The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Five Read Online Free PDF

breaks out of the limits of ego.” Finally, he describes the relationship of the mantra HUM to the Vajrakilaya Mandala, in which the power of egolessness is visualized as a dagger that pierces through the seductions of ego.
    When this article was reviewed for inclusion in The Collected Works, an early, unpublished version was uncovered. In most respects, it was very similar to the final form in which the article appeared in Garuda II. However, the closing paragraph of the original was omitted when it was published. Here, Trungpa Rinpoche suggests that those who practice The Sadhana of Mahamudra would benefit from studying this essay on the mantra HUM This paragraph has been restored in the version that appears here.
    Next in Volume Five we have “Explanation of the Vajra Guru Mantra,” an article never before published, which deals with the mantra that invokes Guru Rinpoche, or Padmasambhava. Here, Chögyam Trungpa describes mantra as creating “a living environment of energy.” This article was probably written while Chögyam Trungpa was still in England or shortly after he arrived in the United States. He translates each syllable of the mantra (if it is translatable) and then discusses the meaning of each syllable in some detail. There is a very pithy but penetrating discussion of the guru principle, which presents three aspects of one’s devotion and relationship to the teacher. First, one sees the guru as the superior teacher to whom one opens and surrenders oneself completely. Second, the guru manifests as the spiritual friend, because—as Rinpoche points out—“you must be able not only to surrender but to communicate.” Trungpa Rinpoche relates this aspect of devotion to the meeting of two minds: “Your mind is open to the open space and the guru’s mind is open to the open space. In this way, your mind becomes one with that of the teacher—both are inseparable from unconditioned space.” Finally, Rinpoche talks about the guru as environment, which is seeing occurrences in life as the manifestation of the energy of the teacher. One learns to appreciate the wisdom of the phenomenal world and to see life situations as messages that embody wisdom. If the practitioner ignores the meaning of experiences, then a stronger message, in the form of chaos, will provide the feedback that one has lost touch with “the life situation as teacher.” Recognizing this affords the student an opportunity for further opening and communication. The result is that one develops compassion, the genuine ability to communicate with and help others, as well as the power of siddhi, which is sometimes translated as “magical power” or the ability to perform miracles. Here, Trungpa Rinpoche suggests that siddhi is a situation that develops unexpectedly, a sudden unforeseen coming together of circumstances. He ends the article with the suggestion that the real miracle is the “power of compassion, ultimate communication.”
    The next offering is Rinpoche’s foreword to The Torch of Certainty and the interview with Chögyam Trungpa that appeared in the introduction to the book. The foundation practices that are discussed here are often referred to as the four extraordinary or special preliminaries. They are a practitioner’s first formal introduction to visualization practice and other distinctly tantric aspects of Buddhist yoga and are prerequisites for more advanced meditation practices in the vajrayana. The foundations include 108,000 repetitions of the refuge formula combined with 108,000 prostrations, 108,000 repetitions of the Vajrasattva mantra, and 108,000 mandala offerings, concluding with a guru yoga recitation. These ngöndro practices are a process of surrendering, purifying, offering, and identifying with the lineage by developing longing for the teacher and the teachings.
    For a student who has connected with the preceding teachings on lineage and devotion, the ngöndro practices offer the way to actually embark on