Training the Mind

At the beginner's level, there is what is called, "training the mind."
The mind is like a crazy monkey, which leaps about and never stays in
one place...

The training, or the meditation practice, is a way to catch this
monkey to begin with. That is the starting point.
Traditionally, this training is called shamatha in Sanskrit, or shi-
ne in Tibetan, which means simply "the development of peace."

When we talk about the development of peace, we are not talking about
cultivating a peaceful state, as such, but about simplicity...

The practice of of the development of peace is one of imitating
stillness.
You are pretending to be still, although the mind is of course,
constantly jumping and relentless.


âFrom: The Teacup and The SkullcupâChogyam Trungpa On Zen and
Tantra, Pg. 72, Shambhala Publications

THE WISDOM OF FEAR

The crazy wisdom approach to fear is not regarding it as a hangup alone, but realizing it is intelligent. It has a message of its own. Fear is worth respecting. If we dismiss fear as an obstacle and ignore it, then we might end up with accidents. In other words, fear is a very wise message....The point is, you can't con fear or frighten fear. You have to respect fear. You might try to tell yourself that it's not real, that it's just false, but that kind of approach is very questionable. It is better to develop some kind of respect, realizing that neurosis also is a message, rather than garbage that you should just throw away. That's the whole starting point -- the idea of samsara and nirvana, confusion and enlightenment, being one. Samsara is not regarded as a nuisance alone, but it has its own potent message that is worthy of respect.

From "Fearlessness" in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 124 to 125.

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CONSTANT REJUVENATION

The main focus of crazy wisdom is the youthfulness of the enlightened
state of being. This youthfulness is the immediacy of experience, the
exploratory quality of it. "But wouldn't exploring age us, make us
old?" we might ask. We have to put so much energy into exploring. Do
we not become like a traveler who grows old through traveling? From
the point of view of crazy wisdom, this is not the case. Exploring is
no strain. You might have to do the same thing again and again, but
each time you discover new facets of it, which makes you younger.
Discovery is related with energy that feeds you constantly.
It brings your life to a very full, healthy state. So each time you
explore, you gain new health. You constantly come back to a sense of
being up to date in your experience of the world, of your life. So
the whole thing becomes constant rejuvenation.

From "Fearlessness" in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 118 to 119.

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used
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Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
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JUST THERE

Being open means being free to do whatever is called for in a given
situation. Because you do not want anything from the situation, you
are free to act in the way genuinely appropriate to it. And
similarly, if other people want something from you, that may be their
problem. You do not have to try to ingratiate yourself with anyone.
Openness means "being what you are." If you are comfortable being
yourself, then an environment of openness and communication arises
automatically and naturally.
It is like the idea of the moon shining on one hundred bowls
of water, so that there are one hundred moons, one in each bowl. This
is not the moon's design nor was it designed by anyone else. But for
some strange reason there happen to be one hundred moons reflected in
one hundred bowls of water. Openness means this kind of absolute
trust and self-confidence. If the bowls are there, they will reflect
your "moon-ness." If they are not there, they will not. Or if they
are only half there, then they will reflect only half a moon. It is
up to them. You are just there, the moon, open, and the bowls may
reflect you or not. You neither care nor do you not care. You are just there.

From "The Open Way," in CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM, pages
10102, 103 to 104.

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The Records That Count

The basic problem we seem to be facing is that we are too involved
with trying to prove something, which is connected with paranoia and
a feeling of poverty. When you are trying to prove or get something,
you are not open anymore, you have to check everything, and you have
to arrange it "correctly." It is such a paranoid way to live and it
really does not prove anything. One might set records in terms of
numbers and quantities -- that we have built the greatest, the
biggest; we have collected the most, the longest, the most gigantic.
But who is going to remember the record when you are dead? Or in one
hundred years? Or in ten years? Or in ten minutes? The records that
count are those of the given moment, of now -- whether or not
communication and openness are actually taking place now....In the
sacred writings, you never read stories of the bodhisattvas, the
great practitioners of mahayana, receiving medals. And quite rightly
so, because there is no need for them to prove anything. Their action
is spontaneous. It is the open life, open communication, which does
not involve struggle or speed at all.

From "The Open Way," in CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM, pages
102 to 103.

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Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
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LIBERATED FROM CONVENTIONALITY

Giving birth to bodhichitta in one's heart, buddha in one's heart brings freedom. That is the notion of freedom in Buddhism altogether. We are talking about freedom from the constriction of our own capabilities. It is as if we were extraordinary children, possessing all sorts of genius, and we were being undermined by the society around us, which was dying to make us normal people. Whenever we would show any mark of genius, our parents would get embarrassed.
They would try to put the lid on our pot, saying, "Charles, don't say those things. Just be an ordinary person." That is what actually happens to us, with or without our parents. I don't particularly want to blame our parents; we have also been doing this to ourselves. When we see something extraordinary, we are afraid to say so; we are afraid to express ourselves or to relate with such situations. So we put lids on ourselves -- on our potential, our capabilities. But in Buddhism we are liberated from that kind of conventionality.

>From OCEAN OF DHARMA: THE EVERYDAY WISDOM OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA. 365 Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 282.

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When One Is Meditating Properly

When one is meditating properly, it is entirely possible to think,
and the point is, that for the thought to arise at all,
there must be an aware and alert quality of mind.
Thus, when one is using this approach in meditation,
given that there is a spacious and transparently clear quality to the experience,
there is also the dynamic spark of awareness.
To be aware of the thoughts that arise in the mind,
be they nominally good or bad,
is itself an expression of that spark.
The specific nature or content of the thought is not the issue;
it is the awareness which is important.
Kalu Rinpoche

ENVIRONMENTAL GENEROSITY

Compassion has nothing to do with achievement at all. It is spacious
and very generous. When a person develops real compassion, he or she
is uncertain whether he is being generous to others or to himself,
because compassion is environmental generosity, without direction,
without "for me" and without "for them." It is filled with joy,
spontaneously existing joy, constant joy in the sense of trust, in
the sense that joy contains tremendous wealth, richness.

From "The Open Way," in CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM, page 99.

For photos, stories about the 16th Karmapa and reports on the visit
of the 17th: http://www.chronicleproject.com/stories_99.html

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IN OR OUT?

