The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa Collected Works: Volume Two (61 page)

S:
What marks the karmic sequences he lays out there?

V:
Well, nobody has done any research work on that particularly, [
laughter
] like the study of physics and chemistry. But it is based on, or depends on, the level of absent-mindedness, of not being on the spot. There are all kinds of sidetracks that you suffer, anyway.

S:
But he gives specific instances: if you do this, that happens.

V:
That’s right. Yes.

S:
That’s very precise speaking. How precise is it supposed to be?

V:
Up to you.

S:
I can’t figure it out, that’s why I am asking you.

V:
Try to figure it out! [
Laughter
]

S:
Well,
inaudible phrase
]—

Shunyata study seems to have evolved itself from the groundwork of shunyata, in which we discussed hopelessness and disappointment and so on—that you have no ground to work with. Then there’s the path, in which giving up hope becomes connected with warmth and generosity. Finally one begins to realize that one can be generous, how to be generous. From that path, the final point of shunyata transcends, relating with shunyata as an experience. The question of goal and path does not exist. So it seems that the shunyata principle altogether is the ground in which everything functions, everything happens—it is the space that accommodates everything.

There are books on the
Prajnaparamita Hridaya
and
Prajnaparamita Alankara
, translated by Dr. Conze, which would probably be helpful if you want to follow up and study further the principle of shunyata [
Buddhist Wisdom Books
and the
Prajnaparamita in Eight Thousand Lines
]. It seems that shunyata is, on the whole, one of the very important points of Buddhist teaching. The ideas of impermanence, suffering, and selflessness, or egolessness, are founded in the basic environment, basic idea of shunyata.

And quite possibly we could have longer seminars at some stage. This particular seminar seems to be just purely an appetizer. [
Laughter
] Thank you for being very patient.

G
LIMPSES OF
M
AHAYANA

E
DITED BY
J
UDITH
L. L
IEF

ONE

Bad News and Good News

T
HE SUBJECT OF THIS BOOK
is mahayana Buddhism. It is about spirituality as a discipline and how we can exercise that discipline in day-to-day life. We are not purely discussing religious theory; we are talking about actual experience. I would like to make that quite clear. It is a spiritual approach rather than a religious one. Ego, or confused neurosis, always tends to find new crutches to support its own existence. So taking up particular religious ideas might only serve to enrich that tendency to prop up the self-existence of ego.

Both the hinayana and the mahayana
¹
are processes of cutting through that basic tendency of ego, which is called spiritual materialism. Although different techniques might be involved, the basic approach is the same. It is not based on becoming higher, greater, or better persons but on finding tendencies of “awake” that exist within us. It is an uncovering process rather than expanding out. At the same time, there are differences between the hinayana and the mahayana. We need some kind of footing as to those differences, to make the basic pattern clear.

In the hinayana, we work with the basic characteristics of neurosis as a way of cutting down the unnecessary chaos that arises from ego’s mentality. It is a cutting-down process. The hinayana could be called narrow-minded, in that it does not make any allowance for entertainment or therapy. It is direct, definite, stubborn. No therapy and no entertainment in the ego-oriented style are permitted at all.

Hinayana presents the narrow path in order to develop an understanding of the open path, or open way, of mahayana. The narrow path is to experience that life is pain: it is dwelling in pain and growing up in pain. The whole process of life is wrapped up in pain because the basic tendency of ego is to yearn so much toward pleasure. We try to ward off pain and the notion of pain. However, by doing so and by yearning toward pleasure, the notion of pain gets a lot of attention. Consequently our pain is increased, because it is being teased and fiddled with so much. It’s like scratching a wound—by doing so, we only get it more infected. The hinayana way is to realize that situation. We accept the fact that we have a wound, but we don’t have to scratch it even if it itches. Instead we relate with our wound. We accept that we have a wound: it is part of our bodily chaos and irritation. Hinayana is about accepting that life situation.

Without the hinayana, without a good foundation, we can’t build the fortress of mahayana. It is important to know that life is so much to the point. On the one hand, we might say that life is very complicated and chaotic. It’s difficult to keep up with all the problems we go through. On the other hand, life is extremely simple. It can be simplified into one phrase: ego pain. Existence is based on the continual birth and death of pain—and ego tried to make that process continuous and to hang on to it. Unless we realize the narrowness of life—narrow in this case meaning that we can’t escape from those two basic things, ego and pain—we can’t develop the greater vision of mahayana, the great vehicle, at all. We have to start from one atom, one basic point, which acts as a catalyst for the larger world.

Someone told me that ten years ago he had read a book on Buddhism and found it extremely depressing. He said to himself, “Who wants to get into this?” Instead he joined a love-and-light path. However, he found himself asking that same question again later, which brought him back to the basic meaning of pain. Sooner or later we have to realize that life is very simple, extremely simple. Life consists of the notion of escape, or trying to avoid pain, and the notion of giving one’s existence an identity, or trying to increase ego. In order to understand mahayana and its ideals, we have to understand that matter-of-fact situation.

Mahayana is the inspiration of the open way of allegiance to buddha, or “awake.” You associate yourself with buddha; that is the mahayana way. Hinayana is allegiance to samsara, associating yourself with samsara and relating with the samsaric process, which is called renunciation. In other words, buddha cannot exist without samsara; nirvana cannot exist without samsara; awake cannot exist without asleep.

At the beginning we have to realize the meaning of life, which consists of erroneous beliefs of all kinds. That is what led us to this point and to our search for the teachings—which could be an erroneous belief as well. We are here because we made lots of mistakes, piles and piles of mistakes. That we happen to be here discussing this matter together is a result of such mistakes. Whether it is the right mistake or the wrong mistake, it is still an accident that happens to be bringing us together in this life, discussing the whole question of spirituality.

