Ocean of Dharma: January 2008

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: A Vast Store of Energy

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 30, 2008

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.

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

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Friday, January 25, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Creative Negativity

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 25, 2008

CREATIVE NEGATIVITY

The basic honesty and simplicity of negativity can be creative in community as well as in personal relationships. Basic negativity is very revealing, sharp, and accurate. If we leave it as basic negativity rather than overlaying it with conceptualizations, then we see the nature of its intelligence. Negativity breeds a great deal of energy, which clearly seen becomes intelligence. When we leave the energies as they are with their natural qualities, they are living rather than conceptualized. They strengthen our everyday lives.

From "Working with Negativity," in THE MYTH OF FREEDOM and the Way of Meditation, page 94. Shambhala Library edition.

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

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Beyond Self Justification

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 23, 2008

BEYOND SELF JUSTIFICATION

Negative negativity refers to the philosophies and rationales we use to justify avoiding our own pain. We would like to pretend that these "evil" and "foul-smelling" aspects of ourselves and our world are not really there, or that they should not be there, or even that they SHOULD be there. So negative negativity is usually self-justifying, self-contained. It allows nothing to pierce its protective shell -- a self-righteous way of trying to pretend that things are what we would like them to be instead of what they are.
This secondary, commenting kind of intelligence of double negativity is very cautious and cowardly as well as frivolous and emotional. It inhibits identification with the energy and intelligence of basic negativity. So let's forget about justifying ourselves, trying to prove to ourselves how good we are.

From "Working with Negativity," in THE MYTH OF FREEDOM and the Way of Meditation, page 94. Shambhala Library edition.

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

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Sunday, January 20, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Negative Negativity

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 20, 2008

NEGATIVE NEGATIVITY

Negativity breeds tension, friction, gossip, discontentment; but it is also very accurate, deliberate, and profound. Unfortunately, the heavy-handed interpretations and judgments we lay on these experiences obscure this fact. These interpretations and judgments are negative negativity, watching ourselves being negative and then deciding that the negativity is justified in being there. The negativity seems good-natured, with all sorts of good qualities in it, so we pat its back, guard it, and justify it. Or if we are blamed or attacked by others, we interpret their negativity as being good for us. In either case, the watcher, by commenting, interpreting, and judging, is camouflaging and hardening the basic negativity.

From "Working with Negativity," in THE MYTH OF FREEDOM and the Way of Meditation, page 93. Shambhala Library edition.

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

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Negativity

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 17, 2008

NEGATIVITY

We all experience negativity -- the basic aggression of wanting things to be different than they are. We cling, we defend, we attack, and throughout, there is a sense of one's own wretchedness, and so we blame the world for our pain. This is negativity. We experience it as terribly unpleasant, foul-smelling, something we want to get rid of. But if we look into it more deeply, it has a very juicy smell and is very alive. Negativity is not bad per se, but something living and precise, connected with reality.

From "Working with Negativity," in THE MYTH OF FREEDOM and the Way of Meditation, page 93. Shambhala Library edition.

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

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Buddhahood and Emptiness

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 14, 2008

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.

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

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Friday, January 11, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Conflicting Emotions

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 11, 2008

CONFLICTING EMOTIONS

Ego presents a twofold barrier: conflicting emotions and primitive beliefs about reality. You might call conflicting emotions anti-shunyata, anti-emptiness, because they do not allow or experience any space or lubrication to develop things. They are solid and definite. It is like the analogy of the pig, the symbol of ignorance, which just follows its nose and never sees any direction of any kind at all. It just keeps following , constantly guided by impulse. And whatever comes in front of its nose, it just consumes it and looks for the next one....
In this case, we are talking about emotions as primitive emotions. Take the example of anger, for instance. There is the primitive, conflicted quality of anger and there is also the energetic quality of the anger, which is quite different. Conflicting emotions are those that are purely trying to secure ego's aim and object, to fulfill ego's demand. They are based on constantly looking for security, maintaining the identity of "I am." Conflicting emotions also contain energy, which is the compassionate nature, the basic warmth and basic creative process. But somehow in that situation of primitive emotions, there is very little generosity of letting energy function by itself.

From "Fruition," in GLIMPSES OF SHUNYATA, page 53.

Of interest to readers: Go to http://www.chogyamtrungpa.com/blog.html for endings to THE BOY WITHOUT A NAME written by Ocean of Dharma subscribers.

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

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Please send comments on and contributions to OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK to the list moderator, Carolyn Gimian at: carolyn@shambhala.com.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Ceaseless Space

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 6, 2008

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.

Of interest to readers: Go to http://www.chogyamtrungpa.com/blog.html for endings to THE BOY WITHOUT A NAME written by Ocean of Dharma subscribers.

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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,112 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.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Buddhist Don't Con You

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 3, 2008

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.

Of interest to readers: Go to http://www.chogyamtrungpa.com/blog.html for endings to THE BOY WITHOUT A NAME written by Ocean of Dharma subscribers.

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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,121 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.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Story Endings Published This Week

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 1, 2008

STORY ENDINGS PUBLISHED THIS WEEK

Cheerful New Year to all Ocean of Dharma readers! A number of you sent in endings to The Boy without a Name, an unfinished story by Chogyam Trungpa. Starting today, I'm posting your contributions to the blog of the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project. I will post several every day, until they're all up on the site. Thanks to all who sent in their story endings.

To read the story and the endings, go to:

http://www.chogyamtrungpa.com/blog.html

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

OCEAN OF DHARMA QUOTES OF THE WEEK now has 5,128 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.
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