A Quote for the 39th Anniversary of Trungpa Rinpoche’s Parinirvana (Death)
Due to technical difficulties, it was not possible to send this quote on April 4th. It is excerpted from a talk by Diana J. Mukpo, Trungpa Rinpoche’s wife, given at the consecration of the Geat Stupa at Drala Mountain Center in 2001. Lady Diana passed away in September of last year, and it seemed appropriate to offer something from her for the Parinirvana this year:
In the early 1970s, after Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and I moved to this country, we had two children within a short period of time. At that time, our domestic situation, or our family mandala, was not fully developed. I experienced a fair amount of hardship, because I was home alone quite a lot with two babies, and Rinopche was gone almost every evening. I sometimes complained to him, saying, “You need to come home in the evenings.” He would say, “I’m sorry but I have all these important things to do.” So it went, for quite some time. Finally, I decided to up the ante, so I said, “Don’t you love me?” I thought I was playing the ultimate card. Then he said, “Yes, I love you, but I will always love you second best. My first love will always be Jamgon Kongtrul. That is my guru, and that is the dharma. My first love will always be the dharma.”
In retrospect, as difficult as things sometimes were for me at that time, I understand what he was saying, and I’m so grateful that the dharma was always foremost in Rinpoche’s mind. At times Rinpoche could be sentimental about missing the physical embodiment of his teacher. However, the inner meaning was that his guru, Jamgon Kongtrul, was the embodiment of the dharma. My husband, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, understood and accepted this fully, and the dharma became his manifestation and his reason for living altogether. The community of dharma practitioners that he created and his influence on Buddhism in the West altogether have their roots in this commitment to the dharma and his willingness to teach.
Presenting the dharma in North America in the early 1970s was quite a formidable task. Now, the ground is a little bit more tamed for presenting the teachings. People’s understanding of Eastern religion is a bit more sophisticated. When Rinpoche and I arrived in North America, it was in the middle of the hippie era, a cultural upheaval. There were few forms in place for the practice of the buddhadharma, and very few precedents – most of them not widely known – for how to relate to someone who is presenting the Buddhist teachings. There was very little ground to build on. But Rinpoche took great delight in the whole situation. There was never a moment of resentment, complaint or irritation. He was full of joy and enthusiasm about the openness of people he found in North America and about his ability to communicate and to teach people here.
Trungpa Rinpoche was the supreme example of right view, of taking the dharma to heart in every act.
From an unpublished talk by Diana J. Mukpo, August 12, 2001.
To listen to or view more than 550 talks by Chogyam Trungpa, visit the Chogyam Trungpa Digital Library.