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

the path. Although sometimes they are given to students with no other formal background, Trungpa Rinpoche makes it clear that, from his point of view, these practices are only appropriate or helpful for students who have experience in taming and training the mind, which are accomplished through the sitting practice of meditation.
    The next two articles, “The Practicing Lineage” and “The Mishap Lineage” are edited versions of the first two talks in “The Line of the Trungpas,” a seminar taught by Chögyam Trungpa at Karmê Chöling meditation center in Vermont in 1975. Both of these talks present an introduction to the Kagyü lineage. It was only in the later talks from the seminar, which remain unpublished, that Rinpoche talked more specifically about the teachers in his particular lineage. In “The Practicing Lineage” he talks about the literal meaning of Kagyü as “the lineage of the sacred word,” but he focuses on the lineage as drubgyü, or “the practicing lineage,” as it became known during the time of Milarepa. The importance of having a teacher and the necessity of transcending spiritual materialism and ego-clinging are stressed: “The practicing lineage teaches us that we have to get rid of those ego-centered conceptualized notions of the grandiosity of our development. If we are truly involved with spirituality, we are willing to let go of trying to witness our own enlightenment.” In “The Mishap Lineage,” Trungpa Rinpoche talks about how the Kagyü have always loved desolate mountain peaks and practicing in wild and sometimes haunted places. This, he suggests, has made them adept at conquering extreme, foreign territory of all kinds, and thus they have long been known for spreading the dharma in foreign lands. That love of harsh extremes is combined in the Kagyü lineage with profound gentleness and devotion. He also describes how constant mishaps are welcomed by the Kagyü practitioner as further fuel to spark awareness. This also harks back to the story of Rinpoche’s escape from the Chinese at the Brahmaputra River.
    “Teachings on the Tulku Principle” is a brief article on the history and meaning of reincarnation and the Tibetan practice of realized teachers taking rebirth in successive incarnations. Such a teacher is called a tulku, which literally means “emanation body.” The first Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyü lineage to which Chögyam Trungpa belonged, was in fact the first tulku to be recognized in Tibet. “Teachings on the Tulku Principle” clarifies that a tulku does not represent the continuation of ego or self, but rather expresses the continuity of awake mind, generated by compassion, from one incarnation to the next.
    The final group of articles in Volume Five presents three quite distinct discussions of the life of Milarepa. As is the case with his lectures on the life and teachings of Marpa, Trungpa Rinpoche’s seminars on Milarepa have not yet been edited for publication. One of the first teachings he gave in America was a sixteen-talk seminar on the significance of Milarepa’s life. Over the next ten years, he gave many other teachings on Milarepa, including a long seminar titled “The Yogic Songs of Milarepa” at the Naropa Institute in the mid-1970s. We can hope that this material will eventually be made available. For now, the three articles included in The Collected Works give us a good indication of the richness of Rinpoche’s insights into Jetsun Milarepa’s teachings.
    Milarepa is undoubtedly the most famous and beloved yogi of Tibet. Students from all lineages study his spiritual songs. Trungpa Rinpoche pays tribute to both the rugged quality of Milarepa’s realization and its simplicity. Milarepa’s austere life in mountain caves and his deep devotion to his guru, Marpa, epitomize the qualities that Trungpa Rinpoche points to in “The Mishap Lineage” as the core of the Kagyü sensibility.
    “Milarepa: A Warrior’s Life” is a