Ideas are not solid, if they are not founded on aggression or dogma.
We can have open ideas. There is no problem with that. Ideas are not
really founded on solid ground at all. They are just...ideas, which
is a very important point. If you completely buy into someone else's
idea or version of spirituality, it's like being caught in the jaws
of a crocodile. This is one of the problems with many approaches to
spirituality: either you are in it or you are not in it. In or out.
You can't actually experience the space between the two. That is a
problem, and that seems to be a spiritual materialistic trick to use
on people: trying to save them from their experience. That approach
is based on a hesitation or inability to provide everything
legitimately, step by step. If the leaders of a spiritual group feel
somewhat inadequate, they may tell potential students, "Buy it or
don't buy it." That seems to be too cheap. Spiritual discipline is
not based on becoming somebody else. But you become you in your
enlightened version. That is the whole point.

From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. 365
Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 182.
This new book of short teachings by Chogyam Trungpa contains many new
quotes, as well as some previously published on the Ocean of Dharma
list serv. Order your copy now at a 20% discount at
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-59030-536-2.cfm

[Originally from THE MISHAP LINEAGE: THE LINE OF THE TRUNGPAS.
Forthcoming from Shambhala Publications.]

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by permission.

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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.

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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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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.

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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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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.

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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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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.

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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.
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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.

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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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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.

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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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Vajra Pride

March 30, 2008

VAJRA PRIDE

Vajra, or indestructible, pride is the sense that basic sanity does
exist in our state of being, so we don't particularly have to try to
work it out logically. We don't have to prove that something is
happening or not happening. The basic dissatisfaction that causes us
to look for some spiritual understanding is an expression of vajra
pride: we are not willing to submit to the suppression of our
confusion. We are willing to stick our necks out. That seems to be a
first expression of the vajra-pride instinct -- and we can go on from there!

From "Let the Phenomena Play," in CRAZY WISDOM, page 60.

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

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his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
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Sane Romanticism

SANE ROMANTICISM

It is time to begin with the romantic approach, the sane romantic approach, not the materialistic romantic approach. Our being here together happened purely by accident. It is a very precious accident that we are able to discuss such a topic as the life of Padmasambhava, the great Tibetan teacher. The opportunity to discuss such a subject is very rare, unique, very precious. But such rare and precious situations go on constantly; our life as part of the teachings is extremely precious. Each person is here purely by accident, and since it was an accident, it cannot be repeated. That is why it is precious. That is why the dharma is precious. Everything becomes precious; human life becomes precious. There is this rare preciousness of our human life: we each have our brain, our sense perceptions, our materials to work on. We each have had our problems in the past: our depressions, our moments of insanity, our struggles -- all those make sense. So the journey goes on, the accident goes on -- which is that we are here. This is the kind of romanticism, the kind of warmth I am talking about. It is worthwhile approaching the teaching in this way.

From "Cynicism & Devotion," in CRAZY WISDOM, page 71.

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Our Mind

Our mind naturally possesses a kind of joy that we are not always in touch with.
In the beginning, we might have to look for it a little bit and inspire ourselves to feel happy.
If you do that every time you sit to meditate,
you will find that over time the joy will just be there and you'll recognize it.


Lama Norlha Rinpoche, Calm Abiding Meditation Seminar, Kittery Point, Maine, August 2005

THE DIGNITY OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE

March 16, 2008

The sword of hatred is ornamented with the handle of invasion,
A red star has imprisoned the sun and moon,
The high snow-peaked mountains are cloaked in the darkness of a poisonous wind;
The peaceful valleys have been shattered by the sound of artillery.
But the dignity of the Tibetan people competes with the glory of the sky.

Composed November 10, 1972.

From FIRST THOUGHT BEST THOUGHT, page 39. Also in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Seven, page 339.

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It is necessary to cultivate some discipline of mind

It is necessary to cultivate some discipline of mind,
for an undisciplined mind always finds excuses to act selfishly and
thoughtlessly.
When the mind is undisciplined, the body is also undisciplined, and
so is speech and action.
Buddha Shakyamuni, from: The Anguttara Nikaya

If your mind becomes firm like a rock

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

A SUDDEN FLASH OF ENLIGHTENMENT

A sudden flash of enlightenment does not need training. It does not require an educational system. It is inborn nature, not dependent on any kind of training at all. The whole concept of needing training for things is a very weak approach, because it makes us feel we cannot possess the potential in us, and that therefore we have to make ourselves better than we are; we have to try to compete with heroes or masters. So we try to imitate those heroes and masters, believing that finally, by some process of psychological switch, we might be able to become THEM. Although we are not actually them, we believe we could become them purely by imitating -- by pretending, by deceiving ourselves constantly that we are what we are not. But when this sudden flash of enlightenment occurs, such hypocrisy doesn't exist. You do not have to pretend to be something. You ARE something. You have certain tendencies existing in you in any case. It is just a question of putting them into practice.

From "Eternity and the Charnel Ground," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 41 to 42.

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Mind has no form

Mind has no form, no color, and no substance;
This is it's empty aspect.
Yet mind can know things and perceive an infinite variety of phenomena.
This is it's clear aspect.
The inseparability of these two aspects, emptiness and clarity,
is the primordial, continuous nature of mind.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Meditation is Not Therapeutic Practice At All

We seem to have a problem in this country
with the sense that meditation is included with psychotherapy or
physiotherapy or whatever.
A lot of Buddhists feel proud
because meditation is accepted as part of the therapeutic system, a
landmark or the Western world.
But I think that pride is simpleminded pride. Buddhism should
transcend the therapeutic practice of meditation.
Relating with gurus is quite different from going to your psychiatrist.

