The Mishap Lineage: Transforming Confusion into Wisdom by Chogyam Trungpa

Author:Chogyam Trungpa [Trungpa, Chogyam]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 2011-02-08T02:00:00+00:00

Chögyam Trungpa (right) with the Khenpo from Sechen, Khenpo Gangshar, who was an important guru for Trungpa Rinpoche.

Jamgön Kongtrül, Chögyam Trungpa’s root guru. Photo by Chögyam Trungpa.

From that time onward, I would say that the journey was very definite and really committed. Before that particular point, I felt that I was being made to be a charlatan and asked to make a fool of myself. This happened particularly when I was told to say certain things to visiting dignitaries. I would be virtually made to memorize the whole conversation. The monks would say, “Then he will say that, you will say that, and then he will say that, and you will say that.” Well, the problem was that the other people wouldn’t say the things that you expected them to say. [Laughter] So then I was completely lost, and there were occasional confusions like that involved. [Laughter] At first I thought that even those people were programmed as well, so everything should be synchronized. But somehow that wasn’t the case, as I realized. I felt envious of them that they could speak freely, while I had to memorize what to say. So it was very interesting meeting Jamgön Kongtrül, who was the real embodiment of sanity.

I think the early part of my upbringing is the important point. There is not really much point in going on. We could go on for twenty-four hours, but there’s no particular point in going through the rest of it. The interesting point here is how you begin on an ordinary level, on this sort of imbecile-child level, and from that how you begin to click into the various stages of sophistication, sanity, and a visionary kind of world. That theme seems to play a very important part in my life. How can you emulate a greater person? By imitating them? By memorizing their speech? By pretending? None of those seems to work. One just has to be it, on a very simple level.

The dreams of all of the Trungpas were to propagate Buddhism, just as the dreams of all of those in the Kagyü tradition were to conquer foreign territories in the name of the Practicing Lineage, in the name and in the style of basic sanity. The general idea is that the presentation of Buddhism should be carried forward somewhat in the manner of crazy wisdom. So here we are! Buddhism is in America at this point.

Student: Several nights ago you talked about the deliberate practice of exposing oneself to being haunted. You mentioned that this kind of practice requires a great deal of composure. I take it that this composure is not the usual sense of composure, which is some sort of cool head that comes from the confidence that you are going to be OK. What is the composure that you were talking about based on? What does it rely on?

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche: Very interestingly, this kind of composure is based on bluntness, which is not the usual idea of composure. It’s not supposed to be blunt usually, but it’s supposed to be very delicate.

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