We are not going to find the mind

We are not going to find the mind, because there is no thing that is
the mind. Nevertheless, we have to go through the process of sitting
down an examining the mind and examining our experience to see what is
really going on.


H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, The Gem Ornament of Manifold Ornament Instructions, KDK Publications

Zen Master Dogen

All buddhas' compassion and sympathy for sentient beings
are neither for their own sake or for others.
It is just the nature of buddha-dharma.
Isn't it apparent that insects and animals nurture their offspring,
exhausting themselves with painful labors,
yet in the end have no reward when their offspring are grown?
In this way the compassion of small creatures for their offspring
naturally resembles the thought of all buddhas for sentient beings.


Zen Master Dogen, From:Moon In A Dewdrop, North Point Press

MEDITATION IS A SACRED ACTIVITY

When a person sits and meditates, it is a special situation; it is a sacred act of some kind. It has been said by Petrul Rinpoche, a great teacher about 100 years ago, that even if you have impure thoughts in the meditation hall, those thoughts are regarded as sacred thoughts. The most impure, most crude or confused thoughts, even those are regarded as sacred thoughts. Along with that, a sense of appreciating the discipline is in itself important, whether you have accomplished the discipline over all or not. If you fall asleep on your cushion, or feel that you haven't actually sat and meditated at all -- as soon as you sit on your cushion, you begin to mentally venture out all over the world, and the only thing that reminds you is when the ending gong sounds and you realize you are meditating, supposedly, physically -- even then, even such daydreams and things like that are important. Meditation is a sacred activity.

From "The First Foundation: Mindfulness of Body," in the 1973 Hinayana-Mahayana Transcripts, page 39.

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SELF-EXISTING PLEASURE

One of the definite characteristics of the Buddhist tantra, at least on the level of mahamudra [an advanced level of practice], is not running away from sense pleasures, but rather identifying with them, working with them as part of the working basis. That is an outstanding part of the tantric message. Pleasure in this case includes every kind of pleasure: psychosomatic, physical, psychological, and spiritual. Here it is quite different from the way in which spiritual materialists might seek pleasure -- by getting into the "other." In this case, it is getting into "this." There is a self-existing pleasureableness that is completely hollow from the ordinary point of view of ego's pleasure orientation...If you look at pleasure from the point of view of nakedness, the situation of being completely exposed, any pleasure you experience is full because of its hollowness.

From "Mahamudra," in ILLUSION'S GAME: The Life and Teaching of Naropa. Pages 120 to 121.

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OBVIOUSNESS BECOMES SACREDNESS

The approach of vajrayana Buddhism to sacredness is not so much a matter of things being big and enormous and beyond the measure of one's thought; rather it has to do with things being so true, so real, so direct. We know a fire burns. We know the earth carries us. We know that space accommodates us. All these are REAL facts, and so obvious. Obviousness becomes sacredness from the point of view of vajrayana. It is not that things are sacred because they are beyond our imagination, but because they are so obvious. The magic is simplicity. Winter gets cold, summer gets warm. Everything in every situation has a little magic. If we forget to eat, we get hungry. There is a causal aspect, which is the truth. So in this case, the sacredness is a matter of truth, of the obviousness of the whole thing.

From "The Levels of Mahamudra," in ILLUSION'S GAME: The Life and Teaching of Naropa. Page 133.

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July 21, 2008

Of interest to readers: Yesterday, July 20, there was a ceremony to install 3,000 gold CDs of Chogyam Trungpa's teachings in the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya at Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado. This was the Speech Empowerment of the Stupa, which also contains the body relics of Chogyam Trungpa. For photos and more information on this event, go to http://chronicleproject.com/speech_empowerment/speech_empowerment.html

WHAT HAPPENED TO EGO?

Student: How can you distinguish between ego-based self-confidence
and trust in oneself?

Chogyam Trungpa: Ego doesn't cut its own ground. Ego nurses its
ground. An egoless experience like prajna, or discriminating
awareness, cuts its own ground. That's where the irritation and
resentment come from. Within the realm of resentment, a soft heart
begins to develop, softness toward oneself. The softer you become
toward yourself, the more you want to cut your ground. Somehow the
question of ego doesn't apply at that point. Ego is already
dissipating and has given up its hold on you. This is an organic
thing that happens slowly in your practice. Somebody might ask you
later, "What happened to your ego?" And you might say, "Oh, I never
thought about that."

