Week of

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 the impulse of the fear.

Chogyam Trungpa: You can’t con fear or frighten fear. You have to respect fear. You might try to tell yourself that it’s not real, that it’s just false. But that approach is questionable. It is better to develop some kind of respect, realizing that neurosis is also a message, rather than garbage that you should just throw away. That’s the whole starting point—the idea of samsara and nirvana being one. Samsara, confused existence, is not regarded as a nuisance alone, but it has its own potent message that is worthy of respect.

From Crazy Wisdom, pages 124 to 125.

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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.

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Photo of Chogyam Trungpa by James Gritz.

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