Spirituality is experiencing the narrowness of life. We no longer have any areas to escape to or areas to improvise. It’s like birth: we can only come out of one channel from our mother’s womb, there’s no way of improvising. Having realized that situation fully and completely, having worked on the discipline of relating with pain, impermanence, and suffering, then we might have a
new
area to explore, which is that life is not as grim as it seems. There are sparks of light happening here and there, sparks of intelligence. For the very reason that we are agitated by our life, there is a spark of intelligence. There is hope—the hope for enlightenment. The reason we are dissatisfied with our life is that the message of mahayana is coming through.

In traditional language, that spark of intelligence is referred to as
bodhichitta
, which means “awakened heart,” “the heart of enlightenment.” Bodhichitta is always there. Because of that heart of enlightenment, instead of constantly cutting ourselves down and condemning ourselves, or purely seeing the negative aspects of life, we come to another conclusion, which is that we are already awake. We have within us
tathagatagarbha
, which means “the essence or seed of enlightened mind,” or “buddha mind.” That is the good news. But it seems that you cannot create good news without bad news to begin with. So the hinayana approach deliberately creates the bad news: that we are trapped, we are hopeless, we are helpless, and the meaning of life is pain.

The mahayana approach, the good news, is that even if life is pain and you are trapped in samsaric imprisonment—how do you
know
that? If you know that, if you have some notion of
discovering
that, maybe there is something in you that is actually able to see that—which is
good
news. From that point of view, hinayana and mahayana are reciprocal. The mahayana is based on a sense of self-respect, openness, and hope. The hinayana is based on a sense of hopelessness, narrowness, that there is no other way, no alternative. That is equally important, extremely important.

This notion of buddha nature,
embryonic
enlightenment, is one of the dominant inspirations of the mahayana. It is embryonic because it is still looked at with suspicion—it may not happen. It is still conditioned by the hope of becoming solid or getting into some solid situation. Buddha nature is also very
pragmatic
. In order to acknowledge such an embryonic situation, you have to work on it and awaken it. Contemplating or theorizing alone doesn’t help—it takes a tremendous energy boost to exercise the buddha nature as if you had already awoken.

Although you may be half asleep, you still have to wake up and acknowledge your buddha nature as if you were completely awake. That is trusting in the heart. You believe that you could relate with yourself and your potentialities in spite of your imprisonment in samsara. You could still make love to yourself. You could love yourself and appreciate yourself because those two situations do exist in you. One of the basic principles or foundations of mahayana is that life is workable after all; it can be handled. But a certain amount of warmth and sympathy is necessary—toward yourself to begin with. And again, in order to develop the mahayana, it is necessary to begin first with the hinayana.

D
ISCUSSION

Seed of Enlightenment

Student:
Is the seed of enlightenment you spoke of always alive in us, or can it perish?

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche:
As long as there is a question about the subject, it can’t have perished. Acknowledging the restlessness of life is the seed. Seeking pleasure and warding off pain is the seed. In other words, unless you are a robot or a jellyfish, something is happening, which is the seed. Even a jellyfish might have buddha nature.

Renunciation

S:
Rinpoche, you spoke of hinayana as being the way of renunciation, and renunciation as being the way of relating to samsara. Could you say more about that?

CTR:
Renunciation is completely relating with the fact that you are trapped in an extremely strong prison. The only way of dealing with that situation is not to try to get out, but to try to make yourself at home communicating with the things that caught you. It is like having a net around you. The whole thing is very narrow. Escape is not possible; therefore a better, more pleasurable situation is not possible. Renunciation is accepting that you have only one or two situations to work on. There are no other areas that you can dream up—and even if you dream, your dream is cut down. Renunciation means realizing the nuisance of yourself.

Narrowness and Openness

S:
In our daily life it’s possible to experience both narrowness and openness. What does one do?

CTR:
The first step is to acknowledge the narrowness. Then, having acknowledged that, you have to take some kind of leap to bring that realization to a functional level. That is to say, first you feel the narrowness, the imprisonment. You feel that there is no alternative in life, that life has only one track, which is suffering and ego. Then, realizing that, you dance on that one track. So that one track isn’t purely further depression, but it is further excitement as well, because you have no alternatives to play around with.

S:
But what if you experience both states at the same time? Do you dance with both of them?

CTR:
Sure. I think that’s possible.

S:
That becomes quite a confused space.

CTR:
Then explore the confusion, which is also a dance.

Idiot Compassion

S:
You said something about compassion toward ourselves. How much compassion should we have toward ourselves? Are we too harsh with ourselves?

CTR:
Generally, we are too
compassionate
with ourselves. We constantly seek pleasure, so we try to be overly kind to ourselves and delude ourselves. We try to shield ourselves from our mistakes as if nothing had happened. The hinayana way begins with the realization that everything is very serious, that you have no alternatives. In your attempt to be too kind to yourself, you have trapped yourself in your idiot compassion, which creates further pain.

If you become more familiar with that pattern and realize the alternativelessness, then you could become more compassionate. I think that is why hinayana is important at the beginning—to realize that you can’t just treat yourself as if you were what you would like to be. To begin with, you have to cut down your indulgence. You have to realize that if you indulge yourself, that only creates further pain. That realization itself is hopeful. It brings more encouragement. Compassion does not mean creating pleasure, but rather creating a sense of trust in yourself and not condemning. This kind of compassion can be developed if you have the relative intention to do so.