From "Giving Birth to Intellect," in ILLUSION'S GAME: The Life and
Teaching of Naropa. Page 83.

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PROTECTING THE MIND

You might say that it is very easy to understand or experience pain. Oh no. It takes a lot of understanding to realize pain....The method used in tantra to enable us to realize pain is called mantra. In this case, mantra has nothing to do with some verbal gibberish that you repeat over and over. Mantra here is an upaya, a skillful means. The derivation of the word mantra is the Sanskrit mantraya, which is a combination of two words. Manas means "mind," and traya means "protection." So mantra protects the mind, the fundamental intelligence or wakefulness. It does not protect it by using guards or putting it under a glass dome. Protection here is clearing away obstacles, clearing away threats. All threats to that intelligence are cleared away. This is the style of protection here.

From "Pain and Hopelessness," in ILLUSION'S GAME: The Life and Teaching of Naropa. Pages 56 to 57.

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FREEDOM FROM IMPRISONMENT

The experience of mahamudra is the pinnacle of the tradition of
tantra. Maha means "great," and mudra means "sign" or "gesture." To
experience mahamudra is to realize that the literal truth, the
symbolic truth, and the absolute truth are actually one thing, that
they take place on one dot, one spot. One experiences reality as the
great symbol that stands for itself. The bliss of mahamudra is not so
much great pleasure , but it is the experience of tremendous
spaciousness, freedom from imprisonment, which comes from seeing
through the duality of existence and realizing that the essence of
truth, the essence of space, is available on this very spot. The
freedom of mahamudra is measureless, unspeakable, fathomless. Such
fathomless space and complete freedom produce tremendous joy. This
type of joy is not conditioned by even the experience of freedom
itself; it is self-born, innate.

From "Sacred Outlook," in THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA, pages 168 to 169.

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THE TRUTH OF AWARENESS

The practice of meditation is not designed to develop pleasure, but to understand the truth of suffering; and in order to understand the truth of suffering, one also has to understand the truth of awareness. When true awareness takes place, suffering does not exist. Through awareness, suffering is somewhat changed in its perspective. It is not necessarily that you do not suffer, but the haunting quality that fundamentally you are in trouble is removed. It is like removing a splinter. It might hurt, and you might still feel pain, but the basic cause of that pain, the ego, has been removed.

From THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING: AND THE PATH OF LIBERATION, forthcoming from Shambhala Publications in April, 2009. Published in association with Vajradhatu Publications. Based on teachings given at the Vajradhatu Seminaries by Chogyam Trungpa. Edited by Judith Lief.

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DEATH IS REAL

Student: What should we try to communicate to a dying person?

Chogyam Trungpa: You see, death is a very real experience. Usually, we do not connect with a sense of reality. If we have an accident -- or whatever happens in our lives -- we do not regard it as a real experience, even though it may hurt us. It is real to us as far as pain and physical damages are concerned, but still it's not real for us because we immediately look at it in terms of how it could be otherwise. There's always the idea of first aid or some other redeeming aspect of the situation. If you are talking to a dying friend or relative, you should transmit the idea that death is a real experience, rather than that it's just a joke and the person could get better. Often people tell the dying person things like, "Life is really a joke altogether. The great saints say it's not real. Life is unreal. What is death, anyway?" When we try to take this kind of approach, we become jumpy ourselves, and that jumpiness is what we end up communicating to the dying person. We should help them to understand that death is real.

From "Death and the Sense of Experience," in CRAZY WISDOM, page 138.

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LET ANGER BE IN ITS OWN PLACE

Student: If I'm angry, instead of either expressing or suppressing my anger, how can I just relate to it? Should I stop the anger and just relate to the thought process?

Chogyam Trungpa: You don't stop the anger, you just are the anger. Anger just hangs out as it is. That is relating with the anger. Then the anger becomes vivid and directionless, and it diffuses into energy. The idea of relating with the emotion has nothing to do with expressing yourself to the other person. The Tibetan expression for that is rang sar shak, which means "leave it in its own place." Let anger be in its own place.

From "Death and the Sense of Experience" in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 137 to 138.

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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.

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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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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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