The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Five: 5 by Trungpa Chogyam & Carolyn Rose Gimian

Author:Trungpa, Chogyam & Carolyn Rose Gimian [Trungpa, Chogyam]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 2010-09-28T03:00:00+00:00

FOUR

Something Very Tickling

WHEN NAROPA FINALLY discovered Tilopa, there was no particular gracious occasion. There was no ceremonial initiation of any kind. The initiation consisted in Tilopa’s taking off his slipper and slapping Naropa on the cheek, which sent Naropa into a coma, weakened as he was. Then Tilopa sang a song to the effect of “Whatever I have experienced in the mahamudra, Naropa has also experienced, so in the future, whoever is open to the teaching of mahamudra should get it from Naropa.”

That was quite interesting and shocking. Naropa achieved realization in a sudden glimpse. But we shouldn’t be too optimistic, thinking that we too will experience a sudden transmission like that. Probably we won’t. The whole thing is very haphazard, very much a matter of taking a chance.

The teachings of Naropa are known as the six dharmas or six doctrines. The first doctrine connected with his sudden discovery of the mahamudra experience is called illusory body. He discovered that every situation or experience is illusory, is to be regarded as body and nonbody, substance and nonsubstance. He experienced life as like a mirage.

The second doctrine has to do with dream. Our fantasies are involved with trying to pin down experience as something fixed, which actually doesn’t exist at all.

Then there is the doctrine related with the bardo experience, which is the intermediate situation between death and birth.

Then we have inner heat, or tumo (which in Sanskrit is chandali), an inner burning that arouses the universal flame that burns away all conceptualized notions of whatever kind, totally consuming them.

Then there is transference of consciousness. Since you do not believe in physical existence as a solid thing that you can take refuge in, you can switch out of such a belief into nonbelief, transfer your consciousness into open space, a space which has nothing to do with the fixed notion of “me and mine” and “that and this” at all.

The last, the sixth doctrine, is luminosity (ösel in Tibetan), all-pervading luminosity. There is nothing at all that is regarded as a dark corner, an area of mystery anymore. The whole thing is seen as open, brilliant, things as they really are. There are no mysterious corners left.

Very crudely, those are the six doctrines of Naropa. I look forward to a situation in which we have time to go into them in a more subtle and fundamental way. That would be extremely good. At this point, I hope we have at least started something in terms of arousing inquisitive mind. There may be something happening somewhere underneath human confusion, which is very tickling.

Let’s leave it at that for now and dedicate our actions here, our working together, to American karma. Something is trying to come out of American karma. It’s dying to burst, dying to blast. Let’s make a homemade bomb out of this seminar.

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