[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Everything Is Gold

[Carolyn Gimian]

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

August 18, 2007

EVERYTHING IS GOLD

The great Tibetan teacher Marpa had to gather lots of gold dust 
before he went to India to see his teacher Naropa. Having collected 
gold dust and gold petals, he gave them to Naropa and just barely 
received the teachings he wanted. Then he had to go back to Tibet to 
make more gold. In those days, instead of talking about making money, 
they talked about making gold. The next time he was going to India, 
Marpa thought that if he made enough gold, he was going to receive 
the most important and highly powerful teachings. He was led to 
believe that by Naropa. So Marpa made a tremendous amount of gold. He 
went back to India, met his teacher Naropa, and presented him with 
the gold dust.
         An extraordinary thing happened. Naropa just threw the gold 
away, scattering it in the air, saying that everything is gold. Then 
he stamped his foot on the ground, and at that moment, Marpa suddenly 
saw that the dust, the trees, and the rocks in the vicinity were 
actually made out of gold. He actually saw it. So his small amount of 
gold was just a primitive approach. Naropa was already enjoying 
himself in a world of gold. That small quantity of gold didn't mean 
anything to him.

 From "Marpa," in SELECTED TALKS ON LINEAGE AND DEVOTION, pages 22 to 
23. Out of print sourcebook.

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo and used 
by permission.

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Carolyn Rose Gimian

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week: teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Taken from works published by Shambhala Publications,  the Archive of 
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