It may seem like an unattainable ideal, but you can start right now as a bodhisattva-in-training. All you need is the aspiration to put others first and some inspiration from helpful guides like the Buddhist teachers found here. Everyone Is Your Guest Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche on your life as a future bodhisattva Many Mahayana scriptures speak of inviting all sentient [...]
About Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Beyond Present, Past, and Future Is The Fourth Moment
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche on meditation, the spiritual path, and a sense of basic being beyond relative time. When we talk about stages on the path, in relationship to our meditation practice, we have a problem with the terminology. We tend to think of a staircase: We take the first step, and then we take the next step and the step after that. We think meditation practice is [...]
Trust in Your Goodness
Instead of trying to promote or defend ourselves, says Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, we can base our lives on something more powerful and trustworthy—our basic goodness. Paintings by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Lettering by Hannah Reynolds. Meditation practice is not an exotic or out-of-reach approach. It is immediate and personal, and it involves an intimate relationship with [...]
The Decision to Become a Buddhist
Taking refuge in the Buddha, the dharma and the sangha is something more than a ritual, wrote Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. By taking refuge, we are committing ourselves to freedom. I take refuge in the Buddha.I take refuge in the dharma.I take refuge in the sangha. In the Buddhist tradition, the purpose of taking refuge is to awaken from confusion and associate oneself with [...]
Zen Mind, Vajra Mind
The late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche described Suzuki Roshi as his “accidental father” in America, and through their close friendship he gained great respect for the Zen tradition. In this talk, Chögyam Trungpa looks at the basic differences between Zen and tantra. If we begin to discuss the two approaches of Zen and tantra, we will be lost. If we take a glimpse at their [...]
The Way to Dismantle Ego’s Game
A teaching by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche on how to take the fresh and open mind you’ve experienced into the rest of your life. One of the effects of meditation is that you become more open-minded, and this gives rise to an interest in working with others. In that way, meditation practice can transform your lifestyle and your relationships with other people. Then, mindfulness [...]
The Bodhisattva
The bodhisattva—the renowned ideal of Mahayana Buddhism—is not a god or deity but a way of being we can all aspire to. As Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche explains, those who take the bodhisattva vow make one simple commitment: to put others first, holding nothing back for themselves. The bodhisattva vow is the commitment to put others before oneself. It is a statement of [...]
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
According to the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, spirituality means relating with the working basis of one’s existence, which is one’s state of mind. The method for beginning to relate directly with mind is the practice of mindfulness. For the follower of the buddhadharma, the teachings of Buddhism, there is a need for great emphasis on the practice of meditation. One must [...]
Why We Meditate
We don’t meditate to become better people or have special experiences, says Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Meditation is simply the way we relate to our already existing enlightened state. The actual experience, techniques, and disciplines of meditation are still unfamiliar to many people. So I would like to give you a basic idea of how meditation practice works, how it operates [...]
Healing and the Reality of Death
We view our desire to get rid of disease as a desire to live. But it is often just the opposite: it is an attempt to avoid life. Illness is not so special—nor so terrible. It is a question of acknowledging that we are born alone and that we die alone, but that it is still okay. In discussing sickness, whether physical or mental, we should recognize the importance [...]