Mixing Mind with Space: A Study of the Chögyam Trungpa’s Unique System of Meditation and an Exploration of its Roots in The Treasury of Knowledge and the Mahamudra, Maha Ati, and Chod Traditions
This course will be both an in-depth exploration of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s presentation of the practice of meditation and its progression, and an effort to trace the sources for his unusual and unique system. Where does the boycott of the in breath come from? Labeling thinking? Where does mixing mind with space as part of Shamatha (see The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume One) come from? Why did he focus on the four foundations of mindfulness when this is not done in any other Tibetan Buddhist tradition? And why did he portray them the odd way that he did?
Our main focus will be his presentation of meditation give over the thirteen years of advanced training seminaries he conducted, where he gave an extensive commentary on the Shamatha-Vipashyana chapter of Jamgon Kongtrul’s 19th-century masterpiece The Treasury of Knowledge, and which is now encapsulated in three volumes of The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma. However, we will also explore Kongtrul’s main source, The Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila. And we will explore a number of other possible sources that Trungpa Rinpoche might have used from the Mahamudra, Maha Ati, and Chod traditions, including texts by The Third Khamtrul and Tashi Namgyal (Mahamudra), Jigme Lingpa (Maha Ati or Dzogchen), and Chod.
Trungpa Rinpoche identifies The Treasury of Knowledge as his main source in his first Seminary program:
I have been studying, reading the work of the great Jamgon Kongtrul, which consists of three volumes in Tibetan and each volume has something like 1, 500 pages. That particular survey of Buddhism is regarded as one of the most complete, particularly from the point of view of the eight schools of contemplative traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. And I think if you could approach from the contemplative way, that might also fit with the other courses you have been taking, in the light of some contrast or points leading to it.
from "Talk 3: The Eight States of Consciousness," Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche 1973 Seminary. October 4, 1973