Chögyam TrungpaUltimate goodness is connected with the notion of ultimate joy without comparison to suffering. Out of that joy, we begin to experience, visually, the beauty of the blue sky; the beauty of a red rose; the beauty of a white chrysanthemum; the beauty of chattering brooks; the beauty of the openness of the ocean, where sky and land meet; the beauty of sweet and sour; the beauty of music, high pitches and low; the beauty of experiencing warmth on our bodies; the beauty of cool air, which creates natural refreshment; the beauty of eating a meal when we feel hungry; the beauty of drinking water when we feel thirsty; the beauty of learning more things when we feel that we are not learned enough—when we feel that we don’t know enough wisdom or vocabulary or language.
I don’t want to paint a pleasure-oriented picture alone. There is also the beauty of your schoolmaster pinching you on the cheek; the beauty of being too hot on a mid-summer’s day; the beauty of being too cold in the middle of winter—the beauty of pain as well as the beauty of pleasure. All of those are connected with the fundamental notion of basic goodness. You might ask why we speak of beauty. The answer is that beauty here means fullness, totality — total experience. Our life is completely full even though we might be completely bored. Boredom creates aloneness and sadness, which are also beautiful. Beauty in this sense is the total experience of things as they are. It is very realistic. It means that we can’t cheat ourselves — or anybody else, for that matter.
A taste of enlightenment ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaEnlightened heart is expansive and awake. It is not territorial, and it does not demand that we gather our own flock of egotistic companions. When we look into that quality of basic wakefulness beyond our own territoriality, we find ourselves having a taste of enlightenment for the very first time.
The artist is an inspired human being ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaIn the experience of awareness, you do not just get hold of one chunk of mindfulness and stick with it, but you experience the mindfulness and its shadow, the environment around it. There is a tremendous appreciation of life and of how to conduct one’s life. So awareness practice is not just formal sitting practice or meditation-in-action alone. It is a unique training practice in how to behave as an inspired human being, or an inspired sentient being. That is what is meant by being an artist.
Having confidence and trust in ourselves and in our teacher ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaThe degree to which we are able to offer, or surrender, our body, speech, and mind to our guru depends on the amount of confidence we have in ourselves and in our teacher. Milarepa, for example, endured countless difficulties during his discipleship under Marpa. Yet for Milarepa, these experiences were beneficial because he had stable trust in himself and in Marpa. In the end, his trust and confidence became unshakable, and the happiness he achieved due to this trust became unshakable as well.
Yet not everyone can emulate Milarepa’s confidence and trust. If we simply have not yet developed stable trust, there is no sense in forcing ourselves to surrender to our teachers out of a blind sense of duty. In the end, what we are able to accomplish in our relationship with our teacher all leads back to trust.
The face of altruism ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaAlong with love, compassion is the face of altruism. It is a feeling from deep in the heart that you cannot bear others’ suffering without acting to relieve it. As compassion grows stronger, so does your willingness to commit yourself to the welfare of all beings, even if you have to do it alone. You will be unbiased in your service to all beings, no matter how they respond to you.
The end of ambition ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaSalvation, if we can talk about it at all, is the end of ambition, which is when you become completely one with your experience. Knowledge becomes one with wisdom, which is called buddhahood or the awakened state of mind. You realize that you never needed to make the journey at all, because the journey and the goal are there already. It’s not so much that you are achieving liberation, but it is more that you realize that liberation is right there and that you needn’t have sought for it.
Nurturing the principle of benefiting others ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaPut simply, to think in terms of the harm that comes to us via all sentient beings engenders hatred toward others and is based on a principal belief in selfishness. We should not think, “Oh, lots of horrible things have been done to me” and get stuck on that. Instead, if we nurture the other principle of benefiting others, then through our altruistic attitude benefit will come to ourselves too. All happiness and well-being necessarily come to us in dependence upon others. What goes around comes around, and if we do good for another, then good will come to us. This is what we should call real benefit and profit. It is very important that we place this principle in the forefront of our mind, making this kind of profit our priority and considering our long term goals in this way.
Who is speaking ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaBasically speaking, when you say “I am,” you begin to ask yourself the question, “Who said that?” You might say, “I said that.” But then you ask, “Who are you?” And when you look, you find it is very difficult to find out who that actually is. You might timidly come back to saying your name, thinking that this is who is speaking, but beyond the name that was given to you, nothing really exists. You may think that you exist because your name is so-and-so, or because your driver’s license says so-and-so. But if you look beyond such things, and beyond beyond, you find that there is no substance. That is ultimate prajna: it is the discovery of egolessness, which frees you from fixation.
The origin of suffering ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaHaving become actually aware of our dissatisfaction, we begin to search for a reason for it. By examining our thoughts and actions, we discover that we are continually struggling to maintain and enhance ourselves. We realize that this struggle is the root of suffering. So we seek an understanding of the process of struggle. This is the Second Noble Truth taught by the Buddha, the truth of the origin of suffering.
There has to be a wide variety in methods for traversing the path ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaThere is no single, definitive tradition in the buddhadharma, because there are all kinds of sentient beings who have their own interests and dispositions. For that reason, there has to be a wide variety in methods for traversing the path. Mind is not a definite, concrete thing. For that reason, the methods for relating to the mind also cannot be concrete and universal.
