beginning.

--Chogyal Namkhai Norbu