The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology by Trungpa Chogyam & Gimian Carolyn Rose

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

QUESTION: Did you say that samskara is associated with neither nirvana nor samsara, or does that apply to all the skandhas?

CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE: To all the skandhas.

Q: I am puzzled. You said that the good thoughts were somehow related to buddha nature.

CTR: Well, that is easily possible if there is underlying non-ego intonation. That is why they are called “good,” because they are not acts of egomania in the literal, ordinary sense.

Q: Is there more possibility of buddha nature in the states of mind classified as good?

CTR: Yes, there is a tendency to be closer to the awakened state; but at the same time, if this good is being used by the ego, then it is not necessarily absolute good, but just sort of pseudo.

Q: Then does it make any difference? That is, is it worthwhile trying to be a good boy?

CTR: I don’t think so, necessarily. Although these are said to be the good or virtuous ones, at the same time such thoughts—patience or nonviolence or whatever—cannot happen by themselves. They have to have the tinges of passion or aggression, as I said, or also ignorance. They cannot constitute the basic energy that has to go along with them for them to occur. So there is no such thing as 100 percent good in any case. The tendencies are sort of lighter and heavier rather than good and bad.

Q: So they all come from ignorance, hatred, and passion.

CTR: They do, yes.

Q: Is the thread that connects them perception, feeling, or both?

CTR: Quite likely it is form, the basic continuity, ignorance which makes it all possible for the others to continue.

Q: I am confused about speed. There is a speed of the ego being driven, going faster and faster, and there is also a speed of universal energy, or something like that. There is an evil speed, but is there also another speed?

CTR: Well, I’m trying to use the word speed as a sort of driving aggression. But that is not purely pejorative. This has a positive aspect as well, because any kind of aggression, any kind of movement that there is, always has neutral energy that goes along with it. So speed is pure force, neutral force, which could be used for different purposes. The buddha wisdom of the accomplishment of all actions could also be called speed. But somehow that speed is not based on a target. Once you have a target, or criteria in terms of reaching somewhere from somewhere else, that makes the whole pattern of speed destructive. In the case of the energy without a target, without a relativity notion, that speed just happens and returns just by its own nature. It fulfills actions completely and comes back. Fulfilling action in this case follows no criterion or model at all. The speed or energy just goes out and gets into the natural situation spontaneously, tries to bring the natural situation to its fullest state, and then comes back. This kind of speed does not behave in a dictatorial way.

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