“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.” ― Chögyam Trungpa Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Outro: “Too Much Reality,” by Brett Newski.
Hi Chris, You reminded me that I spent a summer in the mid-70s at Naropa with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpche. I remember him being 2 hours late to "darshan" and when he arrived he was drunk. He told us that those 2 hours we were "waiting" were his most important teaching. It was a great summer—climbing the Flatirons on acid, doing "performance art" on the streets of Boulder, learning Tai Chi, and receiving an offer from a major publisher for the Breast Book my then-wife and I were doing—interviewing hundreds of women and photographing their breasts. Ah, the memories!
Hey Chris and everyone! Greetings from Hainan in China. I just wanted to say thanks for touching on the idea of hostility from people seeing you find your path. I quit my teaching job in Canada to move to Malaysia and ultimately China, when I came back to my town feeling like I was finally following my dream and it was met with a ton of hostility. Anyways,thanks to you and this community for showing there are alternative ways to live and thrive. Lots of love folks!
I am loving your ongoing comments about life and living. I am getting to the age where I’m losing many friends and a acquaintances. I feel like I’m getting a handle on it.
Lloyd Kahn is indeed a great example of aging. He’s long been a great influence on me. It would be awesome for you have another conversation published in the podcast form.
You promised a link to the youtube channel of someone whose name you pronounced kinda fast (Myriam L...). May we have it?
I'm no bodhisattva, God knows, but I've read a lot of the writings of the great French sage Arnaud Desjardins. He'd probably say you've misunderstood the point. When he attained enlightenment he still had sexual urges, still preferred this wine over that, etc. But he was freed from the afflictions of >Emotion<.
And emotion is at the root of the kind of desire that gets you into trouble, that brings pain.
Basic physical needs ("desires") like hunger & lust are always there (can bodhissatvas have children? how, physically, do they manage that?). But the absolute clarity of spirit effectively renders them harmless.
The desires generated by emotion (for love, for power, for wealth, etc etc) are the ones that hurt us.
May 18, 2023·edited May 18, 2023Liked by Chris Ryan
I read the Trungpa quote a little different, as not only about the falling to death. In Buddhism there is the notion of emptiness (shunyata) as the "groundless ground" of existence. There is nothing real in life, in the sense that it has permanent qualities or the quality to exist in itself and out of its own power; everything exists only in relation to other things and is caused and conditioned by them.
One way of putting this into words is that everything, that exits, emerges from and dissolves into emptiness all the time. Those who are familiar with the spontaneous creation and destruction of an electron-positron pair out empty space because of the uncertainty principle do have a fairly good analogy for what is meant by an existence emerging as a play of the void with itself.
So, as I understood it, Chögyam Trungpa refers to the things (parachutes) we're clinging to because very deep down we know that we just popped out of nothingness and are falling through an ocean of impermanences, which our life is just one of and we fear that sensation. We are clinging to things because we want some sort of stability and permanence. We are afraid of falling, but there is nothing to fear, because the groundlessness is the condition of the possibility of all existence in the first place.
Of course, both impermanence and our pain causing longing for permanence in such an universe, is valid of our own lives / deaths. But neither of them is limited to our mortality, but rather pesent in almost every moment.
If there is no ground the the focus should be on navigating the the fall. Enjoying the ride.
Love your comment on wasting time, money... by trying to separate oneself from reality. I feel like even if everyone is falling, each one's reality is slightly different. Same destination (eternal falling) but different point of view. I guess everybody is so horrified by what they are experiencing that they rather live it through someone else's experience, thinking that their falling is better, more comfortable; and some people decide to sell their experience of falling as if it would be the best way to fall. Crazy, but I do have to say, falling while listening to Tangentially Speaking is fucking awesome. You help enjoy the ride. 🫡🖖🏽 Saludos y gracias por compartir!
