"ecology of mind"

Here is Chogyam Trungpa's "ecology of mind", a talk given at Naropa University in 1974. for those of you who don't know him, Trungpa was the "crazy wisdom" meditation teacher credited with bringing the Shambhala tradition of Buddhism to the west in terms accessible to westerners. The Shambhala tradition believes in the inherent wisdom, compassion, and courage of all beings. It holds that these qualities are ultimately more stable than aggression and greed, and shows us how to use this worldly life as a means to ripen our spiritual potential. Besides his idea of "crazy wisdom", I love his other ideas of "idiot compassion" and "spiritual materialism."

since my post body consciousness: a discussion attracted so many comments about "what is meditation?", I thought I would post some excerpts from Trungpa's article. talk amongst yourselves!

"Meditation helps to simplify your life. It is the act of surrendering while sitting on your meditation cushion. Then, by relating directly with your breath, body and mind, you have no problems communicating with yourself."

"When we begin to practice and to learn more, we may think we should be adding tricks or embellishments of all kinds to our practice. This is the approach of spiritual materialism."

"Spiritual discipline is not about advancement, but it is a question of undoing what we have created already. We are not talking about extending ourselves to become greater or more professional meditators, we are talking about meditation as unlearning."

"The basic practice of meditation is a question of simplicity. The technique for the practice of meditation that was prescribed by the Buddha is working with the awareness of breath. That tends to cut through the unnecessary chatter of thought....Just be with your breath; just be with your body....Just sit and be with your breath. Let the breath be your thought."

So let your breaths be your thoughts as Trungpa's son, Mipham asks you, "What about me?".....