Notes from "Meditation in Action" by Chögyam Trungpa

Gathered notes

• We fail to see life as it is because we build up our own version of it. Our opinions obscure our vision.
• Every situation can be a vehicle.
• Everyone has Buddha-nature.
• Behind material cravings is a fundamental wanting to possess.
• When we push things away, the ego puts new things in their place.
• Unlimited activity, not bound or conditioned by good or bad.
• Patience is the way to set an example of peace.
• No striving, no trying to achieve anything. No battle against evil from the side of good.

Raw notes

• In order to follow the spiritual path, we must first overcome the initial excitement.
• One fails to see life as it is because one tends so much to build up one’s own version of it.
• When you miss lunch, you may not be hungry, but the idea of missing lunch affects you.
• We should not accept everything blindly and try and fit it into the right pigeonhole, but try and see it at first hand, from our own experience.
• In order to see the continual pattern of development, we have to go through it manually.
• Speech alone is not the only method of communication.
• Somehow communication also continues after we finish speaking.
• We must accept whatever situation arises. As long as we never retreat from a situation, it will always present itself as a vehicle, and we will be able to make use of it.
• The idea that there are either “spiritually inclined” or “worldly” people and that there’s no way to bridge this gap can be a great hindrance to bhodicitta.
• Since Buddha-nature pervades all things, there is no such thing as an unsuitable candidate.
• Compassion with results that finally benefits you is compassion with an ego.
• A hindrance is also a vehicle.
• When you have a hostile attitude and push things away, other things spring up to take their place. This is the continual trick of the ego.
• Not “the teacher imparting their knowledge”.
  • The student discovering something in themself.
  • In the right situation, created by the teacher.
• Unlimited activity, as in not bound or conditioned by good or bad.
• See the value of possessions and be able to give them away.
• Someone who has a lot wants more, someone who has less is prepared to give.
• There’s always something behind craving material things. A fundamental wanting to possess, to own, always changing and substituting one thing for another.
• If you give to gain merit, it builds up your ego.
• Patience includes knowing when its right to forbear and develop patience.
• Easy to talk about, difficult to do.
• Remain in the centre, don’t react.
• Patience is the way to set an example of peace.
• In a sense, opinions provide a way to escape. They create a kind of slothfulness and obscure one’s clarity of vision.
• Make a vase, break it, to show that the space inside and outside are the same.
• Fear of losing the ego is one of the ego’s last weapons.
• Avoid feeling solemn. Natural and spontaneous. Simply try to identify oneself with the breath.
• No striving, no trying to achieve anything.
• No battle against evil from the side of good.

Added 2024-10-28.