The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Seven (67 page)

As the ticks of your watch move, second by second,

Black-blue dial on your wrist.

Shave the mustache of King George

By explaining to him the scientific discoveries of poison oak.

Round needle of Rahula can create eclipse of sun and moon simultaneously.

Provide prana dot by putting together mixing and melting.

Bind the world with a single strand of horsehair from Maestoso Drala.

Make the universe murky white

And feed the six realms with honey and milk through the straws of porcupines’ quills.

Act unreasonable,

As if tigers from Bengal are in debt at the House of Pancakes.

The Catholics’ cherubs supposedly transcend their nappies;

However, they are eating too many grapes provided by the Italian Communist party chief to the Vatican City.

Some day we hope the haggis will walk.

One day the potatoes will play their harps in the name of the glories of Ireland.

Too much has been said here.

I hope this achieves the result of too little being said here.

After all, splinter is not harpoon;

Elegant burp is not resounding fart.

I hope this world will live up to what it proclaims;

Otherwise, we have a shattering surprise:

Sooner or later we end up picking up the small pieces.

With tremendous yearning toward sea urchins’ eggs,

I congratulate this world made out of this and that, that and this.

It is very impressive that everyone knows the morning sun will set in the evening and there will be another sun shining the next day.

I find people are so smart—they can talk about tomorrow and plan ahead.

How clever they are—assuming they know there is a next day.

Such brilliant and noble naiveté is good.

It seems that people know, if there is light, there will be dark:

I am utterly amazed at their insight.

Glory be to the mosquitoes;

Glory be to the thorny rose.

Fire can burn;

Water can quench thirst.

Amazingly, it seems that this universe works.

So fortunate.

Past present future in us may teach us the true dharma,

Without a sneeze or too many hiccups.

May the wheel of dharma revolve eternally in the name of the Great Eastern Sun.

May 4, 1980

Growing Pains Are Over

FOR DAVID ROME

Once you were a wounded warrior:

Now you have developed fearlessness, you can play with the sword blade.

Once you were a coward and wouldn’t talk to strangers;

Now you have learned to declare the command of the Great Eastern Sun.

Once you were miserly:

Now you can spend great energy, free from taking breaks.

We appreciate you—

Please accept this bow, representing upaya;

Please take this arrow, representing prajna.

We wish that you may continuously protect the command

And generate the wisdom of the Rigden fathers.

Cheerful birthday!

June 17, 1980

Coming of Age of My Son

FOR THE VAJRA REGENT ÖSEL TENDZIN

You have been placed in the cradle of loving-kindness,

And suckled with the profound and brilliant milk of eternal doubtlessness.

In the cool shade of fearlessness,

You have been fanned with the fan of joy and happiness.

As you grew older,

With various displays of phenomena,

We led you to the self-existing playground.

As you grew up,

To promote the primordial confidence,

We led you to the archery range of the warriors.

As you developed further,

We showed you human society, which possesses beauty and dignity.

You, a true warrior, matured,

Developed eternally youthful confidence without beginning or end.

We take pride in you, that you have witnessed the Great Eastern Sun.

Sometimes we worry about you:

How we can ward off the evils of the setting sun.

Other times we appreciate you:

You are a true manifestation of our vision.

We request you to become more merciful,

And we rejoice that you are the dharma heir.

Let us join heaven and earth together.

O, Ösel Tendzin,

Our profound love and gratitude is expressed on this occasion.

In the name of the lineage,

In the name of the Vajradhatu sangha,

In the name of myself and my wife—

Thank you for being as you are.

Please be good.

Cheerful birthday!

July 10, 1980

Da (Moon).

Mantric Keltic Incantation

When man’s heart is weeping for pleasure,

There comes a sore point which looks for leisure;

Thirdly, we find ourselves cultivating laziness.

The turmoil of the sky and the ocean

Waits for the land to pronounce on their argument.

Here we are caught in the middle of a threesome—

The infamous Cape Breton of Nova Scotia.

Joy and pleasure are one for the fishermen;

Happy and sad may be different, because of their individuality.

In the thickets of fog,

In the turmoil of weather,

We find ourselves unable to land on this ground

When we are riding the eagle or the airplane.

In the midst of their conflict with each other,

We always hear the argument between atmosphere and earth.

The earth in Nova Scotia, at least in Cape Breton, is somewhat innocent,

But we are still waiting for the occasional punch line.

The earth has to be drilled for oil,

Or any kind of excavation,

So that local fish become pieces of gold or of diamond.

However, Cape Breton is psychological:

The hope and fear constantly build and disperse,

Along with the waves of the ocean.

Cape Breton is emotional:

Whether we can hold a seat or build a city.

I wonder—it might be advisable to plant a few crocodiles on the coast of Cape Breton!

Or should we place a vajra storm by working with heaven’s wrath!

Do you think there are such possibilities at all?

