One’s relationship with the vajra master involves surrendering oneself to the teacher as the final expression of egolessness. This allows the practitioner to develop fully the threefold vajra nature: vajra body, vajra speech, vajra mind. The maturation of devotion into complete surrendering is called ‘lote lingkyur’ in Tibetan. Lote means ‘trust,’ ling means ‘completely,’ and […]
A story is told about Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant, who had the desire to engage in a long period of fasting. He began to grow feeble and weak; he couldn’t sit and meditate, so finally the Buddha told him, “Ananda, if there is no food, there is no body. If there is no body, […]
Great compassion is the source of great genuineness in the practitioner. Usually we want to cheat, to deceive, and twist things for our own sake. We distrust something or other, and feel that the situation is not quite right, so we begin to cheat or become evasive. We are trying to avoid something. But in […]
Developing basic sanity is a process of working on ourselves in which the path itself rather than the attainment of a goal becomes the working basis. The path itself is what constantly inspires us, rather than, in the style of the carrot and the donkey, promises about certain achievements that lie ahead of us… The […]
I think pleasure and pain are born out of the same kind of background. Generally, people regard pain as bad and pleasure as good, so much so that pleasure is regarded as joy and spiritual bliss, and is connected with heaven, while pain is associated with hell. So if one is able to see the […]
This restless mind is buddha nature. Because it is so intelligent, therefore it is restless. It is so transparent that we can’t put any patch on it to mask over the irritation—if we do, the irritation still comes through. We can’t hold the irritation back or maintain ego-style comfort anymore. In tantric literature, buddha mind […]
Mind functions singly. Once. And once. One thing at a time. The practice of mindfulness of mind is to be there with that one-shot perception, constantly… that is happening, now that is happening, now that is happening. Chögyam Trungpa
Sometimes one touches on a very painful spot where one is almost too shy to look into it, but somehow one still has to go through it. And by going into it, one finally achieves a real command of oneself. One gains a thorough knowledge of oneself for the first time. Chögyam Trungpa
In our ordinary experience, there is the world and there is you. Recognizing this does not mean that you are going against the Buddha’s teaching of egolessness. There is definitely something there, which is the working basis and magic of the path. You cannot negate that you taste a good cup of coffee. You cannot […]
The Shambhala approach is to befriend what is there, the everyday occurrence, which is real, obvious and constant. Then first thought, best thought becomes a shocking experience, which shocks us into reality. It may be the same blue sky and the same Volkswagen car that we drive to work every day. But that ordinariness is […]
Cultivating mindfulness is the attitude that allows us to see ourselves and our world quite accurately and precisely. When we talk about attitude in this context, we are talking about developing the awareness of mind, which is precisely what mindfulness is. Awareness of mind means that you are fundamentally aware and that your mind is […]
The practice of meditation brings all kinds of experiences of uncertainty, discontentment of all kinds. But those experiences seem to be absolutely necessary. In fact, they seem to be the sign that you are on the path at last. So we can’t do publicity by having testimonials for meditation practice. If we did, it would […]
Love is very noble, elegant, beautiful, resourceful and utterly visionary. Being utterly visionary has a touch of humor and a lot of fearlessness. It is the foundation of mahayana. You are willing to jump in, and you are entirely free from panic. You have long-lasting vision and effort. Bodhisattvas, mahayana practitioners committed to helping others, […]
The sun has a sense of all-pervasive brilliance, which does not discriminate in the slightest. It is the goodness that exists in a situation, in oneself, and in one’s world, which is expressed without doubt, hesitation, or regret. The sun principle also includes the notion of blessings descending upon us and creating sacred world. It […]
Is anger part of you or something separate? You have to make a greater connection with the anger and yourself. Even just sitting with it is not enough. It could still be like a bad marriage where there is no relationship. Emotions are part of you, your limbs. If you don’t have energy or emotion, […]
In the beginning, we must develop a confidence in our understanding, clearing out all preconceptions. Nihilism, eternalism, all beliefs have to be cut through, transcended. When the basic, absolute, ultimate hypocrisy has been unmasked, then one really begins to see the jewel shining in its brightness: the energetic, living quality of openness, the living quality […]
To benefit from meditation, you need more than just a glimpse. You need to make a commitment to training yourself in meditation. Otherwise, there will be a lot of gaps and missing the point, and you will experience unnecessary confusion. So it’s important to stick with the practice and follow the instructions that you receive. […]
No one can save us from the state of chaos or samsara unless we understand the meaning of chaos and confusion, unless we have experienced it and suffered from it. Otherwise, although we may be in the midst of chaos, we don’t notice it. You don’t begin to notice chaos until you are already on […]
We tend to think that the threats to our society or to ourselves are outside of us. We fear that some enemy will destroy us. But a society is destroyed from the inside, not from an attack by outsiders. We imagine an enemy coming with spears and machine guns to kill us, massacre us. In […]
You take refuge in the Buddha not as a savior – not with the feeling that you found something to make you secure – but as an example, as someone you can emulate. He is an example of an ordinary human being who saw through the deceptions of life, both on the ordinary and spiritual […]
