[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Vajra Pride

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 30, 2008 

VAJRA PRIDE

Vajra, or indestructible, pride is the sense that basic sanity does exist in our state of being, so we don't particularly have to try to work it out logically. We don't have to prove that something is happening or not happening. The basic dissatisfaction that causes us to look for some spiritual understanding is an expression of vajra pride: we are not willing to submit to the suppression of our confusion. We are willing to stick our necks out. That seems to be a first expression of the vajra-pride instinct -- and we can go on from there!

From "Let the Phenomena Play," in CRAZY WISDOM, page 60.

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.
Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications,  the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
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[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Sane Romanticism

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

[Ocean of Dharma will be on vacation for a week. We'll be back next Sunday, March 30.]

March 23, 2008 

SANE ROMANTICISM

It is time to begin with the romantic approach, the sane romantic approach, not the materialistic romantic approach. Our being here together happened purely by accident. It is a very precious accident that we are able to discuss such a topic as the life of Padmasambhava, the great Tibetan teacher. The opportunity to discuss such a subject is very rare, unique, very precious. But such rare and precious situations go on constantly; our life as part of the teachings is extremely precious. Each person is here purely by accident, and since it was an accident, it cannot be repeated. That is why it is precious. That is why the dharma is precious. Everything becomes precious; human life becomes precious. There is this rare preciousness of our human life: we each have our brain, our sense perceptions, our materials to work on. We each have had our problems in the past: our depressions, our moments of insanity, our struggles -- all those make sense. So the journey goes on, the accident goes on -- which is that we are here. This is the kind of romanticism, the kind of warmth I am talking about. It is worthwhile approaching the teaching in this way.

From "Cynicism & Devotion," in CRAZY WISDOM, page 71.

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

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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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[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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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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: The Dignity of the Tibetan People

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 16, 2008 
                                                                                       
THE DIGNITY OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE

The sword of hatred is ornamented with the handle of invasion,
A red star has imprisoned the sun and moon,
The high snow-peaked mountains are cloaked in the darkness of a poisonous wind;
The peaceful valleys have been shattered by the sound of artillery.
But the dignity of the Tibetan people competes with the glory of the sky.

Composed November 10, 1972.

From FIRST THOUGHT BEST THOUGHT, page 39. Also in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Seven, page 339.

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

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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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: A Sudden Flash of Enlightenment

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 13, 2008 

A SUDDEN FLASH OF ENLIGHTENMENT

A sudden flash of enlightenment does not need training. It does not require an educational system. It is inborn nature, not dependent on any kind of training at all. The whole concept of needing training for things is a very weak approach, because it makes us feel we cannot possess the potential in us, and that therefore we have to make ourselves better than we are; we have to try to compete with heroes or masters. So we try to imitate those heroes and masters, believing that finally, by some process of psychological switch, we might be able to become THEM. Although we are not actually them, we believe we could become them purely by imitating -- by pretending, by deceiving ourselves constantly that we are what we are not. But when this sudden flash of enlightenment occurs, such hypocrisy doesn't exist. You do not have to pretend to be something. You ARE something. You have certain tendencies existing in you in any case. It is just a question of putting them into practice.

From "Eternity and the Charnel Ground," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 41 to 42.

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

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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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[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: The Charnel Ground

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 8, 2008 

THE CHARNEL GROUND

As a young prince who had been recently turned out of his palace, the great Tibetan teacher Padmasambhava roamed around the charnel ground, the burial ground. The genteel young prince seemed to fit in to that scene quite well, as incongruous as it might seem. He was quite fearless, and his fearlessness became accommodation as he roamed through the jungle charnel ground near Bodhgaya. There were awesome-looking trees and terrifying rock shapes and the ruins of a temple. The whole feeling was one of death and desolation....He regarded this place as another palace in spite of all the terrifying sights. Seeing the impermanence of life, he discovered the eternity of life, the constant changing process of death and birth taking place all the time....
        Our civilized world is so orderly that we do not see places like this charnel ground. Nevertheless there are the greater charnel grounds of birth, death, and chaos going on around us all the time. We encounter these charnel-ground situations in our lives constantly. If we identify with Padmasambhava, we could relate with that fearlessly. We could be inspired by this chaos -- so much so that chaos could become order in some sense. It could become orderly chaos rather than just confused chaos, because we would be able to relate with the world as it is.

From "Eternity and the Charnel Ground," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 39 to 40.

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

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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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: The Birth of Enlightenment

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 5, 2008 

THE BIRTH OF ENLIGHTENMENT

We have the idea that an enlightened person is supposed to be more or less an old-wise-man type: not quite like an old professor, but perhaps an old father who can supply sound advice on how to handle all of life's problems or an old grandmother who knows all the recipes and all the cures. That seems to be the current fantasy that exists in our culture concerning enlightened beings. They are old and wise, grown-up and solid. Tantra has a different notion of enlightenment, which is connected with youth and innocence. We can see this pattern in Padmasambhava's life, the life of the great teacher who brought the tantric teachings of Buddhism to Tibet. Here the awakened state of mind is portrayed not as old and adult but as young and free. Youth and freedom in this case are connected with the birth of the awakened state of mind. The awakened state of mind has the quality of morning, of dawn -- fresh and sparkling, completely awake.

From "Primordial Innocence," in CRAZY WISDOM, pages 26 to 27.

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

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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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com

[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Confusion Is Up-To-Date

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 2, 2008 

CONFUSION IS UP-TO-DATE

Question:  Padmasambhava brought the Buddhist teachings to Tibet many centuries ago. Does Padmasambhava's teaching remain up-to-date? Don't historical and cultural changes require changes in the teaching?

Chogyam Trungpa:  His teaching remains up-to-date because it is based on relating with confusion. Our confusion remains up-to-date; otherwise it would not confuse us. And the realization of confusion also remains up-to-date, because confusion causes our questioning and prompts us to wake up. The realization of the confusion is the teaching, so it is a constantly living situation, constantly lived-in and always applicable.

From "Cynicism and Devotion," in CRAZY WISDOM, page 69.

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

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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.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the Chogyam Trungpa website by clicking on the following link: http://OceanofDharma.com