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Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa Quotes

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Famous Chogyam Trungpa Quotes

“The meditator develops new depths of insight through direct communication with the reality of the phenomenal world... He or she is able to see not only the absence of complexity, the absence of duality, but the stoneness of stone and the waterness of water. One sees things precisely as they are, not merely in the physical sense, but with awareness of their spiritual significance.”

WorldRealityAbleSpiritualWaterAwarenessCommunicationStonesDirectDepthInsightAbsenceComplexitySignificanceDualityPhenomenalDirect Communication
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“Although the warrior's life is dedicated to helping others, he realizes that he will never be able to completely share his experience with others...Yet he is more and more in love with the world. That combination of love affair and loneliness is what enables the warrior to constantly reach out to help others. By renouncing his private world, the warrior discovers a greater universe and a fuller and fuller broken heart. This is not something to feel bad about; it is a cause for rejoicing.”

WorldFeelsHeartHelpingAbleLife IsUniverseCausesRealizingGreaterShareLonelinessBrokenAffairHelping OthersWarriorCombinationDedicatedRejoiceReach OutLove Affair
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“If we open our eyes, if we open our minds, if we open our hearts, we will find that this world is a magical place. It is magical not because it tricks us or changes unexpectedly into something else, but because it can be so vividly and brilliantly.”

IfsWorldMindHeartEyeThis WorldTricksMagical Places
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Eight: Great Eastern Sun; Shambhala; Selected Writings
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“A great deal of chaos in the world occurs because people don't appreciate themselves. Having never developed sympathy or gentleness toward themselves, they cannot experience harmony or peace within themselves, and therefore, what they project to others is also inharmonious and confused.”

PeopleWorldDealsProjectsAppreciateHarmonyChaosConfusedGentlenessPeace WithinChaos In The World
Book:Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
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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 sun has a sense of all-pervasive brilliance, which does not discriminate in the slightest. It is the goodness that exists in a situation, in oneself, and in one's world, which is expressed without doubt, hesitation, or regret. The sun principle also includes the notion of blessings descending upon us and creating sacred world. It also represents clarity, without doubt.”

WorldDoeSituationPrinciplesSunDoubtRegretBlessingGoodnessCreatingSacredNotionOneselfClarityBrillianceHesitationDescending
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Seven: The Art of Calligraphy (Excerpts); Dharma Art; Visual Dharma (Excerpts); Selecte d Poems; 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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“We have to make the first move ourselves rather than expecting it to come from the phenomenal world or from other people. If we are meditating at home and we happen to live in the middle of the High Street, we cannot stop the traffic just because we want peace and quiet. But we can stop ourselves, we can accept the noise. The noise also contains silence. We must put ourselves into it and expect nothing from outside, just as Buddha did. And we must accept whatever situation arises.”

PeopleIfsWorldWantFirstsHomeHappensMovingPeaceSilenceSituationAcceptingStreetsMiddleQuietRoseAriseNoiseExpectingTrafficPhenomenalMeditatingExpect NothingPeace And Quiet
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“The experience of a sad and tender heart is what gives birth to fearlessness. Conventionally, being fearless means that you are not afraid or that, if someone hits you, you will hit him back. But we aren't talking about that street-fighter level of fearlessness. Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world.”

IfsWorldGivingHeartMeanRealFacesLevelsTalkingStreetsWillingProductsBirthResistanceFighterFearlessNot AfraidTendernessFearlessnessShynessStreet FighterTender Hearts
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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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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“...We leave our homeland, our property and our friends. We give up the familiar ground that supports our ego, admit the helplessness of ego to control its world and secure itself. We give up our clingings to superiority and self-preservation...It means giving up searching for a home, becoming a refugee, a lonely person who must depend on himself...Fundamentally, no one can help us. If we seek to relieve our loneliness, we will be distracted from the path. Instead, we must make a relationship with loneliness until it becomes aloneness.”

