Regardless of what the world is doing, in what state of affairs it is in, there is always something fundamentally boundless and unchanged in Dharma - the continuation of the turning of the wheel is unceasing. Masters and students alike we are bound together in this journey, though we all have different paths, obvious separation in skill level and abilities, but we still intersect and weave together like rays of light passing through a prism - emerging on the other side in a rainbow of every color imaginable.
From the hardships being endured in Kathmandu we send our wishes and the merit of our daily practices from wherever we are around the world with all we have in our hearts. Regardless of our achievements we are nonetheless bound together with hope and aspirations, it is through the Dharma that we have become intwined. We must take full advantage of this precious time given to us, for we never know what the next moment may bring, or take away. Though things may seem bleak and dysfunctional, though we are burdened with sadness, hearts heavy with the desire to do more, we have the great opportunity to continue to turn the wheel of the Dharma - for the benefit of all sentient beings.
I was born into a family truly in love with the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche - a Shambhala family, both my parents were beyond fully invested into his style of teaching and this has rubbed off on me on many, even subconscious levels. This doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that I have some deeper connection to the Dharma than someone else, absolutely not. Perhaps even the opposite as is often the case with children who pick up their parents lifestyles from an early age. It forces us to question and deepen our understanding, or at least to try and see why the people whom we respect the most in this life chose to follow such a crazy, wild and often difficult to understand path, and teacher. His Crazy Wisdom, or as it is correctly translated Wisdom Crazy simply became a part of me, and as I grew up and began to have a personal connection with the Dharma on my own terms, it was then that I truly realized how amazing this man really was, and how deeply his bare essentials teachings had truly soaked and steeped into my life and into my heart. Trungpa Rinpoche used to say: “If you lose your mind, come back” and I find this more poignant and relevant than ever. We all lose our minds at some point or another, in this calamitous roller coaster of emotions and helplessness one can feel like nothing we do matters. But in fact we have such an opportunity here to keep our minds on the task at hand, to focus calmly on the breath, and to do all we can in the moment. This precious, present moment is all we have.
We continue to offer our hearts to those in Kathmandu, and I will offer all I can of my physical form as well when I arrive there later tonight. Your support and donations have been received with great joy and thanks, we have come together in this, and the result has been very powerful. I feel that our time has been spent in its best interest, offering all we do, and all we can, to those in need and in straits deeply more dire than our own. Following Karmapa’s advice we can continue to offer as many mantras as possible, to continue our practice and remain vigilant - in times like these one cannot always do more than this. As I have since I was a child, upon waking up, I say good morning to a wonderful photo of Trungpa, a stunning black and white portrait taken by Robert De Tredici (see above). And when I’m ready to bid the day farewell and pass on to tomorrow, as Rinpoche would do in his amicable way, I say good morning again, to remind me to always be awake. Rinpoche never said goodnight, only good morning, as he wanted to always stay awake and present, and so I try my best to do the same. Trungpa Rinpoche’s outrageously magnetic and contagious energy still fills me with hope, reassuring me that we will continue, we can endure, and that we will make it to the other side. Be it this current catastrophe or any other hurdle or difficulty we may encounter on this path of life - all we have to do is return to the present moment. Tomorrow I will say good morning again to my treasured photo, this time from Kathmandu. After over 24 hours of travel, planes, trains and traffic, crammed metro cars and in flight prepackaged meals I will be then only arriving in KTM, and the true adventure of boundless craziness will only just be beginning. I will be losing my mind on some level, this is a certainty, but it will also be a great opportunity to practice and to come back to the breath. No matter how crazy things can get, no matter how much I lose my mind or the situation that surrounds me brings me to the edge of sanity and beyond, somehow, this basic idea has been lodged and embedded into my mind since childhood, and it is one of my most treasured possessions.
In these times of craziness what is one to do? In my most humble understanding, continue your practice, continue to turn the wheel of the Dharma for the benefit of all beings. This is the most powerful thing we can do. Digging into our wallets is a statement of what is needed right now, but opening our hearts and letting the Dharma flow unceasingly is a timeless and everlasting practice - for the world continues to turn with suffering at its roots - unabated. Practicing for others is the best and only way I know to relieve my mind of the ever heavy self - to forgo the need to control what I am feeling and the environment around me, and to see the truth about what is actually of benefit for others. Forever turning the Dharma, for all sentient beings. Continuing your practice even when your insides want to come out in a vulgar display of emotion and upheaval. Remembering that it can be ok to smile, even when on the inside your heart is deeply saddened, and you feel like you cannot go on. Thanks to teachers like Trungpa Rinpoche I can rejoice in the simple fact that right now, this present moment, is always the perfect time to start.
