The Awakened State

You take refuge in the Buddha not as a savior --- not with the feeling that you have found something to make you secure --- but as an example, as someone you can emulate. He is an example of an ordinary human being who saw through the deceptions of life, both on the ordinary and spiritual levels. The Buddha found the awakened state of mind by relating with the situations that existed around him: the confusion, chaos, and insanity. He was able to look at those situations very clearly and precisely. He disciplined himself by working on his own mind, which was the source of all the chaos and confusion. Instead of becoming an anarchist and blaming society, he worked on himself and he attained what is known as bodhi, or enlightenment. The final and ultimate breakthrough took place, and he was able to teach and work with sentient beings without any inhibition.

The Heart of the Buddha

Chogyam Trungpa

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 I am one of those annoying people who had a flash of inspiration from which the obsession to drink was lifted immediately. However, having had such an experience from what I believe was the grace of God, I cannot find anything misguided about this kind of instruction. I consider myself somewhat of a deist in that my help came from within and without at once, when I conceded to the Heart of Compassion… the prime mover and creative energy of the universe, the alienation of confusion that had me in its grip. This was a condition in which I seemed to have no power of my own that could have relieved me of the disease of alcoholism. Such a miracle is not a freak of nature. I believe that it is a perfectly natural phenomenon that can be accessed by anyone. This being my experience, I can’t be completely non-theist but I can see the wisdom and experience what the Buddha was talking about. I know that to be true because I did experience something of that and this lifted me out of the state of mind where I was bitter anarchist blaming society, blaming my parents, blaming my job, and blaming my wife for all the ills I suffered. One day I sat down and saw the dark corners of doubt and despair dissipate as the light of the heavens opened my mind to taking the path… the well-traveled road to happy destiny.

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