Trungpa's version of Buddhism, "Crazy Wisdom," allowed for his drinking
as part of its revisionary approach to Western preconceptions of
Buddhism as quiet, hushed, ascetic. On one level, Crazy Wisdom is
intriguing, as it tries to achieve a state of mind both unatmed and
awakened -- feral and mindful all at once. But, yes, Trungpa also was
an alcoholic; and the infamous 1976 attack by Trungpa's followers on
Merwin and Dana Naone also says a lot about the limits of Crazy
Wisdom. I'm not sure how much (if any) of Crazy Wisdom is assimilated
in the current Shambhala practice that grew out of Trungpa's
teachings. My sense, from limited experience with Shambhala practice,
is that it, too, works within a context of vows against intoxication.
But of course, there's a difference between drinking and being
intoxicated.
My background and training is Mahayana, with its own vows against
intoxication. But in the Tantric framework of certain Mahayana
traditions, anything on earth can be a vehicle for diminishing
attachment to desire -- even desire itself. So the vows would be
guides rather than strict prohibitions. Drinking, then, could be as
much a part of the path as anything else (as odd as that could sound).
Perhaps this does make some traditions of Mahayana relaxed about
drinking.
Tony
Thomas savage wrote:
Could it be that Mahayanists are more relaxed
about this than Theravadins? My Buddhist training is Theravada. Zen
is Mahayana so who knows? I remember the Tibetan teacher Chogyam
Trungpa was quite a drinker, also.
"John M. Bennett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hmmm, some of those Zen monks would/will enjoy sake from time
to time, and then there's what they called "tea head" obtained from
drinking lots of cha.
John
At 01:38 PM 11/29/2005, you wrote:
I take
it that you are referring to Christian, thus Catholic, monks here.
Didn't they used to make wine in monasteries in France? It seems
unlikely to me that Buddhist monks anywhere in the world would make
either winre or fudge as this might be encouraging intoxication,
something wh! ich Buddhist monks take a precept to abstain from. Still
the apparent reference to mindful breathing at the end of your prose
poem makes me wonder. This could be a completely imaginative work, in
which case it doesn't matter. Nevertheless, since there are really
monks in the so-called real world, regardless of how sheltered they may
or may not live from that world, it causes one to wonder.
Sheila Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
- Monks are making it to sell. I first wrote see, then
- frist. What is the matter with t! his morning except the
- voltage of unkindness streaming through the net. My
- fingers on the keyboard pick up messages no one
- believes were sent. Dear, Hannah,how deeply did you
- absorb? The body chemistry becomes pseudonymous with
- fibers in the hundreds in the thousands gradually
- self-multiplied. My cha is gen mai. I know the word
- f! or tea from JMB. When monks have finished making
- sweets they may return to cells. When monks return to
- cells they pray. The swift rays of the sun are
- measured at a speed greater than crying. When monks
- come together they enlist the services to form some
- thing to sell so they can live quietly at prayer. I am
- on the threshold of ordering five books on the subject
- of sustaining which in the vernacular means making
- something last beyond its essence possibly. Speaking
- of which, a group of ad execs were brought together to
- find something they might do with a failed heart drug.
- So they looked at what is now! Viagra and they asked
- what it could do. Then they invented terminology and
- sold that terminology. Sow's ear propped up on a
- throne. Publication might mean telling everyone what
- you will not accept. The priesthood now will now
- appear immune to! love of self. Would someone kindly
- pass the fudge? Formed with full intention, breathing
- in and breathing out. Both individually and in
- community.
- Sheila E. Murphy
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__________________________________________
Dr. John M. Bennett
Curator, Avant Writing Collection
Rare Books & Manuscripts Library
The Ohio State University Libraries
1858 Neil Av Mall
Columbus, OH 43210 USA
(614) 292-3029
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.johnmbennett.net
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