Chogyam Trunpga Rinpoche, Glimpses of Shunyata, Shambhala
Publications

THE CHARNEL GROUND

March 8, 2008

THE CHARNEL GROUND

As a young prince who had been recently turned out of his palace, the great Tibetan teacher Padmasambhava roamed around the charnel ground, the burial ground. The genteel young prince seemed to fit in to that scene quite well, as incongruous as it might seem. He was quite fearless, and his fearlessness became accommodation as he roamed through the jungle charnel ground near Bodhgaya. There were awesome-looking trees and terrifying rock shapes and the ruins of a temple. The whole feeling was one of death and desolation....He regarded this place as another palace in spite of all the terrifying sights. Seeing the impermanence of life, he discovered the eternity of life, the constant changing process of death and birth taking place all the time....
Our civilized world is so orderly that we do not see places like this charnel ground. Nevertheless there are the greater charnel grounds of birth, death, and chaos going on around us all the time. We encounter these charnel-ground situations in our lives constantly. If we identify with Padmasambhava, we could relate with that fearlessly. We could be inspired by this chaos -- so much so that chaos could become order in some sense. It could become orderly chaos rather than just confused chaos, because we would be able to relate with the world as it is.

From "Eternity and the Charnel Ground," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 39 to 40.

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THE BIRTH OF ENLIGHTENMENT

We have the idea that an enlightened person is supposed to be more or
less an old-wise-man type: not quite like an old professor, but
perhaps an old father who can supply sound advice on how to handle
all of life's problems or an old grandmother who knows all the
recipes and all the cures. That seems to be the current fantasy that
exists in our culture concerning enlightened beings. They are old and
wise, grown-up and solid. Tantra has a different notion of
enlightenment, which is connected with youth and innocence. We can
see this pattern in Padmasambhava's life, the life of the great
teacher who brought the tantric teachings of Buddhism to Tibet. Here
the awakened state of mind is portrayed not as old and adult but as
young and free. Youth and freedom in this case are connected with the
birth of the awakened state of mind. The awakened state of mind has
the quality of morning, of dawn -- fresh and sparkling, completely awake.

From "Primordial Innocence," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 26 to 27.

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Milarepa & The Four Preliminaries

Milarepa & The Four Preliminaries

If he froze, he froze. If he starved, he starved. If things were
difficult, they were difficult.
He put up with it all and was able to see through it all and attain
enlightenment.
That kind of commitment came from having understood the Four Basic
Preliminaries.*

â H.E. Kalu Rinpoche Dorje Chang â

From: The Gem Ornament Of Manifold Oral Instructions - Which Benefits
Each and Everyone Appropriately, KDK Publications

* The Four Basic Preliminaries are also known as the Four Thoughts
Which Turn the Mind to Dharma:
1) Precious Human Existence, 2) Impermanence, 3) Karma - AKA - Cause
& Effect, 4) The Defects Of Samsara - Cyclic Existence.

FEMININE ENERGY

It may be interesting to discuss the basic idea of energy, or the
principle of energy.
Basic energy is called sunyata, the energy of sunyata.
And from this energy of sunyata, or of emptiness or voidness, rises
the active energy,
which is called the dakini, or the feminine, principle of energy.
The dakini energy is all pervading energy within our state of mind.
Often this energy manifests as either destructive or positive.
Thus, the dakini principle of energy also seems to describe the
source of chaos in the world,
whether there may be war, or famine, or the confusion in people's minds.
Everything is caused by this dakini principle of energy, including
positive aspects of situations as well.
That is say, there should be an intuitive understanding of how this
principle, as the symbolic aspect of mind,
can be used in the world so that a person is able to use it and live
with it as a kind of inspiration.

âChogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, rom "Challenge from a Wise Demoness," an
unpublished talk given in 1970 as part of a seminar on the 100,000
Songs of Milarepa, at Karme-Choling, Vermont.

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

CONFUSION IS UP-TO-DATE

Question: Padmasambhava brought the Buddhist teachings to Tibet many
centuries ago. Does Padmasambhava's teaching remain up-to-date? Don't
historical and cultural changes require changes in the teaching?

Chogyam Trungpa: His teaching remains up-to-date because it is based
on relating with confusion. Our confusion remains up-to-date;
otherwise it would not confuse us. And the realization of confusion
also remains up-to-date, because confusion causes our questioning and
prompts us to wake up. The realization of the confusion is the
teaching, so it is a constantly living situation, constantly lived-in
and always applicable.

From "Cynicism and Devotion," in CRAZY WISDOM, page 69.

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by permission.

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Prepare To Leap

February 28, 2008 (In honor of Leap Year)

PREPARE TO LEAP

In order to overcome selfishness, it is necessary to be daring. It is as though you were
dressed in your swimsuit, standing on the diving board with a pool in front of you, and
you ask yourself: Now what? The obvious answer is: Jump. That is daring. You
might wonder if you will sink or hurt yourself if you jump. You might. There is no
insurance, but it is worthwhile jumping to find out what will happen. The student warrior
has to jump. We are so accustomed to accepting what is bad for us and rejecting what is
good for us. We are attracted to our cocoons, our selfishness, and we are afraid of
selflessness, stepping beyond ourselves. So in order to overcome our hesitation about
giving up our privacy, and in order to commit ourselves to others welfare, some kind of
leap is necessary.

From the forthcoming book: OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. Available any week now from Shambhala Publications.


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MILAREPA'S LAST INSTRUCTIONS

February 24, 2008

[Yesterday was the annual celebration of the life of Milarepa, a
great Tibetan yogi saint.]

MILAREPA'S LAST INSTRUCTIONS

Before Milarepa died, he gave his final instructions to the assembled
students. He said,
"When I die...don't build statues or stupas in my memory.
Instead, raise the banner of meditation. Reject all that increases
ego-clinging or inner poison, even if it appears good. Practice all
that benefits others, even if it appears bad. This is the true way of
dharma. Since life is short and the time of death unknown, devote
yourselves wholly to meditation. Act wisely and courageously
according to your innate insight, even at the cost of your life. In
short, act in a way that you will not be ashamed of."

From "Milarepa: A Warrior's Life" in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM
TRUNGPA, Volume Five, page 359.

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Shunyata

Shunyata means "emptiness."
It is vaguely connected with the idea of the attainment of
enlightenment.
The idea of the attainment of enlightenment is based on ignorance,
which is the opposite of enlightenment.
So if you accept shunyata,
you have to accept ignorance and enlightenment simultaneously.
Therefore the shunyata principle is accepting the language of samsara
as the language of enlightenment.
When we talk about aggression, passion, and confusion,
that automatically is the language of shunyata:
Aggression as opposed to what? Passion as opposed to what? Ignorance
as opposed to what?
That kind of open space is related to the shunyata principle.

â Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from: Glimpses of Shunyata, Shambhala
Publications

Self and Others

As you wish to be happy, so you should wish others to be happy too.
As you wish to be free from suffering, so you should wish that all
beings may also be free from suffering. You should think, âMay all
living creatures find happiness and the cause of happiness. May they
be free from suffering and the cause of suffering. May they always
have perfect happiness free from suffering. May they live in
equanimity, without attachment or hatred but with love towards all
without any discrimination.â

To feel overflowing love and almost unbearable compassion for all
living creatures is the best way to fulfil the wishes of all the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Even if for the moment you cannot actually
help anyone in an external way, meditate on love and compassion
constantly over the months and years until compassion is knit
inseparably into the very fabric of your mind.

âDilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Patrul Rinpoche

Your mind is spinning around
About carrying out a lot of useless projects:
It's a waste! Give it up!
Thinking about the hundred plans you want to accomplish,
With never enough time to finish them,
Just weighs down your mind.
You're completely distracted
By all these projects, which never come to an end,
But keep spreading out more, like ripples in water.
Don't be a fool: for once, just sit tight.
âPatrul Rinpoche, From: "Advice to Myself"

A BUDDHIST SAINT

February 10, 2008

A BUDDHIST SAINT

Padmasambhava was an Indian teacher who brought the complete
teachings of buddhadharma to Tibet. He remains our source of
inspiration even now, here in the West...I suppose the best way to
characterize Padmasambhava for people with a Western or Christian
cultural outlook is to say that he was a saint....The Buddhist
approach to spirituality is nontheistic. It does not have the
principle of an external divinity.The Buddhist approach to
spirituality is connected with awakening within oneself rather than
with relating to something external....A saint in the Buddhist
context -- for example, Padmasambhava or a great being like the
Buddha himself -- is someone who provides an example of the fact that
completely ordinary, confused human beings can wake themselves up.
They can put themselves together and wake themselves up....The pain,
the suffering of all kinds, the misery and the chaos that are part of
life, begins to wake them, shake them.

From "Padmasambhava and Spiritual Materialism," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 3 to 5.

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THE MOUSE AND THE TURQUOISE

February 7, 2008 SHAMBHALA DAY

A story for the Year of the Earth Mouse

THE MOUSE AND THE TURQUOISE

There is the Tibetan story of a certain monk who renounced his samsaric, confused life and decided to go live in a cave in order to meditate all the time. Prior to this he had been thinking continually of pain and suffering. His name was Ngonagpa of Langru, the Black-faced one of Langru, because he never smiled at all but saw everything in life in terms of pain. He remained in retreat for many years, very solemn and deadly honest, until one day he looked at the shrine and saw that someone had presented a big lump of turquoise as a gift to him. As he viewed the gift, he saw a mouse creep in and try to drag away the piece of turquoise. The mouse could not do it, so it went back to its hole and called another mouse. They both tried to drag away this big lump of turquoise but could not do it. So they squeaked together and called eight more mice that came and finally managed to drag the whole lump back into their hole. Then for the first time Ngonagpa of Langru began to laugh and smile. And that was his first introduction to openness, a sudden flash of enlightenment.
So a sense of humor is not merely a matter of trying to tell jokes or make puns, trying to be funny in a deliberate fashion. It involves seeing the basic irony of the juxtaposition of extremes, so that one is not caught taking them seriously, so that one does not seriously play their game of hope and fear.

From "A Sense of Humor" in CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM pp. 114-115.

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The Secular and the Spiritual

THE SECULAR AND THE SPIRITUAL

We could discuss the question of the amateurish and the genuine
warrior, in connection with the secular and the spiritual. When we
talk about the secular, we're referring to looking directly at
ourselves and discovering our existence and our health and our glory
without being influenced by any religious outlook. We are simply
discovering ourselves. Vajrayana Buddhists might say that's what they
are doing too, and maybe that's true. When we talk about a secular
approach, we're not talking about something desecrated. We are simply
talking about a situation where you have your own resources and your
existence, and you discover whatever is to be discovered from that.
We don't have to debuddhicize our discovery. We might find that what
we are actually looking for and experiencing in a secular way
coincides with Buddhist discoveries, the discoveries described in Buddhism.
Within the secular situation, we still have to use the
discipline presented by the Buddhist path. This is the discipline of
mindfulness and natural exertion, which is there so that we can
actually be open to ourselves, so that we are constantly checking on
ourselves, so to speak. In some subtle way, we might find that the
secular becomes very sacred, and very real, genuine. From that point
of genuineness, where the secular becomes sacred, we begin to
discover the true warrior as opposed to the mimicking warrior.

From Talk Three, Talks to Shambhala Training Directors, January 17,
1978. Unpublished.

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A VAST STORE OF ENERGY

A VAST STORE OF ENERGY

There is a vast store of energy which is not centered, which is not
ego's energy at all. It is this energy which is the centerless dance
of phenomena, the universe interpenetrating and making love to
itself. It has two characteristics: a fire quality of warmth and a
tendency to flow in a particular pattern, in the same way in which
fire contains a spark as well as the air which directs the spark. And
this energy is always ongoing, whether or not it is seen through the
confused filter of ego. It cannot be destroyed or interrupted at all.
It is like the ever-burning sun. It consumes everything to the point
where it allows no room for doubt or manipulation.

From "Love," in THE MYTH OF FREEDOM and the Way of Meditation, page
109. Shambhala Library edition.

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BUDDHAHOOD AND EMPTINESS

The final stage of buddha, the experience of buddhahood or total wakefulness, cannot exist without the background of shunyata, or emptiness. You cannot perceive form and you cannot attain enlightenment unless you are able to see that form also contains space. And you cannot attain an ultimate understanding of energy or vibration or musical sound unless you begin to see that music also contains silence. Energy contains action as well as nonaction. Both are levels of energy....In the end, in the final experience of shunyata, of emptiness or openness, form is a state of basic existence, in which there is no distortion of any kind whatsoever. Basic existence is not influenced by primitive emotions or primitive beliefs. Everything is seen clearly, precisely, right on the point.

