Orderly Chaos: The Mandala Principle

Dharma Ocean

by Chögyam Trungpa

According to the mandala principle, a prominent feature of tantric Buddhism, all phenomena are part of one reality. Whether good or bad, happy or sad, clear or obscure, everything is interrelated and reflects a single totality. As Chögyam Trungpa explains in this work, from the perspective of the mandala principle, existence is orderly chaos. There is chaos and confusion because everything happens by itself, without any external ordering principle. At the same time, whatever happens expresses order and intelligence, wakeful energy and precision. Through meditative practices associated with the mandala principle, the opposites of experience—confusion and enlightenment, chaos and order, pain and pleasure—are revealed as inseparable parts of a total vision of reality.

Genres: Buddhism, Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Tibetan: ཆོས་ རྒྱམ་ དྲུང་པ་ Wylie: Chos rgyam Drung pa; also known as Dorje Dradul of Mukpo, Surmang Trungpa, after his monastery, or Chökyi Gyatso, of which Chögyam is an abbreviation) was a Buddhist meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, and artist. He was the 11th descendent in the line of Trungpa tulkus of the Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also trained in the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the four schools, and was an adherent of the rimay or "non-sectarian" movement within Tibetan Buddhism, which aspired to bring together and make available all the valuable teachings of the different schools, free of sectarian rivalry.

Trungpa was a significant figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, founding Naropa University and establishing the Shambhala Training method, a presentation of the Buddhadharma largely devoid of ethnic trappings. In 1963, he moved to England to study comparative religion, philosophy, and fine arts at Oxford University. During this time, he also studied Japanese flower arranging and received an instructors degree from the Sogetsu school of ikebana. In 1967, he moved to Scotland, where he founded the Samye Ling meditation centre.

Shortly thereafter, a variety of experiences—including a car accident that left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body—led him to give up his monastic vows and work as a lay teacher. In 1969, he published Meditation in Action , the first of fourteen books on the spiritual path published during his lifetime. The following year he married Diana Pybus and moved to the United States, where he established his first North American meditation centre, Tail of the Tiger (now known as Karmê-Chöling) in Barnet, Vermont.

In 1986, he moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, where hundreds of his students had settled. That Autumn, after years of heavy alcohol use, he had a cardiac arrest, and he died of heart failure the following Spring. His legacy is carried on by his son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, under the banner of Shambhala International and the Nalanda Translation Committee.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic but deep book by Chogyam Trungpa, a master of the kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The dharma series of books are taken from seminars given by Trungpa, and what I like most about these are that you get Trungpa's explanation of the concepts behind a chapter, then you get Q&A with audience and then of course your own interpretation. It is a great way to triangulate on complex but beautiful ideas.

[Keith Huston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this 5 stars even though I'm not sure I understood most of it (nor if I was supposed to). The talks and Q&A were well constructed and is another book I'll be revisiting again in the near future.

[Simon Vigneault · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a great deal from reading and rereading this profound book. I have never encountered a more insightful treatment of 'mandala'.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This title immediately caught my eye as I browsed the shelves at The Shambala Center during my first visit there a week or so ago. Chaos theory has always intrigued me as an eosteric concept and the thought that chaos is actually orderly, despite our vantage point, is doubly intriguing. As I learned, Chogyam Trungpa (CT) was also a big part of bringing Shambala meditation and training to the U.S. so encountering this book seemed "meant to be". Only having a casual background in these topics, the book was beyond me in many ways yet I found the fleeting glimpes of understanding only peaked my interest further.

Unlike some Buddhist texts, this was focused less on theory and more on the practice of mindfulness. I liked the style written with each section as a mini-lecture on a particular topic by CT Rinpoche followed by Q&A between the student and CT. While not finding concrete (black and white) answers/clarity is frustrating in some respects, I appreciate the reality that many answers to life's questions are inherently gray due to the impact of shifting perspective and dynamic interaction of experiences at the boundary/gap. I guess my personaligy aligns well with the relativity and wholistic concepts of Buddhism.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trungpa's documented seminars always get my thumbs up as I enjoy the structure of the short talk and student questions.

Here, he quite comprehensively, imo, introduces the mandala principle in it's various (conceptual) conditioned, unconditioned, and energetic and experiential forms. As some of the student questions point out, he does not go into the relation of the manadala principle to more detailed teachings on levels of consciousness etc. Some may see this as the book lacking depth of some sort. For me, this is where Trungpa is great - he stays away from intellectualizing beyond necessity; to not lead us too far off the experiential 'path' that is tantra. I appreciate this.

A notable part of this book was Trungpa's delineation and clarification of the "contrast between the mahayana teaching of shunyata, which is the gap; and the tantric view of the gap, or the mandala principle" (p. 140); and his general acknowledgment of the different approaches/intentions of the different yanas with respect to what is the mandala.

[Caisey Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heavy read and at times confusing, but as Trungpa explains at one point to one of his pupils, his intention is partly to confuse you so that you may begin to think for yourself. This book is full of metaphysical riches, and really got me thinking in new ways about reality. I recommend it.

[My Tien Khuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely new to the concept of mandalas- but really helped me to understand what it is about in a very clear and relatable way.

[RDX · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a Joy

Always a Joy to learn from Trungpa Rinpoche.I feel elated and joyous to get solid foundation from enlightened master and his disciples.

[Salvatore Familia]

Ryokan (1758–1831) is, along with Dogen and Hakuin, one of the three giants of Zen in Japan. But unlike his two renowned colleagues, Ryokan was a societal dropout, living mostly as a hermit and a beggar. He was never head of a monastery or temple. He liked playing with children. He had no dharma heir. Even so, people recognized the depth of his realization, and he was sought out by people of all walks of life for the teaching to be experienced in just being around him. His poetry and art were wildly popular even in his lifetime. He is now regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Edo Period, along with Basho, Buson, and Issa. He was also a master artist-calligrapher with a very distinctive style, due mostly to his unique and irrepressible spirit, but also because he was so poor he didn’t usually have materials: his distinctive thin line was due to the fact that he often used twigs rather than the brushes he couldn’t afford. He was said to practice his brushwork with his fingers in the air when he didn’t have any paper. There are hilarious stories about how people tried to trick him into doing art for them, and about how he frustrated their attempts. As an old man, he fell in love with a young Zen nun who also became his student. His affection for her colors the mature poems of his late period. This collection contains more than 140 of Ryokan’s poems, with selections of his art, and of the very funny anecdotes about him.