IfsWorldGivingMeanPersonsSelfHelpingHomeSupportPathLonelinessDependsBecomingEgoGiving UpLonelyPropertyFamiliarSecureSuperiorityPreservationRefugeeDistractedHomelandHelplessnessClingingSelf PreservationLonely Person
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world. You are willing to share your heart with others.”

WorldHeartRealBeautifulFacesShareWillingProductsResistanceTendernessFearlessnessShynessBeautiful HeartTender Hearts
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Eight: Great Eastern Sun; Shambhala; Selected Writings
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“Look. This is your world! You can't not look. There is no other world. This is your world; it is your feast. You inherited this; you inherited these eyeballs; you inherited this world of color. Look at the greatness of the whole thing. Look! Don't hesitate - look! Open your eyes. Don't blink, and look, look - look further.”

WorldLooksWholeEyeVisionSeeingThis WorldGreatnessColorAweOther WorldsBlinkEyeballs
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Eight: Great Eastern Sun; Shambhala; 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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“The challenge of warriorship is to live fully in the world as it is and to find within this world, with all its paradoxes, the essence of nowness. If we open our eyes, if we open our minds, if we open our hearts, we will find that this world is a magical place.”

IfsWorldMindHeartEyeSpiritualChallengesThis WorldEssenceParadoxMagical Places
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Eight: Great Eastern Sun; Shambhala; Selected Writings
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“The essence of warriorship, or the essence of human bravery, is refusing to give up on anyone or anything. We can never say that we are simply falling to pieces or that anyone else is, and we can never say that about the world either. Within our lifetime there will be great problems in the world, but let us make sure than within our lifetime do disasters happen. We can prevent them. It is up to us.”

WorldGivingHumansProblemHappensFallPiecesGiving UpEssenceBraveryLifetimeDisasterFalling To Pieces
Book:Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
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“When human beings lose their connection to nature, to heaven and earth, then they do not know how to nurture their environmect or how to rule their world - which is saying the same thing. Human beings destroy their ecology at the same time that they destroy one another. From that perspective, healing our society goes hand in hand with healing our personal, elemental connection with the phenomenal world.”

KnowsWorldHumansHandsEarthHeavenLosesHuman BeingsHealingKnow HowPerspectiveConnectionsOur SocietyEcologyNurtureHand In HandPhenomenalHeaven And EarthElementals
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“The Shambhala teachings are founded on the premise that there is basic human wisdom that can help to solve the world's problems. This wisdom does not belong to any one culture or religion, nor does it come only from the West or the East. Rather it is a tradition of human warrior-ship that has existed in many cultures at many times throughout history.”

WorldHumansDoeHelpingProblemCultureTeachingTraditionWestSolveEastShipsWarriorPremisesHuman WisdomShambhala
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Eight: Great Eastern Sun; Shambhala; Selected Writings
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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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“But again and again, we should reflect back to the darkness of the cocoon. In order to inspire ourselves forward, we must look back to see the contrast with the place we came from. You see, we cannot reject the world of the cocoon - which out which we may create a new cocoon. When we see the suffering that occured in the old cocoon, that inspires us to go forward in our journey of warriorship. It is a journey that is unfolding within us.”

WorldShouldLooksMaySufferingOrderDarknessJourneyInspireComfortZoneRejectsContrastAgain And AgainComfort ZoneUnfoldingCocoons
Author:Chogyam Trungpa
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“The artist has tremendous power to change the world.”

WorldArtistChanging The WorldPower To ChangePower To Change The World
Book:The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Seven: The Art of Calligraphy (Excerpts); Dharma Art; Visual Dharma (Excerpts); Selecte d Poems; Selected Writings
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“Warriorship is so tender, without skin, without tissue, naked and raw. It is soft and gentle. You have renounced putting on a new suit of armor. You have renounced growing a thick, hard skin. You are willing to expose naked flesh, bone and marrow to the world.”

WorldHardGrowingWillingSkinsBonesFleshNakedSuitsGentleThickArmorTissuesMarrowSuits Of Armor
Book:Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery
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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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