From "Fruition," in GLIMPSES OF SHUNYATA, page 57.

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Ceaseless Space

The concept of shunyata or emptiness is ceaseless space, like the analogy of outer space which never ends. In some sense, the shunyata principle, or the principle of emptiness and openness, could be called a goal. In the sense of going from imperfection to perfection it could be called a goal. But it is not really a definite goal in the sense of achievement or a peak experience in which the student stops. In other words, the all-pervading quality of emptiness or shunyata provides tremendous room to expand constantly. From that point of view, achievement is the beginning point of another odyssey. The energy of compassion and of prajna, or knowledge, constantly goes on.

From "Fruition," in GLIMPSES OF SHUNYATA, page 52.

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BUDDHISTS DON'T CON YOU

Student: You often criticize a film by saying that it is too aware of the audience. But when people make films, especially in the West, the point is to entertain people.

Chogyam Trungpa: If you are completely confident in yourself, you don't have to think about the audience at all. You just do your thing, you just do it properly. This means YOU become the audience. What you make is entertainment, but that needs a certain amount of wisdom. When an artist does a painting for commission, there is a good likelihood that his painting will be one-sided because he is aware of the audience and he has to relate to the educational standards of the audience. If he presents his own style without reference to the audience, they will begin to react and automatically their sophistication will develop and eventually will reach the level of the artist....You see, we have the responsibility of raising the mentality of the audience. People might have to reach out with a certain amount of strain, but it's worth it. The whole civilization then begins to raise its level of sophistication....The beautiful thing about Buddhism, if I may say so, is that Buddhists don't try to con you. They just present what they have to say as it is, take it or leave it.

From "Visual Dharma: Film Workshop," in the COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Seven, pages 644-645.

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Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
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Khyentse Rinpoche

When sunlight falls on a crystal, lights of all colors of the rainbow
appear; yet they have no substance you can grasp.
Likewise, all thoughts in their infinite variety devotion,
compassion, harmfulness, desire are utterly without substance.
This is the mind of the Buddha. There is no thought that is other
than voidness;
If you recognize the void nature of thoughts at the very moment they
arise, they will dissolve.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Dawn of Enlightenment

DAWN OF ENLIGHTENMENT

A Solstice Quote

Within an enormous vacuum, an enormous space,
enormous outer space, you begin to experience the
dawn of enlightenment -- just the dawn. You get
the message that the sun is going to shine,
purely because there is a little glow in the
east. The dawn of enlightenment in the Buddhist
tradition cannot take place unless first there is
a sense of desolation, meaninglessness, and being
a fool, to begin with. Then the dawn of
enlightenment can actually take place properly.
You begin to experience what we might call, from
a traditional Western reference point, the Star
of Bethlehem. The birth of something is taking
place. Theres a star in the midnight sky. The
sky is black, deep blue, but there is a star
shining in that sky. There is hope in the
positive sense. There is something taking place.
Such a thing cannot happen unless there's
nightfall and darknessWe have already understood
that there's no me, no self, no ground. That
nonexistence begins to make sense. That
non-existence of self, of ego, becomes the Star
of Bethlehem, and the dawn of enlightenment begins to take place.

From "The Dawn of Enlightenment," Talk Five of
MEDITATION: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, July 8, 1974,
Naropa Institute. Edited from the transcript.

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

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Money As Mother's Milk

December 16, 2007

MONEY AS MOTHER'S MILK

As far as business ethics go, it's a question of friendship. When we have a business deal with somebody, we should not think in terms of cutting his throat, but we should have good faith in that particular person and a sense of tenderness toward him. Whether we are buying land from that person or just a tee shirt, there should be tenderness and faith. That goes a long way. On the whole, we should regard money as mother's milk: it nourishes us and it nourishes others. That should be our attitude to money. It's not just a bank coupon that we have in our wallet. Each dollar contains a lot of the past; many people worked for that particular one dollar, one cent. They worked so hard, with their sweat and tears. So we should respect it, like mother's milk. But at the same time, mother's milk can be given away to others, and we can produce more mother's milk. So we shouldn't hang onto it too tightly.

From "Regarding Money as Mother's Milk," an address at a business conference, June 19, 1981. Unpublished transcript.

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

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THE RICHNESS OF THE BUDDHA

December 10, 2007

When the Buddha attained enlightenment, he went around the cities and collected small pieces of cloth that were thrown away by other people. Apparently, he was a good seamstress, so he sewed all those little squares of cloth together, and he made a monastic garment out of them. And it came out beautifully, wonderfully. People remarked, "Look! Who is that person, that well-dressed, well-clad person?" That's where the tradition of sewing monastic robes out of small pieces of cloth came from. Buddha demonstrated that kind of richness, power, and strength. It was not a question of having expensive cloth sewn together, but it was the way the robe was worn, the way it looked. So richness is not purely a result of dollars and cents, or as they used to say in England, LSD, pounds, shillings, and pence. When a person is worthy of wealth, he has it; he embodies it.

From "Regarding Money as Mother's Milk," an address at a business conference, June 19, 1981. Unpublished transcript.

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

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The First Wakefulness

December 7, 2007

THE FIRST WAKEFULNESS

Lha in Tibetan literally means "divine" or "god," but here lha refers
to the highest points on earth, rather than a celestial realm. The
realm of lha is the peaks of snow mountains, where glaciers and bare
rock are found. Lha is the highest point, the point that catches the
light of the rising sun first of all. It is the places on earth that
reach into the heavens above, into the clouds, so lha is as close to
the heavens as the earth can reach. Psychologically, lha represents
the first wakefulness. It is the experience of tremendous freshness
and freedom from pollution in your state of mind. Lha is what
reflects the Great Eastern Sun [the vision of wakefulness] for the
first time in your being and it is also the sense of shining out,
projecting tremendous goodness. In the body, lha is the head,
especially the eyes and forehead, so it represents physical
upliftedness and projecting out as well.

From "Natural Hierarchy," in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the
Warrior, pages 108 to 109.
.
All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used
by permission.

