Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpawas a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision...
NationalityTibetan
ProfessionPhilosopher
fear practice people
We have a fear of facing ourselves. That is the obstacle. Experiencing the innermost core of our existence is very embarrassing to a lot of people. A lot of people turn to something that they hope will liberate them without their having to face themselves. That is impossible. We can't do that. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to see our gut, our excrement, our most undesirable parts. We have to see them. That is the foundation of warriorship, basically speaking. Whatever is there, we have to face it, we have to look at it, study it, work with it and practice meditation with it.
fear frightened bodhisattva
Even fear itself is frightened by the bodhisattva's fearlessness.
hopes-and-fears seasons
Hope and fear cannot alter the seasons
views extending fearlessness
Fearlessness is extending ourselves beyond our limited view.
begin beginnings birth climax courage cultivate cutting distant feels finally follows full hope ideas life messages natural nurture reached rhythms seems spring weave
There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.
future animal trying
Humans are the only animals that try to dwell in the future. You don't have to purely live in the present situation without a plan, but the future plans you make can only be based on the aspects of the future that manifest within the present situation.
unfinished-business way quitting
If you must begin then go all the way, because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time.
life complicated situation
The complexities of life situations are really not as complicated as we tend to experience them.
mindfulness weapons germs
Mindfulness is like a microscope; it is neither an offensive nor defensive weapon in relation to the germs we observe through it. The function of the microscope is just to clearly present what is there.
pride intelligent peaceful
We do not have to be ashamed of what we are. As sentient beings we have wonderful backgrounds. These backgrounds may not be particularly enlightened or peaceful or intelligent. Nevertheless, we have soil good enough to cultivate; we can plant anything in it.
passion views practice
The practice of meditation is a way of continuing one's confusion, chaos, aggression, and passion—but working with it, seeing it from the enlightened point of view.
reality luxury
Luxury is experiencing reality
optimism fundamentals
The courage to work with ourselves comes as basic trust in ourselves, as a sort of fundamental optimism.
teacher book learning
The point is that whatever one is trying to learn, it is necessary to have firsthand experience, rather than learning from books or from teachers or by merely conforming to an already established pattern.