Chögyam Trungpa

Chögyam Trungpa

CTR Quote of the Week

Truth with Humor

Usually, telling the truth is very depressing. If you mix the truth with a bit of lying, if you add a bit of salt and pepper by lying, you find it more delicious. But somehow our lineage doesn’t allow it to happen that way. Nor is this particular spokesman, a holder of the lineage, particularly inspired to do things that way. So things are black and white, straight and square–and because of that, there is a lot of humor. That straightfowardness and bluntness is very cute.

From “Glimpses of Realization,” in Glimpses of the Profound: Four Short Works, page 283.

Share Quote

Subscribe to

Quote of the week

Our newsletter

Life Force

Everyday experiences are usually regarded as somewhat mundane and unimportant. If you are seeking a transcendental experience in meditation, then daily life may seem too

Read More

Sensations of Being Alive

The sensations of being alive may be threatening and a bit confusing, and we may develop a powerful reaction or survival instinct in relationship to

Read More

Elegance Is Not Arrogance

When we talk about elegance, we are not talking in terms of arrogance. When we talk about fearlessness, we are not talking about heavy-handedness. Genuineness

Read More

Clockwork

While I was growing up in Tibet, I was so attracted to the American way of life and the Western style of doing things. I

Read More

Gentleness

We shouldn’t discount the powerful seed of gentleness that we all possess. Even the most vicious animals possess natural affection and gentleness for their young.

Read More

The Broken-Hearted Warrior

From the dictionary’s point of view, sadness has negative connotations. If you feel sad, you feel unfortunate or bad. Or you may be sad because

Read More

The Eye of Dharma

From the actual discipline of the sitting practice of meditation, people begin to learn to relate with themselves and they open up. They are willing

Read More

Good Meditator, Good Warrior

The actual day-to-day sitting practice of meditation–watching one’s breath and working with one’s discursive thoughts, keeping one’s good posture and all those small details–sometimes seems

Read More

Love Is a Mutual Dance

It is very difficult to learn to love. If an object of fascination or some kind of dream or promise is presented to you, you

Read More

Working with Obstacles

In our practice and in our life, working with all the challenges is an ongoing journey, not just a one-shot deal. When we meditate over

Read More

Stepping Over the Doorstep

Demands of all kinds arise in life, and we may have to deal with successive seeming dead ends. Problems often appear to be unsolvable. They

Read More

Respect Fear

Student: My experience of fear is that it seems to be a major manifestation of my confusion. I try not to get caught up in

Read More

Fear Is a Wise Message

Student: Is fear something other than just projections? Chogyam Trungpa: Fear is the message as well as the radar. It is usually a relationship situation.

Read More

Free from Trickery

Decency is being free from trickery, free from the tricks we play on ourselves or on each other to maintain our basic existence. Trickery brings

Read More

Blind Faith versus Open Faith

Personal openness is the important thing, rather than purely living on faith. Faith can be blind or intelligent. Open faith is intelligent, being willing to

Read More

Natural Mindfulness

Shamatha, or the basic practice of meditation, is both simple and workable. We are not just retelling myths about what somebody did in the past.

Read More

CTR Quote of the Week

The CTR Quote of the Week is coming to you from the Chogyam Trungpa Institute at Naropa University. The compiler of the quotes and the moderator of the list is Carolyn Gimian.

All material is used by permission of Diana J. Mukpo.

Photo of Chogyam Trungpa by James Gritz.

The CTR Quote of the Week may be copied and shared with others. Please include a link to this site.

Subscribe to our newsletter