First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungpa

The impulse to believe the absurd when presented with the unknowable is called religion. Whether this is wise or unwise is the domain of doctrine. Once you understand someone's doctrine, you understand their rationale for believing the absurd. At that point, it may no longer seem absurd. You can get to both sides of this conondrum from here.

Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:41 am

THE ZEN TEACHER

The Zen teacher hates the horse
But the horse carries him;
At the river both depend on the boat.

For crossing the mountains
It is better to carry a stick.
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:41 am

AMERICAN GOOD INTENTIONS

So violent in achieving nonviolence
A journey to the moon and the discovery of kundalini
Spiritual testimonials and presidential promises
Law and order and militant monasticism
Colorful gurus on sale at the A & P
Buddhologists
Rosicrucians
Masons
Zen profundity
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks
Electricity by the megawatts
Potential children discover potential parents
Virginia aristocrats
New York Jews
Mississippi is a meaningless noun
Idaho with its potatoes
Cape Kennedy with its moon
Washington, D.C. with its clean-cut
Chicago with its notorious Mafiosi
Telegraph Avenue sells Himalayan art in Berkeley
Canadian internationalism a cheap copy of the U.S.'s
A franchised Ugandan dictator
Black
Yellow
Crimson
Purple
All are primitive jokes
White cons black into grey
War is an opportune time to create peace
Nationwide respectability fails to include street-trained dogs
Oath of Allegiance violates a sense of humor
Yellow cabs roar through skyscraper canyons
Urban jackals patrol the streets crying red white and blue
Officials entertaining foreign dignitaries
Are busy apologizing for the presence of radical demonstrators

Wide as American inspiration
Profound as American patriotism
Protector of the free world
Praiseworthy
Questionable
Dignity is the object
God save America, our karmic sweet home.

May, 1972
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:42 am

FIRST THOUGHT

Image

First thought is best
Then you compose
Composition's what you compose--
In terms of what?
What is what
And what might not be the best
That what could be best
That what-was was the only best
Why didn't you?
The first thought was the first what
That what was the best what
What might not be is heartbroken
Heart is your only security
What shall we do?
What shouldn't we do?
What did you say?
I forgot what I was just about to say
I was just about getting interested
In what you have to say
I'm glad that you want to tell me
What you want to say
What was it that you wanted to tell me?
Is that so
That you want to tell me what he'd like to tell me
That wouldn't be difficult
But she might hesitate
It is problematic
In my honesty to tell you
What I would like to tell you
Who do you think is kidding who?
I have no kids
You are the star of the world
I didn't take part in starving
Moon is good enough
So is the earth
And the water
I take refuge in the Buddha as an example
I take refuge in the Dharma as the path
I take refuge in the Sangha as the companionship
I am that which I I I I
And so forth.

May 1972
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:42 am

SAMSARA AND NIRVANA

A crow is black
Because the lotus is white.
Ants run fast
Because the elephant is slow.
Buddha was profound;
Sentient beings are confused.

22 May 1972
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:42 am

GAIN AND LOSS

Image

He who has not experienced death
Is like an inexperienced father.
He who has not come to life after death
Is like a man suddenly struck dumb.
He who has never been wise
Is like a youth who has never been beautiful.
The stupid man who becomes wise
Is like a beggar who becomes king.
The dog who becomes master
Is like the victor in the revolution.
The master who becomes a dog
Is like a man who has awakened from a pleasant dream.
Meeting an old friend
Is like reading your own autobiography.
Finding a new friend
Is like composing music.
Chogyam writing a poem
Is like a king inspecting his soldiers.

22 May 1972
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:43 am

CYNICAL LETTER

Image

Licking honey from a razor blade,
Eyes of the learned gouged out by books,
The beauty of maidens worn by display,
The warrior dead from not knowing fear--
It is ironical to see the dharma of samsara:
Celebrities deafened by fame,
The hand of the artist crippled by rheumatism.

The moth flew into the oil lamp,
The blind man walks with a torch,
The cripple runs in his wheelchair,
A fool's rhetoric is deep and learned,
The laughing poet
Has run out of breath and died.
The religious spin circles, in accordance with religion;
If they had not practiced their religion, they could not spin.
The sinner cannot spin according to religion;
He spins according to not knowing how to spin.
The yogis spin by practicing yoga;
If they don't have chakras to spin, they are not yogis.
Chogyam is spinning, watching the spinning/samsara;
If there is no samsara/spinning, there is no Chogyam.

22 May 1972
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:43 am

DIGNIFIED ROCKY MOUNTAIN

There is a big rocky mountain, like a dagger hoisted toward the sky, on which pine trees and long grasses grow. It is like a naked demon, standing erect wearing a bearskin. At the foot of this motionless rocky mountain flows a river, dark blue in color. Around the mountain the breeze blows, peaceful and gently cooling. The sun is waiting to set. In the distant meadow, on the other side of the marsh, on the grassy hill, almost out of sight, the shepherds are gathering their flocks of sheep into the fold. The mood is relaxed but uncertain. There is an air of desire for friendly conversation. Should one rest one's mind by gazing at the rocky mountains? Or, gazing at the river, should one listen to its melody? Or, listening to the call of the shepherd, should one perhaps look off into the distance? It is uncertain.

