The Boy without a Name, Part Two

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

December  26, 2007

[Part One was sent out on Christmas Eve. The story appears to be unfinished. If you find yourself with extra time in the next week and you'd like to finish the story -- or at least a chapter of it -- please send me your work. I'll post all the endings to the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project blog in the new year. Let me know if I can use your name or if you want to remain anonymous. Carolyn Gimian, Moderator]

THE BOY WITHOUT A NAME, Part Two

....I don't really have a home and I never spend more than ten days in one place. Originally I came from East Tibet and I traveled westwards to the lands of Lho and Mon. Grown-ups tend to stay in the same place for a long time and when they do travel they're so busy they never have time to look at the valleys and mountains around them. They don't even notice the interesting stones on the road, or the flowers, but just trample over them.
Of course they never have time to play and all they talk about is how many silver coins they've got and how many yaks their neighbor has. If you ask them to tell you about Lhasa they only know about the big shops in the Barko Market and things like that. They don't seem to know about the birds' nests under the edge of the roofs and the millions of insects that live in the city, beside themselves. So the only way I can see them is by going there myself.
        Tibet is such a beautiful country and each part of it has its own particular quality. There are lots of mountains and lakes and trees and things. There are so many things to see that my journey may take me a hundred years. The grown-ups race and fight against time, but for me time is a friend and I have no need to hurry.
            Today is the first day of my journey, so here I am, playing in the road.  I've only traveled 50 yards or so, but it would take the grown-ups ten years to learn what I've learned in this one day. When I looked up and saw the snow'mountain on the other side of the river, I composed the following song:  

O pillar of the sky, you high-peaked mountain of Tibet,

You're surrounded by hills with flowering shrubs and many kinds

      of herbs,

But your all-aloneness and your stillness still show through

As you wrap your peaceful cloud around your neck.

 

            The peak of this mountain pierces the sky and his snowcap glitters in the sun. The clouds move slowly across his shoulders, and when you see him, it's as though you see the whole of Tibet in one glance. I spent the whole morning looking at the mountain, but it's

impossible to understand it all. Sometimes he seems to be smiling in the brilliant sunlight, and sometimes he stands solemn and aloof while snow storms rage around him. Occasionally he shows himself in all simplicity, without adornments, and at times like those, one sees him directly and feels very close to him. His stillness and dignity are always there and remain untouched by the changing seasons. The days and months of the year don't really affect him. This mountain seems to have a kind and compassionate nature, as he allows all kinds of birds and animals to live on him and to feed off his body. But I felt I should know more about him, so I stopped to ask a magpie who was perching

on a rock.

                 �Tashi delly,� I said. (That�s how we greet people in Tibet.)

                 �Tashi delly,� said the magpie in a rather suspicious tone of voice.

                 "I wonder if you�d be very kind,"� said I, "and answer some questions for me.�

                 "I haven't time to waste on chattering with you," said the magpie, "I'm busy looking for food. And in any case you humans are usually full of trickery and you might be planning to kill me....�

From the archive of the unpublished poetry of Chogyam Trungpa.

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

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