The Path Is the Goal: A Basic Handbook of Buddhist Meditation

194 Pages·2011·7.39 MB·English

by  Chogyam Trungpa

The Path Is the Goal
BOOKS BY CHOGYAM TRUNGPA
Born in Tibet
The Collected Works of Chrigyam Trungpa
Crazy Wisdom
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
The Essential Chbgyam Trungpa
First Thought Best Thought: roB Poems
Glimpses of Abhidharma
Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala
The Heart of the Buddha
journey without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha
Meditation in Action
The Mishap Lineage: Transforming Confusion into Wisdom
Mudra
The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation
Ocean of Dharma: The Everyday Wisdom of Chbgyam Trunpa
The Sanity We Are Born With
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness
Transcending Madness: The Experience of the Six Bardos
The Truth of Suffering and the Path of Liberation
Work, Sex, Money: Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness
The Path Is the Goal
A BASIC HANDBOOK OF
BUDDHIST MEDITATION
--
Chiigyam Trungpa
Edited by Sherab Chiidzin
Shambhala
Boston & London
2011
SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
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Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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© 1995 by Diana J. Mukpo
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
@ This edition is printed on acid-free paper that meets the
American National Standards Institute 239.48 Standard.
0 This book was printed on 30% postconsumer recycled paper.
For more information please visit www.shambhala.com.
Distributed in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
and in Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd
The Library of Congress catalogues the previous edition as follows:
Trungpa, Chogyam, 1939-
The path is the goal: a basic handbook of Buddhist meditation I
Chogyam Trungpa; edited by Sherab Chodzin. - 1st ed.
p. em.- (Dharma ocean series)
ISBN 978-1-59030-910-0 (pbk: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-87773-970-8 (pbk: alk. paper)
1. Meditation-Buddhism. I. Chodzin, Sherab. II. Title.
III. Series: Trungpa, Chogyam, 1939- Dharma ocean series.
BQ5612.T78 1995 94-23497
294.3 '443--dc20 CIP
Contents
Editor's Foreword vu
PART ONE
1. The Only Way 3
2. Continuing Your Confusion 14
3. The Star of Bethlehem 3 5
PART Two
1. Me-ness and the Emotions 55
2. Recollecting the Present 66
3. The Portable Stage Set 88
4. Boredom-Full or Empty? 105
5. From Raw Eggs to Stepping-Stones 116
6. Loneliness 126
7. Creating a Little Gap 145
Notes 155
Glossary 15 8
Transliterations ofTibetan Terms 163
About the Author 164
Meditation Center Information 171
Index 173

Editor's Fa reword
This book comprises two seminars given by the great
Tibetan guru, the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa,
Rinpoche, both dating from 1974. The first was given
in March in New York, the second in September at
Tail of the Tiger, a meditation center the Vidyadhara
founded in Vermont, which was later renamed Karme
Choling. These seminars contain hitherto unpublished
teachings of his on the view and practice of Buddhist
meditation.
Traditional accounts tell us that at the time of the
Buddha Shakyamuni's enlightenment, he saw a vast
panorama of beings throughout the six realms of exis
tence, suffering in their ignorance through an endless
round of attachment and disappointment, birth and
death. In the literature cif the Buddhist tradition we
find other accounts of such visions of human suffering.
A recent account concerns the Gyalwa Karmapa, Rikpe
Dorje (1924-1982), who was the sixteenth incarnation
in a line of enlightened hierarchs, heads of the Kagyi.i
order of Buddhism in Tibet. It recounts an incident in
his first journey, in the mid-seventies, out of the medie
val Himalayan world he had known into the modern
West. His first stop was Hong Kong, where his hosts
took him to the top of a skyscraper. Standing on the
vm Editor's Foreword
observation platform, the Karmapa looked out with as
tonishment and delight at the vast view of the city
below. Then, after a moment or two, he began to cry.
He had to be helped inside by his attendants with tears
pouring from his eyes. Later he explained that at the
sight of the huge city with its teeming masses being
born and struggling and dying without a shred of
dharma to help them-"without," as he said, "so much
as an OM MANI PADME HUM"-he had been overcome by
grief.
From these visions, we do not have to come far to
arrive at the job description confronting Trungpa Rin
poche in America. The Vidyadhara was himself the
eleventh incarnation in a line of enlightened spiritual
and temporal rulers from Eastern Tibet. When he ar
rived in North America as the sole representative of his
lineage in 1970, he saw an exciting and vigorous cul
ture, very full of itself, covering a vast continent. He
saw at the same time myriads of individual people suf
fering through ignorance, through entrenched views
about life and lots of aggressive speed. As he himself
later described the situation, "Even with . . . encour
agement, from the present lineage fathers and my de
voted students, I have been left out in the cold as full
time garbageman, janitor, diaper service, and babysit
ter. So finally I alone have ended up as captain of this
great vessel. I alone have to liberate its millions of pas
sengers in this dark age. I alone have to sail this de-