If the dignified mountain does not pierce the heavens,
Who cares if the blue sky falls into the river?
If the flock of sheep sleep peacefully in the fold,
Who cares if there is no friend to talk to?
Since thoughts, like feathers, are blown by the wind of hope
and fear,
The dignified poet remains wherever he is.
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:44 am

PHILOSOPHER FOOL

There is a famous snow mountain capped with mist, like a king wearing a crown. It is said that from this mountain one may see the North and South Poles simultaneously. This mountain is encircled by other awesome rocky snow mountains, like a king surrounded by his queen and ministers. At the foot of this range lies a valley famous as a retreat for meditators. The air is redolent with the fragrance of herbs and mountain freshness. Workers, toiling endlessly, have dreamed of visiting this place. In this peaceful and beautiful forest grow flowering willows, blossoming rhododendrons, beech, pines, and many wild flowers. There is a waterfall, like white silk scarves hanging. The sound of falling water is inviting.

Near the waterfall stands a simple stone house, uncluttered by ostentatious ornament. It blends easily into the rocky landscape. Inside, the pillars and beams are of cedar. In the front, a large window opens onto a porch. Blue smoke once lifted gently from the chimney and disappeared into the sky. Here lived a famous scholar. His room was completely lined with books. He enjoyed the beauty of nature and was competent in the fields of philosophy, art, medicine and poetry. He spent all his time in taking long walks and in reading and writing. Occasionally, dwelling in retreat, he suppressed memories of work and struggle in his earlier life in the cities. He treated his servant-disciple in a fatherly manner, but with a certain measure of pride and disdain, which insured his obedience and efficiency. He instructed his disciple in all matters, from how to brew tea and cook food to the fine points of philosophy. His servant never spoke to him, for his time was taken up with listening to the scholar.

Once they took a walk, and his servant warned him that the bridge they were about to cross was unsafe. But the scholar would not listen. For an answer, the teacher said, "The scope of my vision is much greater than yours." As he trod on the bridge, it collapsed and he died in the turbulent river.

In the pure land of the beautiful snow ranges
Lived a learned man, a poisonous flower with venom-nectar.
The disease of pride turned him deaf and dumb.
On hearing a word of advice, he committed suicide.
A man foolishly wise is like a leper;
A wisely foolish man is like a baby learning to walk.
To ride the horse of knowledge, it is necessary to have a saddle.

27 May 1972
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:44 am

DOES LOVE KILL ANYBODY?

Does love kill anybody?
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Love is not a burden, my dear!
Poetry is not a burden for the true poet.
The notion of "chain"
The notion of "blade"
Flowers
Honey
The moon
Chrysanthemums
Sweet smile
Teenager
College kids
Sharpened pencil
Incense sticks by the dozen
Red ribbons in your hair
Coca-Cola advertisements which speak of "action"
Sportsmanship
Skiing in the snow
A red pullover
Drinking cool beer
Be a sportsman in a unisex outfit
Sky-blue with red passion-stripes
Go-go person with wings on your sneakers
Intercontinental cosmopolitan sportsman getting into the love--
More poetry
More literature
Tokyo Cairo New Delhi Taj Mahal Paris
Blond hair of Oslo blond mule blond Pekingese--
Arabs brew good coffee,
But stabbing each other with a jewel-inlaid hack knife is another
matter.
Love by telephone
Writing a love letter is creating a mistress
Bachelor creates mistress by making a date
Mind's duplicity
Run
Kick
Philosopher
Technocrats
Autocrats
Are bound by a unilateral declaration--
Money is no object.
What the wind sweeps,
What the fires burn,
I fall in love
Because love falls into me at home.
Rock is not loveable
But not-loveableness is loveable.
Take a thistle to bed
And make love to it.

5 June 1972
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Re: First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungp

Postby admin » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:44 am

A LETTER TO MARPA

Solid Marpa
Our father,
The message of the lineage:
You are the breadwinner.
Without your farm we would starve to death.
Fertilizing
Plowing
Sowing
Irrigating
Weeding
Harvesting;
Without your farm we are poverty-stricken.
Your stout body,
Sunburnt face;
Ordering Damema to serve beer for a break;
Evidence of the three journeys you made to India in you--
We sympathize with you for your son's death:
It was not the fault of the horse,
It was the seduction of the stirrup in which his foot was caught
As his head smashed into the boulders of conceptualization.
Yet you produced more sons:
Eagle-like Milarepa who dwells in the rocks,
Snow-lion-like Gampopa whose lair is in the Gampo hills,
Elephant-like Karmapas who majestically care for their young.
Tiger-like Chogyam roaming in foreign jungles.
As your lineage says, "The grandchildren are more accomplished than the parents."
Your garuda egg hatches
As the contagious energy of Mahamudra conquers the world.
We are the descendants of lions and garudas.

6 June 1972
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