Beyond social convention

So there are choices to be made when you go beyond social convention. To a certain extent—where it only affects you personally—any consequence of going beyond social convention is fine. But when it upsets other people‚ then it’s not really freedom any more – not in the sense of compassionate activity. 

p234, Warp and Weft of Wonderment, Ngakma Mé-tsal, Aro Books Worldwide, 2024, ISBN 9781898185680

Our true condition

The Lama’s function is to mirror our intrinsic enlightenment. The Lama shows us the nature of what we actually are. If we have opened sufficiently‚ through following the methods as instructed by the Lama‚ we could catch a dazzling glimpse of our true condition. We could find ourselves‚ for a moment‚ outside the constraints of dualism. 

p145, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4

The death of any spiritual culture

Sectarianism and bigotry betoken the death of any spiritual culture; even if‚ ironically‚these activities are motivated by the wish to preserve these traditions. 

p113, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, ISBN 0-9653948-0-8

Laughing at oneself

Being able to laugh at oneself is crucial. One has to see one’s contradictions and find them amusing. Once the contradictions are amusing‚ they’re workable. They’re workable because one is not taking oneself entirely seriously. This depends on space – on the emptiness of silent sitting. 

p261, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books Worldwide, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4

The conditioning is going to be stronger

For people who are not in the nondual state however – it might be more helpful to be at a retreat centre, by the ocean, or in a forest. As long as you are dualistically conditioned—if you’re in a place which evokes that conditioning—the conditioning is going to be stronger than in a place that doesn’t evoke conditioning.

p383, Warp and Weft of Wonderment, Ngakma Mé-tsal, Aro Books Worldwide, 2024, ISBN 9781898185680

The ultimate acknowledgement

Kindness gives confidence to others. Kindness encourages self-respect and authentic dignity. Tantra is the hot blood of kindness. In essence – vajra commitment is the ultimate acknowledgement of that.

p67, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books Worldwide, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4 

Authentic practice

Craft is authentic practice when it is successful. Success necessitates the development of integrity, honesty, scrupulousness, accuracy, authenticity, genuineness, and reverence. These qualities are as important to meditation as they are to craft.

p64, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books Worldwide, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4 

It would be deranged

Why would you want to persuade anyone to do anything apart from what was going to be beneficial? It would be deranged. With the realised protectors‚ we have the example of terrific power being controlled in such a way as to serve practitioners. 

p246, Warp and Weft of Wonderment, Ngakma Mé-tsal, Aro Books Worldwide, 2024, ISBN 9781898185680

History

History was composed of what happened and what was sensed – what was ordinary and what was extraordinary. The important factor to bear in mind about history—in the Vajrayana sense—was it’s subtle function in terms of perception. 

p164, Goodbye Forever Vol III, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2023, ISBN 9781898185666

Power

Anybody who wants power has a problem‚ immediately. Power is not something to want for itself. Unless it has a function and it’s operative in terms of helping somebody – there’s no point in having it.

p245, Warp and Weft of Wonderment, Ngakma Mé-tsal, Aro Books Worldwide, 2024, ISBN 9781898185680 

Hallucination

The idiocy of buying into prevalent conditioned perception and relating to arbitrary ideas as if they were truth – is that we can make no sense of the world as it is. We relate to the world more-or-less as an hallucination. 

p213, Warp and Weft of Wonderment, Ngakma Mé-tsal, Aro Books Worldwide, 2024, ISBN 9781898185680

Fashions which pass

You have to have a sense of suspicion or scepticism concerning what seems attractive – and this applies to clothing, music, Art, social conventions, politics, and every other area of life. Almost every aspect of life has ‘fashions which pass’. You have to be aware of that.

p313, Warp and Weft of Wonderment, Ngakma Mé-tsal, Aro Books Worldwide, 2024, ISBN 9781898185680

The edge

Power is not necessarily concerned with having great capacities – but knowing the limits of one’s capacities and being willing to go to the edge. 

p46, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books Worldwide, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4

Being alive

Engage with the sense fields. Become authentically involved with the senses. Being alive is being surrounded by colour, sound, fragrance, and texture. 

p38, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books Worldwide, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4 

The essential method

The essential method is to be free in the nature of chaos. We always look for pattern in order to understand anything – but that kind of understanding is manacled to mundane meaning unless one can allow understanding to be amorphous, nebulous, unstructured, formless, or unformed. 

p32, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books Worldwide, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4