[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Passionlessness

[Carolyn Gimian]

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

February 28, 2009

PASSIONLESSNESS

The first characteristic of a dharmic person, or a practitioner, is 
passionlessness, which is an interesting theme for Westerners. You 
have all kinds of possibilities of organizing and creating 
occupations -- from chewing gum to taking trips to the Bahamas. You 
are always looking for ways to solve your boredom, your boredom 
problem. In contrast, passionlessness means experiencing boredom 
properly and fully. You don't immediately fill the gap with all kinds 
of things....In Western society, when any little irritation comes up, 
there is always something to cure it. They even sell little pads to 
stick on your spectacles to keep them from sliding down, so that they 
will stay on your nose properly. From little things like pads for 
your spectacles to the biggest of the biggest, as long as anybody can 
afford it, the Western approach is to cure any kind of boredom, any 
kind of irritation at all. So passion is connected with being unable 
to relate to boredom -- needing some kind of sustaining power. And a 
practitioner is someone who can maintain himself, who can relate with boredom.

 From "Seven Characteristics of a Dharmic Person," in THE COLLECTED 
WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Two, pages 484 to 485.

Of interest to Ocean of Dharma subscribers:

A weekend conference on Mindfulness, Love and Relationship sponsored 
by the Omega Institute and the Shambhala Sun Foundation will take 
place April 3 to 5 in New York City. The presenters are Sylvia 
Boorstein, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, John Tarrant, and Polly 
Young-Eisendrath. A chance for those with an interest in meditation 
and the contemplative traditions to bring this together with the 
thorny issues of love and relationship that we all face. These 
teachings are part of the "What the Buddhists Teach" series. For 
registration and further information, go to:

https://www.eomega.org/omega/registration/workshop/38667fdf3f5bf8b8e192cc6e5a3b78ec/

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 
his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
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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 
his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.
TO SUBSCRIBE visit the website at http://oceanofdharma.com
For the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project and the blog of Carolyn Gimian 
go to: http://ChogyamTrungpa.com


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