If you must begin then go all the way, because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time. Chogyam Trungpa More Quotes by Chogyam Trungpa More Quotes From Chogyam Trungpa Becoming awarrior and facing yourself is a question of honesty rather than condemning yourself. By looking at yourself, you may find that you've been a bad boy or girl, and you may feel terrible about yourself. Your existence may feel wretched, completely pitch-black, like the black hole of Calcutta. Or you may see something good about yourself. The idea is simply to face the facts. Honesty plays a very important part. Just see the simple, straightforward truth about yourself. Chogyam Trungpa cutting honesty simple The basic work of health professionals in general, and of psychotherapist s in particular, is to become full human beings and to inspire full human-beingness in other people who feel starved about their lives. Chogyam Trungpa health-professionals inspire people Right mindfulness does not simply mean being aware; it is like creating a work of art. You can therefore trust what you are doing; you are not threatened by anything. You have room to dance in the space, and this makes it a creative situation. The space is open to you. Chogyam Trungpa space mean art In fact, a person always finds when he begins to practice meditation that all sorts of problems are brought out. Any hidden aspects of your personality are brought out into the open, for the simple reason that for the first time you are allowing yourself to see your state of mind as it is. Chogyam Trungpa simple personality practice I would like to say, ladies and gentlemen, that you shouldn't be afraid of who you are. That's the first key idea. You shouldn't be afraid of who you are. You should NOT be afraid of who you are. It's very important for you to realize that. Chogyam Trungpa gentleman keys ideas The emphasis on practice is because it is the only time in your life you can steer your karmic situation. Chogyam Trungpa emphasis situation practice We are threatened by the now so we jump to the past or the future. Chogyam Trungpa threatened past There is more to fearlessness than merely having overcome fear... This state of being is not dependent on any external circumstances. It is individual dignity... that comes from being what we are, right now. Chogyam Trungpa individual dignity overcoming Fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart. Chogyam Trungpa softness humans heart When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative [enough] to wake a person up Chogyam Trungpa be-kind creative compassion The trouble with Westerners is that they want to witness their own enlightenment. Chogyam Trungpa enlightenment trouble want When one is able to overcome the romantic and emotional attitude, one discovers truth even in the kitchen sink. Chogyam Trungpa serenity emotional attitude Look. This is your world! You can't not look. There is no other world. This is your world; it is your feast. You inherited this; you inherited these eyeballs; you inherited this world of color. Look at the greatness of the whole thing. Look! Don't hesitate - look! Open your eyes. Don't blink, and look, look - look further. Chogyam Trungpa greatness color eye The essence of warriorship, or the essence of human bravery, is refusing to give up on anyone or anything. Chogyam Trungpa giving-up essence bravery When there is no desire to satisfy yourself, there is no aggression or speed... Because there is no rush to achieve, you can afford to relax. Because you can afford to relax, you can afford to keep company with yourself, you can afford to make love with yourself, to be friends with yourself. Chogyam Trungpa making-love desire love-you There is no such thing as talent, only awareness. Chogyam Trungpa creativity talent awareness There is no promise of love and light or visions of any kind - no angels, no devils. Nothing happens: it is absolutely boring. Sometimes you feel silly. One often asks the question, "Who is kidding whom? Am I on to something or not?" You are not on to something. Traveling the path means you get off everything, there is no place to perch. Sit and feel your breath, be with it. Chogyam Trungpa angel silly mean We say that the sun is behind the clouds, but actually it is not the sun but the city from which we view it that is behind the clouds. If we realized that the sun is never behind the clouds we might have a different attitude toward the whole thing. Chogyam Trungpa buddhist clouds attitude People's creativity is very much alive, but when they get paid for their creativity, they often experience that as rather meaningless. Money as the reward for their creative process is very one-dimensional, a tremendous comedown. Chogyam Trungpa creativity creative people The ideal of helping is to make others independent of you. You help them to become more independent rather than making them addicted to you. Chogyam Trungpa ideals independent helping