[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Individual Liberation

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

January 15, 2009

INDIVIDUAL LIBERATION

It might be a somewhat depressing prospect to realize that you are so thoroughly soaked in this greasy, heavy, dark, and unpleasant thing called samsara, or confused existence, but that realization is tremendously helpful. That understanding alone is the source of realizing what we call buddha in the palm of your hand -­ the basic wakefulness already in your possession. Such vajrayana possibilities begin at this point, right here, in realizing your samsaric anxiousness. Understanding that anxiety, which is very frustrating and not so good, is the key to realizing where you are.
        The only way to work with this anxiety is the sitting practice of meditation, the taming of your mind, or shamatha practice. That is the basic idea of pratimoksha, or "individual liberation": taming yourself. The way to tame yourself, or to talk yourself out of this particular anxiety, is through the concentrated practice of
shamatha or meditative discipline. The beginning of the beginning of the path...is about how you can actually save yourself from samsaric neurosis.

From Chapter One, "Recognizing the Reality of Suffering," in THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING AND THE PATH OF LIBERATION, edited by Judith Lief, forthcoming this Spring from Shambhala Publications. To preorder your copy at a 20% discount, go to:
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-59030-668-0.cfm

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Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications,  the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
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