On one hand the Cape Breton doesn’t deserve extraordinary pleasure,

But on the other hand it might certainly be good for the Cape Breton,

Which brings land and sky together

So that heaven and earth can join in Nova Scotia at all.

Let us see.

Let us do.

But do before we see.

On the other hand, see before we do.

Good luck to the Nova Scotia vision.

Rejoice! The Great Eastern Sun arises!

November 27, 1980

Keltic Lodge

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

On the occasion of the first seminar taught by Chögyam Trungpa in Nova Scotia.

Merrier Than the Maritimes

Nova Scotia as seen at its best:

How the earth and sky can relate with mist and rain and the frustrations of fishermen.

Cape Forchu at Yarmouth brings us eye-opening possibilities of Pembroke Shore,

Kelly Cove introduces us into Darling Lake,

As we reach Port Maitland we discover the possibilities of Cape St. Mary which brings us to Meteghan River,

By way of Bay of Fundy we find ourselves in Digby,

As we approach further we find ourselves realizing Port George,

As we begin to look forward to Cape Split,

Our journey goes further:

How should we enter into the country—

Whether it should be by way of Cape Blomidon or elsewhere—

Evangeline Beach is tempting—

But should we ride on a horse to conquer Dartmouth across land,

Or should we sail around by way of Cape Sable—

We are inspired to be in Halifax;

Gentlemen from Glen Haven might have something to say about our trip altogether,

As we sweep across the peninsula,

We find ourselves cultivating Cape Capstan,

And cutting the tie with the mainland at Amherst,

Including pylons and electrical systems and all the rest of it;

As we reach Heather Beach,

We might be tempted to be in Fox Harbour;

The eastern sunrise trail becomes questionable at that point:

Whether we have eastern sunrise or not,

Our only reference point is Pictou,

Where we stayed before:

There the land and heaven are joined together,

Seemingly we enjoyed ourselves;

New Glasgow is a fantastic area,

As to relating with luscious earth,

As to bringing general prosperous outlook overcoming industrialism,

We are attracted to Cape George;

Depth of the earth could be brought out by means of Big Marsh,

Local vision can be brought together in the County of Antigonish,

By working together with Guysborough County,

So we have a chance to bring together the mainland and build big city,

In the name of Pictou-Guysborough,

We could invite any potential prosperous and elegant situation as possible London, Paris, Rome, blah blah blah;

The county of Inverness,

We will continue to the top point of Cape St. Lawrence,

We will build high point of sane society,

With the courtesy of Victoria County, Keltic Lodge and Ingonish are included,

Thus we go further:

In County of Cape Breton we raise the morale of Sydney,

With the help of Richmond County,

The total vision of Nova Scotia should be based on Capital of Sydney.

When Sydney is raised to its highest level,

The rest of the peninsula can be brought up at its best.

Thus we partly conquer the Atlantic Ocean.

Victory to the true command.

Take pride in our peninsula.

November 29, 1980

Keltic Lodge

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

When one reads this poem while looking at a map, it becomes apparent that the Dorje Dradül probably was describing a journey by sea, and that he is referring to that fact in the opening lines: “Nova Scotia as seen at its best: How the earth and sky can relate with mist and rain and the frustrations of fishermen.”

I opted to use very few periods in the punctuation of this poem for two reasons: the first is that so many of the lines could refer either to what precedes or what follows them—or both. This poem is an excellent example of the Dorje Dradül’s uncanny ability to use the English language so that a clause or phrase refers in several directions. Normally, in English we require that a phrase have a single, definite referent. In “Merrier Than the Maritimes” phrases are left so that they can refer in two directions simultaneously. The second reason for the punctuation was that the poem is a constantly moving journey that begins in Yarmouth and does not stop until it reaches Sydney. There are several pauses, which are reflected by semicolons; however, there are no periods after the initial one until the journey reaches its destination.

Like so many of the things that the Dorje Dradül did and said, this poem reveals layer after layer of subtlety if one takes the time to read it carefully. So, to all of the readers: Bon Voyage.

—Carolyn Gimian, August 19, 1994

La Conference du Soleil du Grand Est

So timid but good

So genuine but trying to hard

So woolly but not having enough sheep

So thorny but not having enough thistles

So cloudy but not having enough rain

So wavy but not having enough wind—

Jolly good show that we have Canadian Dharmadhatu.

It is so moving that we can almost cry.

To say the least, we can cry.

So wavy we have lots of wind

So cloudy that we might have snowstorm

So woolly that we can catch lots of fish—

Catching the four maras,

The first dharma taught in Canada is victorious.

On the boundaries and at the center we found numerous gossips;

At the same time it is nice to be in an environment where the only gossip is the chattering ocean beating the rocks.

Canadian conference is so good that we find ourselves gasping with ordinary mind.

Good mind is allowed to speak for itself in Cape Breton without borrowing Esalen pseudo wisdom.

With natural dignity as subjects of the Queen of England,