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

Hitting toes with a hammer

The more one realised the patterns of duality the funnier the situation became in terms of one’s experience. There was also sadness when observing those who created their own suffering without any understanding of what they were doing.  He said that it could be like watching someone hitting their toes with a hammer whilst screaming “Will this pain never end?”     

p173, Goodbye Forever Vol III, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2023, ISBN 9781898185666

Humour

Rinpoche spoke then of humour and the importance of humour in teaching. Humour was often linked with sudden understanding. He said that every good Lama made jokes and found humour in situations. The fact that we were both beginninglessly realised and fettered by duality – was funny.

p173, Goodbye Forever Vol III, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2023, ISBN 9781898185666

Humour

Healthy humour is being able to laugh at oneself – unhealthy humour is laughing at others.

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

Fertile field of learning

Unless we embrace the monastic life, we have to work with the richness of the dualistic condition in all its complexity: monochromatic boredom and technicolour excitement; joy and sorrow; decisions and dilemmas; set-backs and exultations; misfortunes and rewards.  It is a fantastically fertile field of learning but we have to find the experiential space in which we can pursue plans very lightly; and, with a pronounced sense of humour.  

p89-90, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, ISBN 0-9653948-0-8 

Warriors and cherry blossom

 In a battle, warriors have to act in reaction to everything that presents itself.  Warriors do not run away in fear. They do what must be done—without hesitation—because that is the nature of the life they have chosen.  The Samurai of Japan compared the nature of their lives to cherry blossom.  A pretty image isn’t it?  Actually it’s quite blunt.  Cherry blossom falls at the slightest gust of wind.  It drops from the twig at the slightest touch – so the life of the samurai is as precarious as cherry blossom.  It takes a heroic sense of humour—a fearless whimsicality—to feel yourself balancing on that existential razor’s edge. It is however, the most solid unshakeable foundation for nondual action.

p79-80, Rays of the Sun, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, ISBN 978-1-898185-06-2

Awful misunderstandings

To avoid misunderstandings turning into awful misunderstandings, the crucial factor is to believe that the friends you cherish are basically well intentioned towards you and that they are plagued with at least as many misunderstandings as you.  It is not the misunderstandings that are the problem – but the reaction to them.  Misunderstanding without: being hurt, taking offence, anger, peevish resentment, indignation, self-righteous rage, or temper tantrum … could actually be a cause of humour.

p30, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-5-7

      

A delicate balance

It is a delicate balance: to acknowledge emotional needs, on the one hand, and to have a sense of these needs being conceptually generated on the other.  This balancing act requires the experience of emptiness, because without it, we either indulge ourselves or brutalise ourselves.  The experience of emptiness, in this sense, helps us to view our emotions with a degree of humour – with more sanity and true perspective.

p143, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, ISBN 0-9653948-0-8
 

Humour and the hell of being a practitioner

The hell of being a practitioner is the state in which we begin to see through our neuroses, and yet we continue to afflict ourselves with them.
It can only stop through clarity and, to have clarity develop, we need humour.  We have to accept that we are both the dyed-in-the-wool neurotic and the practitioner who is trying to let neuroses go.  That is comical and we have to be fairly light-hearted about it.  With sufficient humour, we can simply be the space that lets these two lunatics dance.

p78-79, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-5-7

Humour

"Humour is crucial because it is fundamental to the nature of the interplay of everything"

p33, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Humour

"We need humour in order to avoid taking ourselves quite so seriously; we need to be able to laugh at the fact that we continually create our own unenlightened condition. Without humour we would be unable to relate to the idea that a Lama could comprehend the comedy of our personal dualism in an effective manner, and conjure with it to our advantage."

p15, Roaring Silence, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Shambhala, 2002, 1-57062-944-7