All the things taking place around our world, all the irritations and all the problems, are crucial. Without others we cannot attain enlightenment — in fact, we cannot even tread on the path. If there is no noise outside during our sitting meditation, we cannot develop mindfulness. If we do not have aches and pains […]
One of the problems meditators experience is that there is a slight, almost subconscious, guilty feeling that they ought to be doing something rather than just experiencing what goes on. When you begin to feel that you ought to be doing something, you automatically present millions of obstacles to yourself. Meditation is not a project; […]
Fundamentally, there is just open space, the basic ground, what we really are. Our most fundamental state of mind, before the creation of ego, is such that there is basic openness, basic freedom, a spacious quality; and we have now and have always had this openness. Chögyam Trungpa
The method that the Buddha discovered is meditation. He discovered that struggling to find answers did not work. It was only when there were gaps in his struggle that insights came to him. He began to realize that there was a sane, awake quality within him that manifested itself only in the absence of struggle. […]
A great teacher of meditation once said, “Meditating is trying to look at your own eyes without using a mirror.” That’s a very mysterious statement. How can we look at our own eyes without a mirror? The idea stops us in our tracks. But maybe we can explore that in our practice. The only way […]
Many people try to find a spiritual path where they do not have to face themselves but where they can still liberate themselves ~ liberate themselves from themselves, in fact. In truth, this is impossible. We cannot do that. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to see our gut, our real shit, […]
The approach of mindfulness of life is that if you are meditating in a room, you are meditating in a room. You don’t regard the room as a cave. If you are breathing, you are breathing, rather than convincing yourself you are a motionless rock. You keep your eyes open and simply let yourself be […]
Since enlightenment is based on dissolving the ego and its expectations, it has been said that you cannot watch your own burial, and you cannot congratulate yourself on becoming the first buddha of the age or the first buddha of New York. Chögyam Trungpa
Since mindfulness is part of one’s stream of consciousness, the practice of meditation cannot be regarded as something alien, as an emulation of some picturesque yogi who has a fixation on meditating all the time. Seen from the point of view of mindfulness of life, meditation is the total experience of any living being who […]
When you slouch, you are trying to hide your heart, protecting it by slumping over. But when you sit upright but relaxed in the posture of meditation, your heart is naked. Your entire being is exposed – to yourself, first of all, but to others as well. Through the practice of sitting still and following […]
As long as we follow a spiritual approach promising salvation, miracles, liberation, then we are bound by the “golden chain of spirituality.” Such a chain might be beautiful to wear, with its inlaid jewels and intricate carvings, but nevertheless, it imprisons us. People think they can wear the golden chain for decoration without being imprisoned […]
The dharma is based on honesty, on not having self-deception of any kind. When the dharma says blue, it is blue; when it says red, it is red. Dharma is like saying fire is hot, or the sky is blue: it is speaking the truth. The difference is that dharma is the truth of the […]
According to the Buddhist tradition, we don’t ever get new wisdom, nor does any foreign element come into our state of mind at all. Rather, practice is a question of waking up and shedding our covers. We have those goodies in us already; we only have to uncover them. Chögyam Trungpa
Elegance means appreciating things as they are. There is a sense of delight and of fearlessness. Chögyam Trungpa
Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy. Chögyam Trungpa
In reality, nothing can save us from a state of chaos or confusion unless we have acknowledged it and actually experienced it. Otherwise, even though we may be in the midst of chaos, we don’t even notice it, although we are subject to it. On the path of meditation, the first real glimpse of our […]
Awakened heart comes from being willing to face your state of mind. The sitting practice of meditation is a means to awaken this within you. When you awaken your heart, to your surprise, you find that it is empty. If you search for awakened heart, if you put your hand through your rib cage and […]
The basic idea of the practice is actually very joyful. It is wonderful that human beings can do such a fantastic exchange and that they are willing to invite such undesirable situations into their world. It is wonderful that they are willing to let go of even their smallest corners of secrecy and privacy, so […]
When you are fully gentle, without arrogance and without agression, you see the brilliance of the universe. You develop a true perception of the universe. Chögyam Trungpa
The whole concept of needing training for things is a weak approach, because it makes us feel that 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. Although we are not actually them, we believe […]
