In these talks, Chögyam Trungpa weaves his insight through the significance of the eight aspects of  Padmasambhava.   The term 'crazy wisdom'is used in relation to both Guru Rinpoche and Trungpa's (and the  devotee's) own approach to life and practice. 'Crazy wisdom,' in the codes of the cynical, means 'the guru is using his position to lay his students;' in these talks, Trungpa shows what a narrow-minded, ignorant reductionism that is.
 

(in mind transmission of crazy wisdom) a mutual understanding takes place that creates a general atmosphere--and the message is understood.  If the guru of crazy wisdom is an authentic being, then the authentic communication happens, and the means of communication is neither words nor symbols.  Rather, just by being, a sense of precision is communicated.  Maybe it takes the form of waiting--for nothing.  maybe it takes pretending to  meditate together, but not doing anything.  For that matter, it might involve having a very casual relationship:  discussing the weather and the flavor of tea; how to make curry, chop suey, or macrobiotic cuisine; or talking about history, or the history of the neighbors--whatever.

The crazy wisdom of the thought lineage takes a form that is somewhat disappointing to the eager recipient of the teachings.  You might go and pay a visit to the guru, which you have especially prepared for, and he isnât even interested in talking to you.  He's busy reading the newspaper.  Or for that matter he might create 'black air, a certain intensity that makes the whole environment  threatening.  And there's nothing happening--nothing happening to such an extent that you walk out with a sense of relief, glad you didnât have to be there any longer.  But then something happens to you as if everything did happen during those periods of silence or intensity.

   He delivered these teachings in the wee small hours of the morning, at a banquet marking the end of a one-week retreat at  Karme Chöling, and went directly from there to a one-week retreat at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he gave  more teachings on the same subject:

The eight aspects of Padmasambhava that we are going to discuss are  connected with... a process of psychological penetration, of cutting through the surface of the psychological realm and then cutting through a further surface and infinitely further surfaces down through ever further depths of further surfaces, deeper and deeper. This is the process we involve ourselves in by discussing Padmasambhavaâs life, the eight aspects of  Padmasambhava,. and crazy wisdom.

In this context we see that the Buddhist  approach to spirituality is one of ruthlessly cutting through any chance we might have of confirming ourselves at any particular stage of the development on the spiritual path.  When we discover that we have made some progress on the spiritual path, that discovery of progress is regarded as a hindrance to further progress.  So we don't get a chance to rest, to relax, or to congratulate ourselves at all.  It is a one-shot, ongoingly ruthless spiritual journey.  And that is the essence of Padmasambhava's spirituality.
 

   And Chögyam Trungpa's.  He was one of the most outstanding spiritual teachers of this century; we are fortunate that so many people loved him so well, and have preserved so many of his teachings.

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CUTTING THROUGH
SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM

Chögyam Trungpa

    Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is not a valuable book because it opens the Way and makes the path easy.  Not at all.  This is an intimate, difficult, challenging book that will hit you where you live, no matter where you thought you were living.  Trungpa Rinpoche gave these teachings when he noticed that westerners easily confused going through the motions of the path of accumulation with  real practice.  It is possible to do 100,000 prostrations and just be an asshole who's proud of having done 100,000  prostrations.  Rinpoche found people like that, and this book is the record of what he said when he kicked their butts; not just the chewing out, but the instructions on proper orientation.

 The spiritual friend becomes part of you, as well as being an individual, external person.  As such the guru, both internal and external, plays a very important part in penetrating and exposing our hypocrisies.  The guru can be a person who acts as a mirror, reflecting you, or else your own basic intelligence takes the form of the spiritual friend.  When the internal guru begins to function, then you can never escape the demand to open.  The basic intelligence follows you everywhere; you cannot escape your own shadow....Again, it is said in the teachings, 'Better not to begin.  Once you begin, better to finish it.'   So you had better not step onto the spiritual path unless you must.  Once you have stepped foot on the path, you have really done it, you cannot step back.  There is no way of escaping.

   Trungpa Rinpoche has been much maligned by some for his drinking and his unconventional teaching methods.  To me, this indicates a failure to understand that Buddhism is about mind training and transmission, not the propagation of a moral code (that  We Who Understand will impose on ignorant beings for Their Own Good).  I never met the man, but  I have practiced with students of his, students who kept him from falling over drunk while he pissed in the flowerbed of the restuarant where they'd just eaten, and those students had nothing but respect for him.  Theyâre looking forward to the maturity of his reincarnation so that they will again have an embodied teacher.
 

 I take refuge in the sangha. 'Sangha' means 'community of people on the spiritual path,' 'companions.'  I am willing to share my experience of the whole environment of life with my fellow pilgrims, my fellow searchers, those who walk with me; but I am not willing to lean on them in order to gain support.  I am only willing to walk along with them.  There is a very dangerous tendency to lean on one another as we tread the path.  If a group of people leans one upon the other, then if one should happen to fall down, everyone falls down.  So we do not lean on anyone else.  We just walk with each other, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, working with each other, going with each other.  This approach to surrendering, this idea of taking refuge is very profound.

 A koan.

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The MYTH of FREEDOM

Chögyam Trungpa

    I first began reading Chögyam Trungpa at (so far) a low ebb in my life.  'Life begins at forty,' I had toasted at my birthday party.   I had just encountered Buddhism, and would be taking refuge in a few months. 'Let  'er rip!'  Sure enough, it had ripped--into tiny pieces--and wouldn't come together again no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I gave up trying.  My business, my marriage, and my place in the intentional community where I lived  all came unglued.  These were the external reference points by which I had defined myself.  Without them, who was I?  At this point in my life, Chogyam Trungpa, lineage holder of a thousand years of Buddhist psychology, started speaking to me.
 

We all experience negativity--the basic aggresion of wanting things to be different than they are.  We cling, we defend, we attack, and throughout there is a sense of oneâs own wretchedness, and so we blame the world for our pain.  This is negativity.  We experience it as terribly unpleasant, foul-smelling, something we want to get rid of.  But if we look into it more deeply, it has a very juicy smell and is very alive.  Negativity is not bad per se, but something living and precise, connected with reality.

   Through Chögyam Trungpa's eyes, I began to see my life as a drama, rather than dramatically; not a contest to win or lose but a profound opportunity to  learn and grow no matter what happened.  This didn't cause any immediate turnaround; it was the preface to years of hard work.  Throuoght this book (and all the  others he wrote) he speaks to anyone who can listen, just as he still speaks to his heart students in their dreams.

The heavy-handedness of the spiritual friend is both appreciated and highly irritating.  His style is extemely forceful but so together, so right that you cannot challenge it.  That is devotion.  You admire his style so much, but you feel terrified by it.  It is beautiful but it is going to crush you, cut you to pieces.  Devotion in this case involves so much sharpness that you cannot even plead for mercy by claiming to be a wretched, nice little person who is devoted and prostrates to his teacher all the time and kisses his feet.  Conmanship is ineffective in such a situation.  The whole thing is very heavy handed.  The real function of a spiritual friend is to insult you.

 I know he's right; it happened to me. Trungpa's language is simple and blunt; his vision of mind is profound and complex.   Read the book and lose yourself....

Crazy Wisdom, by Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala, 1991
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala, 1973
The Myth of Freedom, by Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala,  1976