When you lose your mind, simply come back.
From the hardships being endured in Kathmandu we send our wishes and the merit of our daily practices from wherever we are around the world with all we have in our hearts. Regardless of our achievements we are nonetheless bound together with hope and aspirations, it is through the Dharma that we have become intwined. We must take full advantage of this precious time given to us, for we never know what the next moment may bring, or take away. Though things may seem bleak and dysfunctional, though we are burdened with sadness, hearts heavy with the desire to do more, we have the great opportunity to continue to turn the wheel of the Dharma - for the benefit of all sentient beings.
I was born into a family truly in love with the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche - a Shambhala family, both my parents were beyond fully invested into his style of teaching and this has rubbed off on me on many, even subconscious levels. This doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that I have some deeper connection to the Dharma than someone else, absolutely not. Perhaps even the opposite as is often the case with children who pick up their parents lifestyles from an early age. It forces us to question and deepen our understanding, or at least to try and see why the people whom we respect the most in this life chose to follow such a crazy, wild and often difficult to understand path, and teacher. His Crazy Wisdom, or as it is correctly translated Wisdom Crazy simply became a part of me, and as I grew up and began to have a personal connection with the Dharma on my own terms, it was then that I truly realized how amazing this man really was, and how deeply his bare essentials teachings had truly soaked and steeped into my life and into my heart. Trungpa Rinpoche used to say: “If you lose your mind, come back” and I find this more poignant and relevant than ever. We all lose our minds at some point or another, in this calamitous roller coaster of emotions and helplessness one can feel like nothing we do matters. But in fact we have such an opportunity here to keep our minds on the task at hand, to focus calmly on the breath, and to do all we can in the moment. This precious, present moment is all we have.
We continue to offer our hearts to those in Kathmandu, and I will offer all I can of my physical form as well when I arrive there later tonight. Your support and donations have been received with great joy and thanks, we have come together in this, and the result has been very powerful. I feel that our time has been spent in its best interest, offering all we do, and all we can, to those in need and in straits deeply more dire than our own. Following Karmapa’s advice we can continue to offer as many mantras as possible, to continue our practice and remain vigilant - in times like these one cannot always do more than this. As I have since I was a child, upon waking up, I say good morning to a wonderful photo of Trungpa, a stunning black and white portrait taken by Robert De Tredici (see above). And when I’m ready to bid the day farewell and pass on to tomorrow, as Rinpoche would do in his amicable way, I say good morning again, to remind me to always be awake. Rinpoche never said goodnight, only good morning, as he wanted to always stay awake and present, and so I try my best to do the same. Trungpa Rinpoche’s outrageously magnetic and contagious energy still fills me with hope, reassuring me that we will continue, we can endure, and that we will make it to the other side. Be it this current catastrophe or any other hurdle or difficulty we may encounter on this path of life - all we have to do is return to the present moment. Tomorrow I will say good morning again to my treasured photo, this time from Kathmandu. After over 24 hours of travel, planes, trains and traffic, crammed metro cars and in flight prepackaged meals I will be then only arriving in KTM, and the true adventure of boundless craziness will only just be beginning. I will be losing my mind on some level, this is a certainty, but it will also be a great opportunity to practice and to come back to the breath. No matter how crazy things can get, no matter how much I lose my mind or the situation that surrounds me brings me to the edge of sanity and beyond, somehow, this basic idea has been lodged and embedded into my mind since childhood, and it is one of my most treasured possessions.
In these times of craziness what is one to do? In my most humble understanding, continue your practice, continue to turn the wheel of the Dharma for the benefit of all beings. This is the most powerful thing we can do. Digging into our wallets is a statement of what is needed right now, but opening our hearts and letting the Dharma flow unceasingly is a timeless and everlasting practice - for the world continues to turn with suffering at its roots - unabated. Practicing for others is the best and only way I know to relieve my mind of the ever heavy self - to forgo the need to control what I am feeling and the environment around me, and to see the truth about what is actually of benefit for others. Forever turning the Dharma, for all sentient beings. Continuing your practice even when your insides want to come out in a vulgar display of emotion and upheaval. Remembering that it can be ok to smile, even when on the inside your heart is deeply saddened, and you feel like you cannot go on. Thanks to teachers like Trungpa Rinpoche I can rejoice in the simple fact that right now, this present moment, is always the perfect time to start.
When you lose your mind, simply come back.