[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Patterns That Cause Suffering

[Carolyn Gimian]

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

March 9, 2009

PATTERNS THAT CAUSE SUFFERING

The origin of suffering, strangely, can come either from trying to be 
highly disciplined and aware or from completely losing one's 
awareness. Generally, if you are not mindful and aware, suffering 
begins to arise; whereas, if you are mindful and aware, suffering 
does not arise. However, suffering can also come from using your 
awareness discipline as a means of securing yourself by developing 
set patterns in life. Ego-oriented patterns arise from both attitudes 
and actions, and lead to suffering. They include (1) regarding the 
five skandhas, or aspects of ego, as belonging to oneself, (2) 
protecting oneself from impermanence, (3) believing that one's view 
is best, (4) believing in the extremes of nihilism (that nothing 
matters) and eternalism (that things last forever), as well as the 
extreme emotions of (5) passion, (6) aggression, and (7) ignorance....
         As a practitioner, you realize that these patterns don't 
particularly go away, but at least you know what they are all about, 
and as you go along, you will probably know what you should do about 
it. You may think that once the dharma or the truth has been spoken, 
it should solve those problems automatically, but that is not the 
case. First you have to get into the dharma; then you can think about 
what you can do. Unless you are a businessman, you can't discuss bankruptcy.

 From "The Development of Set Patterns," in THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING: 
and the Path of Liberation. Forthcoming from Shambhala Publications. 
Pre-order your copy at:

http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-59030-668-0.cfm

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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his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.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his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.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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