Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week
February 28, 2009
PASSIONLESSNESS
The first characteristic of a dharmic person, or a practitioner, is passionlessness, which is an interesting theme for Westerners. You have all kinds of possibilities of organizing and creating occupations -- from chewing gum to taking trips to the Bahamas. You are always looking for ways to solve your boredom, your boredom problem. In contrast, passionlessness means experiencing boredom properly and fully. You don't immediately fill the gap with all kinds of things....In Western society, when any little irritation comes up, there is always something to cure it. They even sell little pads to stick on your spectacles to keep them from sliding down, so that they will stay on your nose properly. From little things like pads for your spectacles to the biggest of the biggest, as long as anybody can afford it, the Western approach is to cure any kind of boredom, any kind of irritation at all. So passion is connected with being unable to relate to boredom -- needing some kind of sustaining power. And a practitioner is someone who can maintain himself, who can relate with boredom.
From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, pages 484 to 485.
Of interest to Ocean of Dharma subscribers:
A weekend conference on Mindfulness, Love and Relationship sponsored by the Omega Institute and the Shambhala Sun Foundation will take place April 3 to 5 in New York City. The presenters are Sylvia Boorstein, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, John Tarrant, and Polly Young-Eisendrath. A chance for those with an interest in meditation and the contemplative traditions to bring this together with the thorny issues of love and relationship that we all face. These teachings are part of the "What the Buddhists Teach" series. For registration and further information, go to:
https://www.eomega.org/omega/registration/workshop/38667fdf3f5bf8b8e192cc6e5a3b78ec/
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Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
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