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auction. The auction began November 21 and continues through December
12. They have assembled a wonderful selection of unique auction items
-- including original art, photographs, gift certificates from
contemplative publishers, meditation supplies, and retreat
opportunities. An original calligraphy by Chogyam Trungpa is being
auctioned. Bidding is underway.You can browse and bid
at http://www.shambhalasun.com/auction

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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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following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

December 3 1947

60 th birthday today.
The search term _from my site stats today_ shows "rainbow tibetan guru" from an English/Russian/Polish(?) Google query yielding these results with our presence showing up in the top 10 results:
http://www.google.mn/search?q=rainbow+tibetan+guru&hl=mn&start=60&sa=N

Oddly our ancestors are Russian/Polish

Fractal glimpses of rebirth I guess.

When we closely examine the ordinary habits that underlie whatever we do

When we closely examine the ordinary habits that underlie whatever we do and try to discover where they come from, we find that their very source is our failure to investigate them properly. We operate under the deluded assumption that everything has some sort of true, substantial reality. But when we look more carefully, we find that the phenomenal world is like a rainbowâvivid and colourful, but without any tangible existence. When a rainbow appears in the sky we see many beautiful coloursâ yet a rainbow is not something we can clothe ourselves with, or wear as an ornament. There is nothing we can take hold of; it is simply something that appears to us through the conjunction of various conditions. Thoughts arise in the mind in just the same way. They have no tangible reality or intrinsic existence at all. There is therefore no logical reason why thoughts should have so much power over us, nor any reason why we should be enslaved by them. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Like waves, all the activities of this life have rolled endlessly on, one after the other, yet they have left us feeling empty-handed. Myriads of thoughts have run through our mind, each one giving birth to many more, but what they have done is to increase our confusion and dissatisfaction. - Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

YOUR INDIVIDUAL MANDALA

In tantric iconography, in the set up of a mandala there are various guardian deities at different levels, and their duty is to set the boundary, or the wall of the mandala. That wall has four gates: east, west, south, and north. People are free to enter into the mandala from any direction, but before they come in, they should be processed or purified, cleansed of their obstacles. Then, when they come in, their visit will be worthwhile....Each person has to enter their own mandalas, on their own merit. Everybody has their own individual mandala situations, how they can enter their own buddhanature.From "Continuous Service: Working with the Mandala and the Echo Chamber," in TRUE COMMAND: The Teachings of the Dorje Kasung, Volume One, pages 100 to 101. Trident Publications. Available from shambhalashop.com..All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission.

Reserves

As our bodily reserves deplete themselves with age and illness it is important to remember that no matter how healthy we are, we are not going to live forever.The best one can hope for is to have the biological clock run out first without breaking down.It is sort of a chicken/egg thing regarding the relationship between running out and breaking down but all in all there are examples of those who pass on peacfully and without alot of mental or physical turmoil.Dr. Jarvis was not an eternalist by any means. He understood the influence of virus' and microbes on host objects and felt that to survive the environmental onslaught( http://www.jcrows.com/jarvisenvironment.html http://www.jcrows.com/jarvisweather.html )
one needed suitable reserves to ward off or slow down their effects.How does one maintain,build and observe the state of one's reserves? Jarvis recommends Lugol's Solution, apple cider vinegar, honey, kelp and the use of hydrion short range ph paper (nitrazine paper) for measuring the bodily acidity of urinary and sweat secretions in the 4.5-7.5 range.With Jarvis' tool kit one has the ability to move beyond a passive state with respect to maintaining health. Through his non proprietary methods one learns to facilitate the resiliency of our private and limited stock of energy reserves enabling us to respond to potential obstacles and interruptions in attention which would otherwise effect us adversely.

Sacred Mantra

One must understand the basic usage of mantra, or sacred syllables, in the teachings of Buddhism. Mantra is not at all a magical spell used in order to gain psychic powers for selfish purposes, such as accumulation of wealth, power over others, and destruction of enemies. According to the Buddhist teachings, all tantric practices, such as visualizations, hatha yoga, or any other yogic practices, must be based on the fundamental teaching of the Buddha, which is the understanding of the four marks of existence: impermanence (anitya), suffering (duhkha), void or emptiness (shunyata), and egolessness (anatman.) Divinities in Buddhism are not external. In other words, they are aspects of the awakened state of mind, such as the great bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara representing the compassionate aspect of buddha nature. There are various mantras, or sacred syllables, connected with these great beings, which help to achieve the essence of compassion, wisdom, or energy. From "Hum: An Approach to Mantra," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Five, pages 317 to 318. . All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission.
NOTICE OF INTEREST TO SUBSCRIBERS: Our friends at Shambhala Sun Foundation (publishers of the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines) are hosting their first-ever online auction -- November 21 through December 12. They have assembled a wonderful selection of unique auction items -- including original art, photographs, gift certificates from contemplative publishers, meditation supplies, and retreat opportunities. An original calligraphy by Chogyam Trungpa is being auctioned. Bidding is underway. You can browse and bid at http://www.shambhalasun.com/auction All proceeds from this online auction will help to print the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly on environmentally responsible paper, and to establish youth internships training the next generation of editors and designers to publish the dharma. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 049 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

Be Grateful to Everyone

Without others, we would have no chance at all to develop beyond ego. So the idea here is to feel grateful that others are presenting us with tremendous obstacles -- even threats or challenges. The point is to appreciate that. Without them, we could not follow the path at all. Walking on the path of the dharma is connected with dealing with our neurosis. But if there were no neuros-ees, we couldn't develop any neuros-is. Therefore, we should feel very grateful to such persons. They are actually the ones who are pushing us onto the path of dharma.

From "Transformation of Bad Circumstances," in TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING KINDNESS, page 92. . All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission.

