[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Meditation Is a Sacred Activity

[Carolyn Gimian]

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

August 17, 2008

MEDITATION IS A SACRED ACTIVITY

When a person sits and meditates, it is a special situation; it is a 
sacred act of some kind. It has been said by Petrul Rinpoche, a great 
teacher about 100 years ago, that even if you have impure thoughts in 
the meditation hall, those thoughts are regarded as sacred thoughts. 
The most impure, most crude or confused thoughts, even those are 
regarded as sacred thoughts. Along with that, a sense of appreciating 
the discipline is in itself important, whether you have accomplished 
the discipline over all or not. If you fall asleep on your cushion, 
or feel that you haven't actually sat and meditated at all -- as soon 
as you sit on your cushion, you begin to mentally venture out all 
over the world, and the only thing that reminds you is when the 
ending gong sounds and you realize you are meditating, supposedly, 
physically -- even then, even such daydreams and things like that are 
important. Meditation is a sacred activity.

 From "The First Foundation: Mindfulness of Body," in the 1973 
Hinayana-Mahayana Transcripts, page 39.

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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