[OceanofDharma] Quotes of the Week: Electing a President: Change Takes the Work of Centuries

[Carolyn Gimian]

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

October 20, 2004

ELECTING A PRESIDENT: CHANGE TAKES THE WORK OF CENTURIES

Question: This is...an election year [ in the United States]. People will 
be going to the polls in November to elect a new president, new 
congressmen, and in a great many states governors as well....
         Is there, from a Buddhist standpoint, a way to prepare yourself 
when you go to the polls to make these difficult decisions?

Chogyam Trungpa: Well, I think even if you had a most enlightened 
president, things still wouldn't be different, because he too inherits the 
political setup and economic traditions of the country. So he also is 
trapped in a particular chain reaction. You can't have an ideal solution. I 
suppose the best approach is a long-term approach...a slow approach. It is 
similar to trying to shift gears into some kind of element of sanity that 
exists in your particular realm, your particular congressman or president, 
and trying to follow it up.
         It is not so much what we should be doing this year alone but that 
we should follow it up all the time, trying to develop some kind of 
continuity in a different direction, rather than purely believing that 
there is going to be tremendous good news if the right president is 
elected. Somehow, that is not going to work. It takes the work of 
centuries. But I think it is possible; it is up to people to change, to 
take part and pay attention, if they can do so.


         From "A Buddhist Approach to Politics: An Interview with Chogyam 
Trungpa," conducted by Karl Ray and first published in the SHAMBHALA REVIEW 
OF BOOKS AND IDEAS 5, nos. 1 & 2, Winter 1976. Now available in THE 
COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Eight, pages 422-423.

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

Of interest to our readers: All eight volumes of THE COLLECTED WORKS OF 
CHOGYAM TRUNGPA are now available. For order information and a video 
pre-view of the DVD that accompanies purchase, consult the Shambhala 
Publications website: http://shambhala.com/trungpa/

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unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.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