NOTICE OF INTEREST TO SUBSCRIBERS: >>Our friends at Shambhala Sun Foundation (publishers of the >>Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines) are hosting their >>first-ever online auction- November 21 through December 12. They >>have assembled a wonderful selection of unique auction items - >>including original art, photoraphs, gift certificates from >>contemplative publishers, meditation supplies, and retreat >>opportunities. An original calligraphy by Chogyam Trungpa is one of >>the items being auctioned. Bidding has already opened. >> >>You can browse and bid at http://www.shambhalasun.com/auction >> >>All proceeds from this online auction will help to print the >>Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly on >>environmentally responsible paper, and to establish youth >>internships training the next generation of editors and designers >>to publish the dharma. Your auction bids will support the Shambhala >>Sun Foundation's mission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 048 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

The only land really worth claiming

You might buy a piece of land, clear it, build a house, and cultivate fields,
with the idea that these activities will bring you happiness and satisfaction in the future.
But it is simply not so.
The only land really worth claiming is the stronghold of primordial sim-
plicity, the ultimate and unchanging nature of all things. The way to take hold of it is by
solitary meditation, progressing through the different stages of the path culminating in the Great Perfection. Once you have taken full possession of it, you will be able to dwell
there for the rest of your life, after death, and during all your lives to come. But to get
to that point, be ready for a thousand acts of bravery.

Dilgo Khyentse& Padampa Sangye
The Hundred Verses of Advice

If we try to hard, meditation becomes difficult

If we try too hard, meditation becomes difficult. But it is so easy... Meditation is resting in our own natural awareness.
- Yongey Mingyur Dorje Rinpoche

Misunderstanding of the principle of the voidness of all phenomena - Prajnaparamita

"A Person may become convinced that everything is an illusion, unreal, and may believe he can do anything. But this is a big mistake. As long as we have a body we must respect all of it's limits and needs. If we touch fire with our finger, we immediately feel it burn and pull it back.
This means we have not realized the condition in which there is no I, in which the limits of the physical body no longer remain."
- Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

The Different Types of Karma

Among the different types of karma, we can further distinguish propelling karma and completing karma.
Propelling karma, as its name suggests, propels one into a state of existence, whatever that may be.
Completing karma determines the specific circumstances within that state of existence; it fills in the basic outline produced by the propelling karma.
These two types of karma can combine so that
" ... if the karma propelling a certain mode of existence were positive and the completing karma that fills in the particulars were negative, we may take birth in a higher state of consciousness, but we would experience unpleasant conditions in that lifetime. For example, although we might take birth as a human, we would be poor.
Conversely, a negative propelling karma associated with a positive completing karma would cause us to take birth in a lower-realm existence in which we would enjoy good circumstances. For example, we might be born in the West as a domestic animal that had very privileged living conditions."
Khyabje Kalu Rinpoche (d.1989) discussed two forms of karma in Luminous Mind, (Wisdom Publications:)

Become the Car

In the practice of meditation, there is a term for awareness, sheshin, which means knowing as it is or knowing things as they are. Awareness is sharpening our antenna, so that a visual, olfactory, auditory, sensory, total perceptual sense of expansion is taking place. It is analagous to driving a car. If we rent a car, at the beginning, when we first start driving, we are concerned about how the car accelerates and how to work all the little gadgets on the dashboard, and how to control the power and speed of the car. If you are an experienced driver, however, you begin to tune yourself immediately into the size of the car, whether it's big or small. Your whole awareness becomes the car, as if the car were your body. So you don't miscalculate the size of the car on the highway, and you know your size, its size, for parking, for that matter. In terms of awareness in meditation practice, we should similarly adapt ourselves. There is a sense of perception expanding, a sense of radiation and seeing how far our feelings extend. Our life situation, running our day to day life, also works that way.
From Talk Four of MEDITATION: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, a five talk seminar at Naropa University, July 1, 1974, Boulder, Colorado. Edited from the transcript.All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 321 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.
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DON'T MISS YOUR EXIT

In life, if you are being too watchful, too mindful, it is possible that you will lose your awareness. That is to say, if you are driving a car and watching the highway more than necessary, you may not see the signposts on the side of the road. You aren't aware of them. You are completely mindful of your driving, watchful of your driving. You are so concerned about your driving and about watching the car in front of you and the car behind you that you miss your exit, because you aren't aware of it. In the practice of meditation, to begin with, it's necessary to have that kind of caution. As we drive on the highway, you need the directness of watching the guy in front of you and behind you, while keeping to the speed limit and watching out for cops. But then, you need something else. However, I wouldn't suggest to students that they try to shift their practice of meditation. Stick to the basic practice of concentration. Then at some point, you will naturally begin to develop some sense of expansion, a sense of greater awareness.
From Talk Four of MEDITATION: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, a five talk seminar at Naropa University, July 1, 1974, Boulder, Colorado. Edited from the transcript.All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 328 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 GimianOcean 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

Is The Awakened Mind of Buddha Attainable?

Is The Awakened Mind of Buddha Attainable?
Yes, Subhuti. With regard to that highest and most awakened mind, I have not attained anything.
That mind is everywhere equally. It cannot be attained or grasped, but it can be realized.
It is realized through the practice of all good actions when they are done in the spirit of no self and no object of self.
- Prajnaparamita

If you want to communicate with others

If you want to communicate with others, you don't have to shout and bang on the table in order to get them to listen. If you are telling the truth, then you can speak gently, and your words will have power. - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

ENLIGHTENMENT IN NEW YORK

I had tremendous fun driving through New York City. A friend and I drove together in New York and we were constantly amazed at how much is going on there. That value doesn't have to be judged as either positive or negative, but it is just how things happen. It's a fantastic display. Trying to fall asleep in the morning, there were garbage trucks and tractors and sirens and people shouting. I was hearing everything through the window, which was also a fantastic experience. If only people just used what they had around them in their environment, there is already the working basis of enlightened society in how we can actually work with the situation. Often when we talk about enlightenment, it is how we can shut off any nuisances of any kind. That often seems to be people's idea. Even the misunderstanding of peace and tranquility is to go off, stop, altogether, close your eyes. That's become the problem.
From" Overcoming Habitual Patterns," in COLLECTED KALAPA ASSEMBLIES, page 267. All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 309 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 GimianOcean 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

The Different Levels of Faith_Dilgo Khysentse Rinpoche

There are different levels of faith. First, clear faith refers to the joy and clarity and change in our perceptions that we experience when we hear about the qualities of the Three Jewels and the lives of the Buddha and the great teachers. Longing faith is experienced when we think about the latter and are filled with a great desire to know more about their qualities and to acquire these ourselves. Confident faith comes through practicing the Dharma, when we acquire complete confidence in the truth of the teachings and the enlightenment of the Buddha. Finally, when faith has become so much a part of ourselves that even if our lives were at risk we could never give it up, it has become irreversible faith. --from The Excellent Path to Enlightenment by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications

RESOURCEFULNESS

Building up confidence and joy in your own richness is the essence of generosity. It is the sense of resourcefulness, that you can deal with whatever is available around you and not feel poverty-stricken. Even if you are abandoned in the middle of a desert and you want a pillow, you can find a piece of rock with moss on it that is quite comfortable to put your head on. Then you can lie down and have a good sleep. Having such a sense of resourcefulness and richness seems to be the main point. Practicing that resourcefulness and richness, or generosity, is the way to become mahayanists, practitioners of the great vehicle of Buddhism. >From "Transformation of Bad Circumstances," in TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING-KINDNESS, page 64. Shambhala Library Edition.

