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Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa Quotes

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Famous Chogyam Trungpa Quotes

“Very beautiful situations have developed using chaos as part of the enlightened approach. There is chaos of all kinds developing all the time... If you are trying to stop those situations, you are looking for external means of liberating yourself, another answer. But if we are able to look into the basic situation, then chaos is the inspiration, confusion is the inspiration.”

IfsTryingLooksKindMeanInspirationAbleBeautifulAnswersSituationApproachChaosConfusionAll KindsDevelopingEnlightenedLiberatingVery Beautiful
Book:The Pocket Chögyam Trungpa
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“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.”

TryingHumansAnimalSituationPlansFutureAspectManifestLive In The PresentFuture PlansPresent Situation
Book:Ocean of Dharma: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa
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“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.”

TryingBookLearningTeacherExperiencePatternsConform
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume One: Born in Tibet; Meditation in Action; Mudra; Selected Writings
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“The point of meditation is not merely to be an honest or good person in the conventional sense, trying only to maintain our security. We must begin to become compassionate and wise in the fundamental sense, open and relating to the world as it is.”

WorldTryingPersonsWiseMeditationHonestSecurityHonestyFundamentalsCompassionateConventionalGood Person
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism; The Myth of Freedom; The Heart of the Bud dha; Selected Writings
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“When you relate to thoughts obsessively, you are actually feeding them because thoughts need your attention to survive. Once you begin to pay attention to them and categorize them, then they become very powerful. You are feeding them energy because you are not seeing them as simple phenomena. If one tries to quiet them down, that is another way of feeding them.”

IfsWayNeedsTryingEnergySimplePowerfulPayAttentionSeeingQuietRelatePay AttentionFeedingAnother WayVery Powerful
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism; The Myth of Freedom; The Heart of the Bud dha; Selected Writings
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“Whether we eat, sleep, work, play, whatever we do life contains dissatisfaction, pain. If we enjoy pleasure, we are afraid to lose it; we strive for more and more pleasure or try to contain it. If we suffer pain we want to escape it. We experience dissatisfaction all the time. All activities contain dissatisfaction or pain, continuously.”

IfsWantTryingPlayPainSufferingEnjoyLosesSleepPleasureActivityStriveDissatisfactionWork Play
Book:Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
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“Are the great spiritual teachings really advocating that we fight evil because we are on the side of light, the side of peace? Are they telling us to fight against that other 'undesirable' side, the bad and the black. That is a big question. If there is wisdom in the sacred teachings, there should not be any war. As long as a person is involved with warfare, trying to defend or attack, then his action is not sacred; it is mundane, dualistic, a battlefield situation.”

IfsShouldTryingPersonsLongWarBigsLightActionSpiritualFightingEvilSidesBlackSituationTeachingInvolvedSacredWarfareMundaneDualityBattlefieldsAdvocatingBig QuestionsUndesirableGreat SpiritualSpiritual Teaching
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism; The Myth of Freedom; The Heart of the Bud dha; Selected Writings
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“As long as a person is involved with warfare, trying to defend or attack, then his action is not sacred; it is mundane, dualistic, a battlefield situation.”

TryingPersonsLongActionSituationInvolvedSacredWarfareMundaneDualityBattlefields
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism; The Myth of Freedom; The Heart of the Bud dha; Selected Writings
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“We must be willing to be completely ordinary people, which means accepting ourselves as we are without trying to become greater, purer, more spiritual, more insightful. If we can accept our imperfections as they are, quite ordinarily, then we can use them as part of the path. But if we try to get rid of our imperfections, then they will be enemies, obstacles on the road to our ‘self-improvement’.”

PeopleIfsTryingMeanSelfUseSpiritualAcceptingEnemyPathGreaterWillingSelf ImprovementOrdinaryObstaclesImprovementInsightfulImperfectionOrdinary People
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism; The Myth of Freedom; The Heart of the Bud dha; Selected Writings
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“Meditation should not be regarded as a learning process. It should be regarded as an experiencing process. You should not try to learn from meditation but try to feel it. Meditation is an act of nonduality. The technique you are using should not be separate from you; it is you, you are the technique. Meditator and meditation are one. There is no relationship involved.”

FeelsShouldTryingProcessPracticeMeditationInvolvedTechniqueLearning Process
Book:Ocean of Dharma: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa
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“Nowness is the essence of meditation. Whatever one does, whatever one tries to practice, is trying to see what is here and now. One becomes aware of the present moment through such means as concentrating on the breathing. This is based on developing the knowledge of nowness, for each respiration is unique. It is an expression of now.”

TryingMeanDoeMomentsPracticeMeditationExpressionUniqueEssenceDevelopingBreathingPresent MomentHere And NowConcentratingRespiration
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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