Chögyam Trungpa: Bodhisattva and Paramita

This recorded talk was part of a 14 part series titled The Tibetan Buddhist Path. The video is hosted on the Wisdom of Spiritual Masters youtube channel. As I locate publicly available recordings of the additional talks I will add them to the archive.

I was able to find a 40pg PDF study guide to accompany the full talk series, which will be very helpful for those desiring to deepen their studies and understanding of Buddhism.

Excerpts from the study guide, general:

The Tibetan Buddhist Path was the first seminar taught by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche during the first summer session at Naropa Institute, 1974. While it would be useful for teachers to familiarize themselves with some history of the first summer at Naropa, the purpose of presenting this seminar is not to focus on the history of Naropa. Rather, the seminar is being presented for its up-to-date, or perhaps timeless, presentation of the Buddhist path.

The Tibetan Buddhist Path [was] released on DVD in 2007, the 20th anniversary of the Parinirvana or death of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

Excerpts from the study guide, specific to this video:

Date of Talk: June 29, 1974

Body of Talk: 55 min. Overall: 79 min. (with Q&A)

Having seen the vastness of the sutra teachings presented by Buddha and the vastness of his vision, the bodhisattva path becomes an important way of finding the workability of the path in one’s life. Discovering the open view of the mahayana leads to taking the bodhisattva vow to liberate all beings. This is transplanting the heart of bodhichitta into oneself. The wide vision of the mahayana path is translated into the workability of the six paramitas: generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and prajna.

Ground: Taking the bodhisattva vow.

The vastness of the sutra teachings is like swimming in a vast ocean of dharma. The bodhisattva path is capturing all the principles that Buddha has taught and bringing them into a workable living situation, one that inspires us.

From the narrow discipline of the hinayana, we begin to lift our gaze or extend ourselves, and we discover the openness of the mahayana.

We are transplanting the heart of wakefulness into ourselves, which is transplanting the inspiration or the heart of all the buddhas of the ten realms. This is the discovery of faith and further trust in the teachings.

Feeling this openness and faith, we are inspired to take the bodhisattva’s vow to liberate all beings and not to attain enlightenment until all others are freed from the misery of samsara.

Path: Practicing the Paramitas.

The wish to help others, the inspiration, comes first. Then, we actually embark on the path of working with others through practicing the paramitas. Because we realize that we don’t exist, our commitment to working with others is not centralized but a very wide and open commitment that is therefore extremely powerful.

Fruition: Prajna allows us to know the world and the functions of things as they are.

We aren’t intimidated by the gadgets of the universe anymore, and we don’t renounce them because we are afraid of them. Instead, we are willing to get into the complications of the world and to explore the world. We recognize that we have to deal with the complications ourselves. We can’t chicken out or find someone else to solve things for us. We have to find our own strength and pride, in the positive sense. This is how the bodhisattva handles the universe and how he or she works with sentient beings.