Quote Archives: Chögyam Trungpa

 

Back to square one ~ Chögyam Trungpa

By being back to square one constantly, we find lightheartedness in the ultimate sense. Chögyam Trungpa

Exposed ~ Chögyam Trungpa

In meditation practice, finally, we are exposed. We hoped that we wouldn’t have to go through the embarrassment of exposing ourselves; we hoped to bypass that particular area and become enlightened. You might talk about how bad you used to be. It’s okay to talk about that because it’s in the past; you are already […]

Decency is free from trickery ~ Chögyam Trungpa

When we’re having trouble maintaining our ground or ourselves, we play all kinds of tricks. That trickery brings hope and fear. You’re so tempted; at the same time, you’re so afraid. Decency is being free from trickery, free from the tricks we play on ourselves or on each other to maintain our basic existence. In […]

The cast iron frying pan of mindlessness ~ Chögyam Trungpa

We are determined to ignore the possibility of any spaciousness in our experience. Space is completely frozen into mindlessness. There is a sense of being fixed, being part of a rock or a mountain. It is like flat air, which doesnt have any energy. We begin to feel that our head is being flattened on […]

The sense of workability ~ Chögyam Trungpa

We might feel terrible, utterly hopeless, but if we look at ourselves fully and thoroughly, we will find fundamental goodness. There is something that makes us look up at the blue sky or the clouds or the sun, something that allows us to polish our shoes and press our clothes. When we wake up in […]

Discovering fearlessness ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Discovering fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart. Chögyam Trungpa

Merely discovered ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Anything that is created must sooner or later die. Enlightenment is permanent because we have not produced it; we have merely discovered it. Chögyam Trungpa

The flat truth ~ Chögyam Trungpa

If you personally want to understand and realize the teachings, you will have no understanding at all if you don’t sit and practice meditation. That’s the flat truth, the real truth. You should be able to understand what we are doing, particularly in terms of the teachings and the examples of the teachings that are […]

The challenge of meditation ~ Chögyam Trungpa

It is very difficult to make meditation into a habit. Even though you’ve been doing it for twenty years, still there’s constantly a certain sense of struggle involved. This shows that meditation is different from the rest of habitual things. It requires some kind of challenge, constantly. Chögyam Trungpa

The fantastically sharp-edged quality of life ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Magic is the power within oneself. You have enough strength, exertion and energy to view things as they are, personally, properly, and directly. You have the chance to experience the brightness of life and the haziness of life, which is also a source of power. The fantastically sharp-edged quality of life can be experienced personally […]

Using our intellect to understand life ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Intellectualization has a bad connotation, associated with distancing ourselves from our feelings, refusing to look at ourselves or examine ourselves in a fundamental way. However, using our intellect to understand life is actually quite good. Intellect represents the sharpest point in our experience. Sharpening our intellect brings precision. Intellect brings a direct way of seeing […]

Facing ourselves ~ Chögyam Trungpa

One of the main obstacles to fearlessness is our habitual patterns. Ordinarily, we don’t let ourselves experience ourselves fully. That is to say, we have a fear of facing ourselves. Experiencing the innermost core of their existence is embarrassing to a lot of people. We cannot do that. We have to be honest with ourselves. […]

Overcoming aggression ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Aggression is an obstacle to visual dharma, to hearing and the other sense perceptions, and to understanding reality in its fullest sense. To overcome aggression, some kind of fundamental discipline seems to be absolutely important and necessary. Without any actual practice of sitting meditation to enable us to make friends with ourselves, nothing can be […]

Unconditional expression ~ Chögyam Trungpa

There is such a thing as unconditional expression that does not come from self or other. It manifests out of nowhere like mushrooms in a meadow, like hailstones, like thundershowers. Chögyam Trungpa

Silcence ~ Chögyam Trungpa

If you are involved with the intensity of crescendo situations, with the intensity of tragedy, you might begin to see the humour of these situations as well. As in music, when we hear the crescendo building, suddenly if the music stops, we begin to hear the silence as part of the music. Chögyam Trungpa

Facing yourself ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Becoming a warrior and facing yourself is a question of honesty rather than condemning yourself. By looking at yourself, you may find that you’ve been a bad boy or girl, and you may feel terrible about yourself. Your existence may feel wretched, completely pitch black, like the black hole of Calcutta. Or you may see […]

Crescendo of energy ~ Chögyam Trungpa

In spiritual practice, communication is extremely important. If we could not apply communication, there would be no spiritual practice at all. There would be no scriptures, there would be no teachings, there would be no gestures, there would be no guru, there would be no chela (disciple). All these relationships exist because of energy. Therefore, […]

The heart of meditation in action ~ Chögyam Trungpa

In the post-meditation experience or meditation-in-action, when you are working with situations, there is no time to analyze, no time to hold on. At the same time, there is a gap. There is no time to refer back to oneself as “I am doing this,” no time to relate with me or ego awareness at […]