SACREDNESS AND SUPERSTITION

There is a great deal of difference between sacredness and superstition. Superstition is believing something that you've been told, such as that, if somebody drops a rotten egg on your head, it is bad luck. Superstition has no foundation in basic practice. Sacredness, however, is like the experience when you look at pure gold: you get some transmission of pure goldness because gold IS pure and good. Similarly, when you converse with a person of great wisdom, the conversation doesn't necessarily have to be profound per se -- it could just be "hello" and "good-bye" -- but you experience the basic nature of goodness coming out of that person. From "The Warrior's Way," a sourcebook for Shambhala Training, page 11. All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo.

THE PHONE CALL OF NOWNESSThe

The natural process of freeing yourselves from arrogance and cutting off your habitual tendencies is a very drastic measure for a lot of you. You should understand that I have tremendous sympathy for all of you....Habitual tendencies come back all the time. At this very moment, some of you may be thinking: "When I'm done reading this, I should make a phone call," or "When this is over, I should do this and that." Habitual tendencies overcome nowness. That doesn't necessarily mean to say, of course, that you shouldn't make your phone call. You can make your phone call on the basis of nowness, on the level of duty or efficiency -- almost on a military level. But when you mindlessly follow your habitual tendencies, you recruit a lot of cronies to join you and cheer you up, you begin to collect in-groupies, and you begin to collect your own little problems.From" Overcoming Habitual Patterns," in COLLECTED KALAPA ASSEMBLIES, page 263 to 264.
All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 252 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.
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HABITUAL PATTERNS

Arrogance comes from lack of gentleness. Beyond that, lack of gentleness comes from relying on habitual patterns of behavior.....By clinging to habitual behavior, we are cutting ourselves off from the warrior's world. Habitual patterns are almost like reflexes: when we are shocked, we panic, and when we are attacked, we become defensive. On a more subtle level, we use habitual patterns to hide our self-consciousness. When we feel inadequate, we employ habitual responses to patch up our self-image: we invent excuses to shield our inadequacies from other people. Our standard emotional responses are often reflections of habitual patterns, as are mental fatigue, restlessness, irritation over something we don't like, and many of our desires. We use our habitual patterns to seal ourselves off and to build ourselves up.
From" Overcoming Habitual Patterns," in SHAMBHALA: THE SACRED PATH OF THE WARRIOR, page 120. Dragon Edition.All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission.
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Beyond Depression

Let us give up depression. Let us literally give up depression. Then we can smile beautifully, utterly, extraordinarily....I know that sometimes the brilliance of going beyond your depression is so terrifying, but nonetheless, you have to do it. Your cowardice will provide bravery at the same time. When you feel so cowardly and afraid, it is equal to when you see a terrible darkness: you see brilliance at the same time. Please come and join us with a smile. You can do it! It has been done, and you are capable of doing so. Thank you. Please ask questions.
Student: Is there some kind of wisdom behind the depression and we get depressed because...Chogyam Trungpa: Not wisdom behind, but wisdom in front. Wisdom is there. R-r-r-right now!
From "Beyond Depression," in GREAT EASTERN SUN: THE WISDOM OF SHAMBHALA, pages 203 to 205. All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 249 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 GimianOcean 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

The Self

The self is simply a vague and convenient concept that we project now here and now there
onto a stream of experiences, and is nothing in or of itself.
- Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

THE MEETING OF TWO MINDS

The role of the spiritual friend or teacher is to take you out for a walk to look at the star of Bethlehem. "Take a look. We are going to go out there. Our trip begins tomorrow..." Then you get a personal experience, which is mutual between you and the spiritual friend, and then you have a goal, the idea that you want to get to the star of Bethlehem, enlightenment. It is a real experience at that point, no myth. It is not an optical illusion at all. There is the star of Bethlehem out there shining, and it is not a matter of conmanship at all. It's a real experience, very real. According to the Zen tradition, it is known as a satori experience. Or it can be called the meeting of two minds. A person has shown you a certain way of handling oneself, one's emotions, disciplines of all kinds. But the main point here is making enlightenment real.
From "The Star of Bethlehem," in THE PATH IS THE GOAL: A BASIC HANDBOOK OF BUDDHIST MEDITATION, pages 40 to 41. Edited by Sherab Chodzin.
The winners in the Ocean of Dharma: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa contest have been selected. Everyone who suggested a quote for the book was included in the draw, which was held during a meeting of discussion group leaders (they drew the names) for a class on meditation that I help to teach on Monday nights.
The following twelve people -- from five different countries and three continents -- won a copy of the book, which will be out next Spring:
Jeff Krouk_J.Crow_, New Ipswich, New Hampshire
John Reacroft, London, England
Matthew DiRodio, Morgantown, Pennsylvania
Roxie Lauer, N. Ferriburgh, Vermont
Deborah Lafferty, Alameda, California
Ilya Slavutskiy, Brooklyn, New York
Marke Slipp, Centreville, Nova Scotia, Canada
Bjarne Timonen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Daniel Nguyen, Dollard Des Ormeaux, Quebec, Canada
Cynthia Schroer, Nashua, New Hampshire
Jaime Gomez, Uxbridge, England
Christopher Hazzard, Victoria, Australia
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all those who participated. All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used by permission. OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5, 247 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