Read Online The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume One by Chögyam Trungpa - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Chögyam Trungpa
Tags: Tibetan Buddhism
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meditation, and Jamgön Kongtrül of Palpung was my ordainer and also gave me a great deal of teaching. Though the great Jamgön Kongtrül did in fact have five incarnations, the other three do not come into my story.
I was nine when Jamgön Kongtrül of Sechen was invited to Dütsi Tel to give a wangkur (empowerment rite) on the teaching of the Treasury of Spiritual Instructions ( Dam Ngag Dzö ). This was contained in thirteen volumes, and was a selection of the sacred writings of renowned gurus of all the various Tibetan schools which had been collected by his predecessor.
So many monks from outside monasteries kept coming that Jamgön Kongtrül found Dütsi Tel too crowded and disturbing, and it was decided to move to Dorje Khyung Dzong. The rites began on the day of the full moon; first with offerings at the shrine, followed by chanting and ending with a communal meal. However, since Jamgön Kongtrül was so renowned as a meditation teacher, hundreds of people came to hear him as well as to receive his blessing, and in some cases to put their private troubles before him. They established themselves in the open and in nearby caves, and soon the conditions became as involved and difficult as they had been at Dütsi Tel. Jamgön Kongtrül could get no rest and in consequence fell ill. He was forced to move to a small house a short distance from the retreat center, and Rölpa Dorje took over the work while he was resting. Later, when his health improved, he only undertook to give individual meditation teaching; I remained one of his pupils.
When I first saw him, I was enormously impressed; he was so different from any other teacher that I had met. He was a big jolly man, friendly to all without distinction of rank, very generous and with a great source of humor combined with deep understanding; he was always sympathetic to the troubles of others. Though he was not well at the time, to be near him was to experience unbelievable peace and joyousness. He used to say that now that we had met again he was my teacher as, the time before, my predecessor had been his. He so clearly remembered all that the tenth Trungpa Tulku had taught him, and all his kindness to him from his earliest childhood. He said how happy he was to give back to me that which he had received from his own guru, or as they say in Tibet “to return the owner’s possessions.”
I found later that every word he spoke had significance. I went to him every morning, and one day he told me that he saw me as a grownup man looking like my last incarnation.
He would say, “Nowadays people are changing and all the world is in darkness and surrounded by suffering. My generation has been fortunate in living in a country which has been so happy; I hope suffering will not come to you. You must indeed come to Sechen to receive the full cup of spiritual milk ( pumpa gangjö oma ); young people like you are our hope for the future; you are like a flower in bud which must be properly looked after so that it may bloom both in our monasteries and in the homes of our people. You are very sensitive, and all of us must help you; I in particular have the privilege of cultivating you with the spiritual water of teaching and practice.”
One morning he sent for me; as I entered the room the first rays of the sun fell upon me, and he remarked that this was a very significant sign. After this, the teaching he gave me was so profound that I felt he was giving me back the spirituality he himself had received from the tenth Trungpa Rinpoche. He was overjoyed when he realized that I could absorb his teaching without any barrier between us. He told me that from now on I must continue to meditate, but must keep things to myself and not speak about them to other people. A little later he explained that since I was still a child and would not be able to sustain concentration for a long period, I must appoint a special time for meditation and keep to it regularly. He emphasized that I must
I was nine when Jamgön Kongtrül of Sechen was invited to Dütsi Tel to give a wangkur (empowerment rite) on the teaching of the Treasury of Spiritual Instructions ( Dam Ngag Dzö ). This was contained in thirteen volumes, and was a selection of the sacred writings of renowned gurus of all the various Tibetan schools which had been collected by his predecessor.
So many monks from outside monasteries kept coming that Jamgön Kongtrül found Dütsi Tel too crowded and disturbing, and it was decided to move to Dorje Khyung Dzong. The rites began on the day of the full moon; first with offerings at the shrine, followed by chanting and ending with a communal meal. However, since Jamgön Kongtrül was so renowned as a meditation teacher, hundreds of people came to hear him as well as to receive his blessing, and in some cases to put their private troubles before him. They established themselves in the open and in nearby caves, and soon the conditions became as involved and difficult as they had been at Dütsi Tel. Jamgön Kongtrül could get no rest and in consequence fell ill. He was forced to move to a small house a short distance from the retreat center, and Rölpa Dorje took over the work while he was resting. Later, when his health improved, he only undertook to give individual meditation teaching; I remained one of his pupils.
When I first saw him, I was enormously impressed; he was so different from any other teacher that I had met. He was a big jolly man, friendly to all without distinction of rank, very generous and with a great source of humor combined with deep understanding; he was always sympathetic to the troubles of others. Though he was not well at the time, to be near him was to experience unbelievable peace and joyousness. He used to say that now that we had met again he was my teacher as, the time before, my predecessor had been his. He so clearly remembered all that the tenth Trungpa Tulku had taught him, and all his kindness to him from his earliest childhood. He said how happy he was to give back to me that which he had received from his own guru, or as they say in Tibet “to return the owner’s possessions.”
I found later that every word he spoke had significance. I went to him every morning, and one day he told me that he saw me as a grownup man looking like my last incarnation.
He would say, “Nowadays people are changing and all the world is in darkness and surrounded by suffering. My generation has been fortunate in living in a country which has been so happy; I hope suffering will not come to you. You must indeed come to Sechen to receive the full cup of spiritual milk ( pumpa gangjö oma ); young people like you are our hope for the future; you are like a flower in bud which must be properly looked after so that it may bloom both in our monasteries and in the homes of our people. You are very sensitive, and all of us must help you; I in particular have the privilege of cultivating you with the spiritual water of teaching and practice.”
One morning he sent for me; as I entered the room the first rays of the sun fell upon me, and he remarked that this was a very significant sign. After this, the teaching he gave me was so profound that I felt he was giving me back the spirituality he himself had received from the tenth Trungpa Rinpoche. He was overjoyed when he realized that I could absorb his teaching without any barrier between us. He told me that from now on I must continue to meditate, but must keep things to myself and not speak about them to other people. A little later he explained that since I was still a child and would not be able to sustain concentration for a long period, I must appoint a special time for meditation and keep to it regularly. He emphasized that I must
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