Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
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Illusion's Game

By Chögyam Trungpa

A transcript of an early, New York seminar Chogyam Trungpa did in 1972 and based on the life and teachings of Naropa, this book leaps into our modern culture like a flaming sword. A master translator of not just the words but the deeper wisdom, Trungpa Rinpoche illuminates the wisdom and relevancy of 11th century legends giving us a reliable guide to dealing with our immediate life situation.

Themes

Themes: Illusion

Quotes from Illusion's Game

“‘That’ has a name but ‘this’ doesn’t have a name.”

Chapters: 5. Christmas Trees

Themes: Creativity

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“Again and again it happens… the methods become obstacles… The problem seems to be the attitude that the pain should go and then we will be happy. This is our mistaken belief. The pain never goes, and we will never be happy.”

Chapters: 19. All Methods Become Obstacles

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“Appreciation deals with qualities, fascination deals with the colors of those qualities.”

Chapters:

Themes: Appreciation

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“Awareness without choice or awareness that contains no experience…you begin to see yourself as tables and chairs or rocks and sky and water. You begin to identify with the phenomenal world completely.”

Chapters: 16. Returning to the Root, Meditation

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“Because of the feminine principle… there is a lot of room, openness, groundlessness… no one is standing on any ground so communication can take place quite freely.”

Chapters: 6. The Source

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“coemergent wisdom… refers to confusion and realization existing simultaneously, as opposed to confusion coming first and then realization taking over and cleaning out the confusion… confusion and realization are simultaneous.”

Chapters: 23. Nothing and Not

Themes: Confusion

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“Energy is openness and all-pervasiveness. It is constantly expanding. It is decentralized energy, a sense of flood, ocean, outer space, the light of the sun and moon.”

Chapters: 25. The Mother of All Things

Themes: Openness

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“Everybody is a caricature of themselves… as well as everything having its own basic fullness. You represent yourself not by name but by being. So there is a sense of completion.”

Chapters: 50. Claws and Swords

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“From the point of view of samsara, Buddha is mad.”

Chapters: 41. Distilled Life

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“Iinstead of seeing things as new, you see them as very ordinary and full of details… You yourself become a living teaching; you yourself become living dharma… the reference point takes the form of awareness… choiceless awareness.”

Chapters: 40. Returning

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“It’s actually not trying to do anything at all (even relax). That’s the whole point.”

Chapters: 57. Wu Wei

Themes: Wu Wei

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“It’s not a question of what you should be or what you should not be doing. It’s a question of what you are.”

Chapters: 59. The Gardening of Spirit

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“No longer under control of other, you are just yourself, very simply.”

Chapters:

Themes: Control

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“Spiritual practice is stepping out of the duality of me-ness and my-ness as opposed to otherness, of who is me and who is not me.”

Chapters: 33. Know Yourself

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“Suddenly you’re seeing something extraordinary arising out of a very ordinary thing.”

Chapters: 64. Ordinary Mind

Themes: Ordinary Mind

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“the basic requirement for treading the spiritual path is hopelessness… the only and best remedy is hopelessness”

Chapters: 13. Honor and Disgrace

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“The more you see that it is very ordinary, the more that becomes an extraordinary case, which creates a further veil.”

Chapters: 8. Like Water

Themes: Ordinary Mind

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“the only way to grow up and mature further is through further openness to the world… this is realization of the sacredness of the universe and of yourself.”

Chapters: 25. The Mother of All Things

Themes: Sacred World

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“the result of anything aimed at enriching the ego is destruction, complete confusion, perpetual confusion.”

Chapters: 11. Appreciating Emptiness
7. Lose Yourself, Gain Your Soul

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“The shadows of dreams are reality. Dreams produce reality; reality produces dreams.”

Chapters:

Themes: Dream Reality

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“Then there is the other kind of compassion that Mr. Gurdjieff calls idiot compassion, which is compassion with neurosis, a slimy way of trying to fulfill your desire secretly. This is your aim, but you give the appearance of being generous and impersonal.”

Chapters: 67. Three Treasures

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“these twelve experiences that Naropa went through were a continuous unlearning process. To begin with, he had to unlearn, to undo the cultural façade. Then he had to undo the philosophical and emotional façade. Then he had to step out and become free altogether.”

Chapters: 48. Unlearning

Themes: Education Freedom

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“We cut our ground and have a frightening – terrifying – sudden glimpse of groundlessness… no one is standing on any ground, so communication can take place quite freely”

Chapters: 28. Turning Back

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“We end up bombarded by all kinds of alternatives, and we are never able to relate with any of them properly.”

Chapters: 80. A Golden Age

Themes: Less is More

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“What seems to be insane is enlightenment.”

Chapters: 41. Distilled Life

Themes: Enlightenment

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“When we look at things as they are on a very simple and ordinary level, we find that they are fantastically , obviously true, frighteningly true… There is a kind of courtship, a love affair between the obviousness and you perceiving it.”

Chapters: 47. Effortless Success

Themes: Simplicity Truth

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“Whenever you need reassurance, that means you have a fixed idea of what ought to be.”

Chapters: 12. This Over That

Themes: Anonymity

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“Whether it is a vacuum cleaner salesman or a guru, we find the same level of salesmanship.”

Chapters: 38. Fruit Over Flowers

Themes: Teachers

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“Wisdom is connected with looking, and knowledge is connected with seeing.”

Chapters: 47. Effortless Success

Themes: Wisdom No Trace

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