DAWN OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

December 20, 2007

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. There’s 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 darkness
We 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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