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Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa Quotes

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Famous Chogyam Trungpa Quotes

“If there is some profound method that offers a quick way, we would rather follow that than undertake arduous journeys and difficult practices. But some manual work and physical effort is necessary.”

IfsWayDifficultEffortPracticeJourneyOffersMethodProfoundManualsManual Work
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume One: Born in Tibet; Meditation in Action; Mudra; Selected Writings
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“By means of meditation, I feel that we have planted dynamite to transcend the world of confusion. So it would be good if you could practice meditation as much as you can, as much as physically and psychologically possible. You could become more clear and sane, and you could also influence the national neurosis in that way.”

IfsWorldWayFeelsMeanWould BePracticeClearMeditationInfluenceBe GoodConfusionSaneNeurosisDynamite
Book:True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art
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“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.”

WayPassionViewsPracticeMeditationSeeingEnlightenmentChaosPoint Of ViewConfusionEnlightenedAggressionContinuing
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Two: The Path Is the Goal; Training the Mind; Glimpses of Abhidharma; Glimpses of Shu nyata; Glimpses of Mahayana; Selected Writings
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“when one learns a different way of dealing with the situation, one no longer has to have a purpose. One is not on the way to somewhere. Or rather, one is on the way and one is also at the destination at the same time. That is really what meditation is for.”

WayDifferentPurposeTimeSituationMeditationRoseDifferent WaysDestination
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume One: Born in Tibet; Meditation in Action; Mudra; Selected Writings
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“If you look into the mirror, you see that [every part of you] belongs there and you belong there, as you are. You begin to realize that you have a perfect right to be in this universe, to be this way, and you see that there is a basic hospitality that this world provides to you. You have looked and you have seen, and you don't have to apologize for being born on this earth.”

IfsWorldWayLooksEarthUniverseRealizingBornPerfectThis WorldMirrorsApologizingHospitality
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“Just fully being skillful involves total lack of inhibition. We are not afraid to be. We are not afraid to live. We must accept ourselves as being warriors. If we acknowledge ourselves as warriors, then there is a way in, because a warrior dares to be, like a tiger in the jungle.”

IfsWayAcceptingDareWarriorAcknowledgeNot AfraidTigersJungleSkillfulInhibitions
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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“In the process of burning out these confusions, we discover enlightenment. If the process were otherwise, the awakened state of mind would be a product dependent upon cause and effect and therefore liable to dissolution. Anything which is created must, sooner or later, die. If enlightenment were created in such a way, there would always be a possibility of ego reasserting itself, causing a return to the confused state. Enlightenment is permanent because we have not produced it; we have merely discovered it.”

IfsWayMindStatesWould BeDiesCausesProcessEffectsPossibilityProductsReturnEgoEnlightenmentConfusionBurningPermanentConfusedDependentState Of MindSooner Or LaterAwakenedCause And EffectLiableDissolution
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 could say that compassion is the ultimate attitude of wealth: an anti-poverty attitude, a war on want. It contains all sorts of heroic, juicy, positive, visionary, expansive qualities. And it implies larger scale thinking, a freer and more expansive way of relating to yourself and the world.”

ThinkingWorldWayWantWarWealthAttitudeQualityCompassionPovertyUltimateScalesHeroicVisionariesJuicy
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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“Free passion is radiation without a radiator, a fluid, pervasive warmth that flows effortlessly. It is not destructive because it is a balanced state of being and highly intelligent. Self-consciousness inhibits this intelligent, balanced state of being. By opening, by dropping our self-conscious grasping, we see not only the surface of an object, but we see the whole way through.”

WaySelfStatesWholePassionConsciousnessObjectsConsciousFlowIntelligentSurfaceOpeningBuddhistDestructiveWarmthRadiationBalancedDroppingFluidSelf ConsciousSelf ConsciousnessGraspingHighly Intelligent
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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“The idea of buddha mind is not purely a concept or a theoretical, metaphysical idea. It is something extremely real that we can experience ourselves. In fact, it is the ego that feels that we have an ego. It is ego that tells us, My ego is bothering me. I feel very self-conscious about having to be me. I feel that I have a tremendous burden in me, and I wonder what the best way to get rid of it is. Yet all those expressions of restlessness that keep coming out of us are the expression of buddha nature: the expression of our unborn, unobstructed, and nondwelling nature.”

WayFeelsMindIdeasRealSelfFactsWonderExpressionEgoConsciousConceptsBurdenBest WayBotherComing OutMetaphysicalTheoreticalSelf ConsciousUnbornRestlessnessBuddha Nature
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“We cannot change the way the world is, but by opening ourselves to the world as it is, we may find that gentleness, decency and bravery are available - not only to us, but to all human beings.”

WorldWayHumansMayHuman BeingsBraveryAvailableOpeningGentlenessDecency
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Eight: Great Eastern Sun; Shambhala; Selected Writings
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“We could almost say that being willing to be a fool is one of the first wisdoms. So acknowledging foolishness is always a very important and powerful experience. The phenomenal world can be perceived and seen properly if we see it from the perspective of being a fool. There is very little distance between being a fool and being wise; they are extremely close. When we are really, truly fools, when we actually acknowledge our foolishness, then we are way ahead. We are not even in the process of becoming wise — we are already wise.”

IfsWorldWayFirstsLittlesImportantProcessPowerfulWiseWillingPerspectiveFoolBecomingDistanceFoolishAcknowledgeFoolishnessVery PowerfulBeing WisePhenomenalBecoming Wise
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“When we hide from the world in this way, we feel secure. We may think we have quieted our fear, but we are actually making ourselves numb with fear. We surround ourselves with our own familiar thoughts, so that nothing sharp or painful can touch us.”

ThinkingWorldWayFeelsMayChangePainfulFamiliarSecureSurroundNumb
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Eight: Great Eastern Sun; Shambhala; Selected Writings
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