Observations that dive deep into life and come up with treasures for all

From Chogyam Trungpa; Ocean of Dharma
Propagating prajna, or your intellect, fully and thoroughly is a characteristic of a dharmic person. That is to say, you should find out and understand who you are and what you are made of. You should find out what your mind is made out of, what your mind’s projections are made out of, and what your relationship with your world is made of….The myth of original sin can be wiped out by realizing and studying how your mind can be unwound by undoing what you are. There are positive and good qualities, or basic goodness, in everybody.

Posted under The Tao is

From Chogyam Trungpa; Ocean of Dharma

Supposing you feel an itch in your pocket, but you don’t have any chewing gum on that particular day. You should feel contented; you should feel relieved. “For heaven’s sake, I don’t have any chewing gum! That’s fine.” A chance to appreciate that simplicity has been presented to you. Ordinarily, people talk in terms of obstacles: “I had a bad time. I didn’t have any chewing gum in my pocket. I had a bad day.” But you could switch gears altogether: “It was such a relief to find that I didn’t have any chewing gum in my pocket. I feel fine; I just let go.” You can have some appreciation of obstacles becoming simplicity.

Posted under meditation help

From Chogyam Trungpa: Ocean of Dharma
Contentment is connected with appreciating what you have, with some sense of rejoicing, which is often very hard. You are constantly involved with possibilities of change, all the time changing from one thing to another. You cannot celebrate your own life as what you have, what you are. You are unable to celebrate the simplicity of the practice itself and the simplicity of life. But being contented with what you have IS a celebration.

Posted under General Observations

From Chogyam Trungpa; Ocean of Dharma

“The definition of dharma (which is the teachings of Buddha and the truth of the teachings) is absence of aggression. In order to perceive such dharma, in order to understand such dharma, we also have to develop a state of mind without aggression as well. Dharma in this case is any materials involved with our experience which are workable, which could be woven into the pattern of the path. The absence of aggression in this case means a sense of non-ego, non-speed. You might find it difficult to understand this tall order because it would be impossible for beginners to develop such perfection. But the idea is that there is a momentary state of mind which occurs, in which there is an element of non-aggression and non-ego….The application of awareness or vipashyana relates with those momentary open gaps which are unconditioned psychologically, unconditioned by dualism, unconditioned by passion, aggression, and so forth. But it’s very sudden, it’s a fraction of a moment. It’s very fast, but also there is still that possibility in us, one hundred percent of gap.”

Posted under meditation help

From Chogyam Trungpa; Ocean of Dharma

“Understanding suffering is very important. The practice of meditation is designed not to develop pleasure but to understand the truth of suffering; and in order to understand the truth of suffering, one also has to understand the truth of awareness. When true awareness takes place, suffering does not exist. Through awareness, suffering is somewhat changed in its perspective. It is not necessarily that you do not suffer, but the haunting quality that fundamentally you are in trouble is removed. It is like removing a splinter. It might hurt, and you might still feel pain, but the basic cause of that pain, the ego, has been removed.”

Posted under General Observations

From Chogyam Trunpa: Ocean of Dharma
It might be a somewhat depressing prospect to realize that you are so thoroughly soaked in this greasy, heavy, dark, and unpleasant thing called samsara, or confused existence, but that realization is tremendously helpful. That understanding alone is the source of realizing what we call buddha in the palm of your hand -  the basic wakefulness already in your possession. Such vajrayana possibilities begin at this point, right here, in realizing your samsaric anxiousness. Understanding that anxiety, which is very frustrating and not so good, is the key to realizing where you are.

The only way to work with this anxiety is the sitting practice of meditation, the taming of your mind, or shamatha practice. That is the basic idea of pratimoksha, or “individual liberation”: taming yourself. The way to tame yourself, or to talk yourself out of this particular anxiety, is through the concentrated practice of  shamatha or meditative discipline. The beginning of the beginning of the path…is about how you can actually save yourself from samsaric neurosis.

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From Chogyam Trumpa Ocean of Dharma

In the twenty-six hundred years since the time of the Buddha, millions of people have followed his example, and they have been quite successful at what they were doing: they managed to become like him. The Buddha’s teachings have been handed down from generation to generation, so that right now, right here, we have that information and experience. We can practice the path of meditation in the same way and style as the Buddha and our lineage ancestors. We have the transmission of the way to practice in order to overcome anxiety, deception, and neurosis. We have it and we can do it.

Posted under General Observations

From Chogyam Trungpa: Ocean of Dharma

Basic NO is accepting discipline in our life without preconceptions. Normally, when we say the word “discipline,” it comes with a lot of mixed feelings. It’s like saying “oatmeal.” Some people like hot cereal, and some people hate it. Nevertheless, oatmeal remains oatmeal. It is a very straightforward thing. We have similar feelings about discipline and the meaning of NO. Sometimes, it’s a bad NO: it is providing oppressive boundaries that we don’t want to accept. Or it could be a good NO, which encourages us to do something healthy. But when we just hear that one word, NO, the message is mixed. Read More…

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From Chogyam Trungpa: Ocean of Dharma

Real peace is nonaction; that is the source of all action. We have to learn how to be a rock in order to be a tree or a flower or wind or lightning or a typhoon. We have to be still; then we go beyond that. Therefore sitting practice is very important. (In meditation) we are not particularly training ourselves to destroy or conquer the world. We are trying to relate to the world in the same way that we relate to the birth of our first child or, for that matter, to our own orgasm — which happens, I hope, when we make love.  Anything active that happens has some relationship to that very stillness. That stillness is not vacant or deadly; it is fully of energy, automatically.

Posted under General Observations

From Chogyam Trunpa Ocean of Dharma

Chogyam Trungpa: Meditation practices have nothing to do with the value of the techniques as such, but are based on simplicity as a whole.  They (students) shouldn’t regard the technique as magical power at all.  I should warn everybody that meditation has no magical power as such, but everybody has to work on themselves.  Having used the technique diligently, from that point, people begin to develop.  There is simplicity in the technique; they don’t have to strive for it.  The technique becomes part of themselves, (the) same as drinking a cup of tea, that becomes very close to it.  So the technique should be referred to as part of the daily life situation, rather than medicine or a sedative as such.

Student: But what does meditation develop?

CT: Becoming sane and becoming skillful in dealing with your daily life.

S: OK, but how does it happen?

CT: Well, it just happens!

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