Hi Chris, You reminded me that I spent a summer in the mid-70s at Naropa with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpche. I remember him being 2 hours late to "darshan" and when he arrived he was drunk. He told us that those 2 hours we were "waiting" were his most important teaching. It was a great summer—climbing the Flatirons on acid, doing "performance art" on the streets of Boulder, learning Tai Chi, and receiving an offer from a major publisher for the Breast Book my then-wife and I were doing—interviewing hundreds of women and photographing their breasts. Ah, the memories!
Hey Chris and everyone! Greetings from Hainan in China. I just wanted to say thanks for touching on the idea of hostility from people seeing you find your path. I quit my teaching job in Canada to move to Malaysia and ultimately China, when I came back to my town feeling like I was finally following my dream and it was met with a ton of hostility. Anyways,thanks to you and this community for showing there are alternative ways to live and thrive. Lots of love folks!
And I’m halfway through Rick Rubin’s book. So good. The Creative Art.
I am loving your ongoing comments about life and living. I am getting to the age where I’m losing many friends and a acquaintances. I feel like I’m getting a handle on it.
Lloyd Kahn is indeed a great example of aging. He’s long been a great influence on me. It would be awesome for you have another conversation published in the podcast form.
Have a great trip to Atlanta.
Can I just say, even if your deck is not attached to the house, it shouldn't move around!
He may have also tried to skirt around local building laws.
Awesome Roma. Hoping to check out Newski at the White Eagle next Thursday thanks for the Recommendation Chris.
You promised a link to the youtube channel of someone whose name you pronounced kinda fast (Myriam L...). May we have it?
I'm no bodhisattva, God knows, but I've read a lot of the writings of the great French sage Arnaud Desjardins. He'd probably say you've misunderstood the point. When he attained enlightenment he still had sexual urges, still preferred this wine over that, etc. But he was freed from the afflictions of >Emotion<.
And emotion is at the root of the kind of desire that gets you into trouble, that brings pain.
Basic physical needs ("desires") like hunger & lust are always there (can bodhissatvas have children? how, physically, do they manage that?). But the absolute clarity of spirit effectively renders them harmless.
The desires generated by emotion (for love, for power, for wealth, etc etc) are the ones that hurt us.
I read the Trungpa quote a little different, as not only about the falling to death. In Buddhism there is the notion of emptiness (shunyata) as the "groundless ground" of existence. There is nothing real in life, in the sense that it has permanent qualities or the quality to exist in itself and out of its own power; everything exists only in relation to other things and is caused and conditioned by them.
One way of putting this into words is that everything, that exits, emerges from and dissolves into emptiness all the time. Those who are familiar with the spontaneous creation and destruction of an electron-positron pair out empty space because of the uncertainty principle do have a fairly good analogy for what is meant by an existence emerging as a play of the void with itself.
So, as I understood it, Chögyam Trungpa refers to the things (parachutes) we're clinging to because very deep down we know that we just popped out of nothingness and are falling through an ocean of impermanences, which our life is just one of and we fear that sensation. We are clinging to things because we want some sort of stability and permanence. We are afraid of falling, but there is nothing to fear, because the groundlessness is the condition of the possibility of all existence in the first place.
Of course, both impermanence and our pain causing longing for permanence in such an universe, is valid of our own lives / deaths. But neither of them is limited to our mortality, but rather pesent in almost every moment.
If there is no ground the the focus should be on navigating the the fall. Enjoying the ride.
Love your comment on wasting time, money... by trying to separate oneself from reality. I feel like even if everyone is falling, each one's reality is slightly different. Same destination (eternal falling) but different point of view. I guess everybody is so horrified by what they are experiencing that they rather live it through someone else's experience, thinking that their falling is better, more comfortable; and some people decide to sell their experience of falling as if it would be the best way to fall. Crazy, but I do have to say, falling while listening to Tangentially Speaking is fucking awesome. You help enjoy the ride. 🫡🖖🏽 Saludos y gracias por compartir!
YouTube seems to throw clips of hot, young, female musicians at all men. Yours are only a little different to mine.
Wow. You're putting so much out! Thanks Chris!
Hope it doesn't feel forced for you.
But for me, I do enjoy it :)