That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions, and were it not assumed, the most impossible conclusions.

—Chögyam Trungpa in Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

life living assumptions

About Chögyam Trungpa

Portrait of Chögyam Trungpa

Chögyam Trungpa (Wylie: Chos rgyam Drung pa; March 5, 1939 – April 4, 1987), formally named the 11th Zurmang Trungpa, Chokyi Gyatso, was a Tibetan Buddhist master and holder of both Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He was recognized by both Tibetan Buddhists and other spiritual practitioners and...

More quotations from Chögyam Trungpa

Monetary donations to a spiritual cause, contributions of physical labor, involvement with a particular guru, none of these necessarily mean that we have actually committed ourselves to openness. More likely these kinds of commitments are simply ways of proving that we have joined the side of "right.

—Chögyam Trungpa

spirituality religion right commitment openness

Disappointment is a good sign of basic intelligence. It cannot be compared to anything else: it is so sharp, precise, obvious and direct. If we can open, then we suddenly begin to see that our expectations are irrelevant compared with the reality of the situations we are facing.

—Chögyam Trungpa

Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people, because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.

—Chögyam Trungpa in Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

others compassion energy

Awareness is not something that needs to be manufactured: when there is a gap, awareness enters into us. So awareness does not require a certain particular effort. Such an effort is unnecessary. Awareness is like a wind. If you open your doors and windows, it is bound to come in.

—Chögyam Trungpa in The Path is the Goal: A Basic Handbook of Buddhist Meditation

awareness space necessity effort

A great deal of the chaos in the world occurs because people don't appreciate themselves.

—Chögyam Trungpa in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

self-love chaos appreciation disorder

More quotations tagged with “living”

We cannot put off living until we are ready.

—José Ortega y Gasset

living procrastination delay

She knew that this was happiness, this was living as she had always wished to live.

—Daphne du Maurier in Frenchman's Creek

living happiness

People were too busy living their lives to notice that mine had somehow came to a halt.

—Brittainy C. Cherry in Loving Mr. Daniels

My trade and art is to live.

—Michel de Montaigne

living art trade

I do not know the end of my living and the beginning of my dying, for they — living and dying — are both mixed up.

—Jamaica Kincaid

living death beginning