[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Let the Phenomena Play

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 20, 2008 

LET THE PHENOMENA PLAY
                                                                                       
A very important indication of the way the great Tibetan teacher Padmasambhava related with samsaric or confused mind is this: Let the confusion come through, and then let the confusion correct itself. It is like the story about a particular Zen master who had a woman student. The woman became pregnant and bore a child. Her parents came to the Zen master, bringing the child, and complained to him, saying, "This is your child; you should take care of it." The Zen master replied, "Is that so?" and he took the child and cared for it. A few years later, the woman was no longer able to bear the lie she had told....She went to her parents and said, "My teacher was not the father of the child; it was someone else." Then the parents became worried and felt they had better rescue the child from the hands of the teacher. They found him and said: "We have discovered that this is not your child. Now we are going to rescue it from you; we are going to take it away." And the Zen master just said, "Is that so?"
        So let the phenomena play. Let the phenomena make fools of themselves by themselves....So an important feature of Padmasambhava's style is letting the phenomena play themselves through rather than trying to prove or explain something.

From "Let the Phenomena Play," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 51 to 52.

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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