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Chögyam Trungpa

CTR Quote of the Week

Constitution

Student: I was wondering if the government of Shambhala would have a constitution.

Chogyam Trungpa: Certainly there is a constitution. If you study the four seasons, they have a very complicated constitution. If you study the human mind, it has a constitution. Buddhist psychology, or the abhidharma, (1)provides a very complicated description of how the human mind works and what remedies can be applied at particular levels of the human mind. But in the Shambhala world, the constitution doesn’t seem to be the main point. The main point is the natural organicness of the situation.

S: So, then, the situation determines the form, rather than trying to lay a form onto a society?

CT: That’s right. Yes, very much so. For example, we needed to have the lights switched on here tonight. If we didn’t switch them on, it would be too dark to have a talk. But we don’t all go over to the light switch together. We designate somebody to switch the lights on. We all agree that it’s nighttime, it’s too dark to have a talk in this hall, and we need light. Then somebody is appointed to go over to the switch and turn on the lights. That is constitution for you.

From Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala, page 69.

Visit the Chogyam Trungpa Digital Library to listen to and watch more than 600 recordings. The recordings that are the basis of the book are in the library! At: https://library.chogyamtrungpa.com/great-eastern-sun-the-shambhala-training-level-v-talks/

 

 

 

[1]The abhidharma, literally the “special teaching,” represents the earliest compilation of Buddhist philosophy and psychology. It is a codification and interpretation of the concepts that appear in the discourses of the Buddha and his major disciples.

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