[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: The Carrot of Enlightenment

[Carolyn Gimian]

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

October 3, 2007

THE CARROT OF ENLIGHTENMENT

The buddhas and great teachers have developed skillful means 
throughout the ages. Their approach is to hold up the Star of 
Bethlehem, enlightenment, like a carrot in front of a donkey. There 
is a carrot thousands of miles away shining, and you have to walk and 
walk and walk and go get it. The donkey doesn't have the carrot at 
this point, at the beginner's level, but he has to be inspired. So a 
faraway inspiration is provided. Something is taking place way off 
there on the horizon. There is a big space, a huge desert landscape. 
The point (apart for all this poetic imagery) is that we need hope, 
the powerful hope of attaining enlightenment in this lifetime. We 
need that hope because of having to relate with the constant chatter 
that goes on in our mind, the emotional ups and downs of all kinds 
that go on, the disturbances that we experience, the constant, 
ongoing process taking place in our state of being. We need a 
reference point connected with that....You have to relate with 
somebody who knows how to make the dharma part of a visible world 
rather than letting it remain a myth.

 From "The Star of Bethleham," in THE PATH IS THE GOAL: A BASIC 
HANDBOOK OF BUDDHIST MEDITATION, pages 36 to 37. Edited by Sherab Chodzin.


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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