The beginning point of buddha nature seems to be the development of maitri, which could be translated as “love,” “kindness,” or “a friendly attitude.” Having a friendly attitude means that when you make friends with someone, you accept the neurosis of that friend as well as the sanity of that friend. You accept both extremes of your friend’s basic makeup as resources for friendship. If you make friends with someone because you only like certain parts of that friend, then it is not complete friendship, but partial friendship. So maitri is all-encompassing friendship, friendship that relates with the creativity as well as the destructiveness of nature.

From “Glimpses of Mahayana, Chapter 3,” in Glimpses of the Profound: Four Short Works, pages 21-22.

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Chogyam Trungpa directing filming, early 1970s. Photographer unknown.