The main objective of the dharma is to tame our minds — to bring peace and happiness to our minds — but there needs to be a wide variety of methods available for different sentient beings. For example, some beings might give rise to bodhichitta, the wish to attain enlightenment, through meditating on emptiness. The meditation on emptiness might be an avenue for them to connect with the altruistic heart of bodhichitta. On the other hand, other beings might not be able to connect with bodhichitta through contemplating emptiness. So there’s no universal rule, no definitive set of methods. Again, it leads back to the state of mind: since there’s no definitive, universal state of mind, there can never be any definitive, universal set of methods.
At the same time, there are traditions within Buddhism that are very beneficial and carry great blessings, because they are the traditions of highly accomplished spiritual beings. These blessings are special and should be seen as sacred and beneficial. That’s why we respect the teaching styles and methods of the great spiritual masters of the past. They don’t have to be regarded as concrete rules, but at the same time they do carry supreme blessings.
Compassion and egolessness go hand in hand ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThe connection between compassion and egolessness goes both ways. When we let go of the self, we are more inspired to work with others; and when we are generous to others, we realize that the self is lost. We begin to lose our ego fixation. So when we are generous to that, we begin to lose this; and when we have lost this, we become more capable of dealing with that. At that point, the shedding of ego is a mutual situation.
Footprints of Buddha ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaEverything in the phenomenal world is a footprint of Buddha, including the basic spaced-out experience we might feel. We also have the sense of relating with every detail in life, seeking answers, questioning, looking into life as it is. From this point of view, everything is a footprint, anything that goes on, whether we regard it as sublime or ridiculous. Everything we do – breathing, farting, getting mosquito bites, having fantastic ideas about reality, thinking clever thoughts, flushing the toilet – whatever occurs is a footprint of Buddha in the phenomenal world.
One Truth Without Relativity ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaSeeing the truth as it is, is the goal as well as the path. Confused existence, or samsara, is a complex situation based on passion, aggression, and ignorance. Its essence is turmoil. But unless you relate to passion, aggression, and ignorance as the path—understanding them, working with them, and treading on them—you will not discover the goal. By discovering the truth of confusion, or samsara, you are also discovering peace, or nirvana—freedom from confusion. Truth does not depend on formulas or alternative answers, but truth is seen to be one truth without relativity.
Dharma is not a therapy ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse RinpocheIt is such a mistake to assume that practicing dharma will help us calm down and lead an untroubled life; nothing could be further from the truth. Dharma is not a therapy. Quite the opposite, in fact; dharma is tailored specifically to turn your life upside down — it’s what you sign up for. So when your life goes pear-shaped, why do you complain? If you practice and your life fails to capsize, it is a sign that what you are doing is not working. This is what distinguishes the dharma from New Age methods involving auras, relationships, communication, well-being, the Inner Child, being one with the universe, and tree hugging. From the point of view of dharma, such interests are the toys of samsaric beings — toys that quickly bore us senseless.
Facing the facts of life ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaThe starting point for the mahayana, the path of the bodhisattva, is that you do not regard your life as boring, nor do you try to escape from your life by any means whatsoever. You do not run after entertainment or substitutions of any kind. You are honest and direct, and you face the facts of life, not only for your own sake, but for the sake of others. You would never let anybody down, or let go of anybody in order to seek pleasure for your own sake. That is what is known as being a fearless bodhisattva warrior.
Widening our mind ~ 14th Dalai Lama
14th Dalai LamaThe moment you think only of yourself,
the focus of your whole mind narrows,
and because of this narrow focus
uncomfortable things can appear huge
and bring you fear and discomfort
and a sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery.
The moment you think of others
with a sense of caring, however,
your mind widens.
Within that wider angle,
your own problems appear
to be of no significance,
and this makes a big difference.
Understanding the nature of the mind ~ 17th Karmapa
17th KarmapaTo understand the nature of the mind, there are two ways: one is easier, the other is harder. The easier way involves your lama introducing you to the nature of the mind, and on that basis you work on that and come to know the mind and its nature.
As for the harder way, even if a lama introduces the nature of the mind, still it may be difficult to understand its nature. Therefore, to really understand the true nature of the mind, the introduction by the lama must be supplemented by faith, belief, and longing supplications. Then you will receive the siddhi of your guru.
Many people can talk about the nature of the mind, but when you have a karmic connection with a lama, even though the words are the same, the effect is different.
Wisdom is not warfare ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaIf there is wisdom in sacred teachings, there should not be any war. As long as a person is involved with warfare, trying to defend or attack, then the action is not sacred; it is mundane, dualistic, a battlefield situation. One would not expect the great teachings to be as simple-minded as that, trying to be good, fighting the bad. Sense of humor means seeing both poles of a situation as they are, from an aerial point of view. There is good, there is bad, and you see both with a panoramic view.
The majesty of the world is always there ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaLook at the sun. The sun is shining. Nobody polishes the sun. The sun just shines. Look at the moon, the sky, the world at its best. Unfortunately, we human beings try to fit everything into conditionality. We try to make something out of nothing. We have messed everything up. That’s our problem. We have to go back to the sun and the moon, to dragons, tigers, lions, garudas (mythical birds). We can be like the blue sky, sweethearts, and the clouds so clean, so beautiful. We don’t have to try too hard to find ourselves. We haven’t really lost anything; we just have to tune in. The majesty of the world is always there.
Idiot compassion ~ Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam TrungpaIdiot compassion is the highly conceptualized idea that you want to do good to somebody. In order that your compassion doesn’t become idiot compassion, you have to use your intelligence.