First Thought Best Thought, 108 Poems, by Chogyam Trungpa

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1111 PEARL STREET (OFF BEAT)

In the clear atmosphere,
A dot occurred.
Passion tinged that dot vermilion red,
Shaded with depression pink.
How beautiful to be in the realm of nonexistence:
When you dissolve, the dot dissolves;
When you open up, clear space opens.
Let us dissolve in the realm of passion,
Which is feared by the theologians and lawmakers.
Pluck, pluck, pluck, pluck the wild flower.
It is not so much of orgasm,
But it is a simple gesture,
To realize fresh mountain air that includes the innocence of a wild
flower.
Come, come, D.I.R., you could join us.
The freshness is not a threat, not a burden;
It is a most affectionate gesture--
That a city could dissolve in love of the wildness of country flowers.
No duty, no sacrifice, no trap;
The world is full of trustworthy openness.
Let us celebrate in the cool joy
The turquoise blue
Morning dew
Sunny laughter
Humid home:
Images of love are so good and brilliant.


June 1976

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AURORA 7 (AND NYINGJE SHELTRI)

When a cold knife is planted in your heart,
What do you say to it?
When you have swallowed a cold stone,
What do you say to it?
When you have swallowed a cold icicle,
When you feel love hurts,
What do you say to it?
This kind of hurt, is it pleasurable?
Pain pleasure
Pleasure pain
Cold hurt
Hurt cold
Hurt hot
Hot hurt--
Wish I had never experienced blue sky or green grass,
Beautiful lover (would-be).
Would such hurt, gut hurt, throat hurt, brain hurt, lung hurt, such
hurt hurt,
Bring about cosmic love affair one of these days?
Maybe the bleeding part should be served as dessert,
With occasional bubble, occasional odor
And occasional music played with it.
Such hurt love is so love love hurt.
Maybe frogs have never experienced this;
The Pekingese, the poodles are lucky
That nobody killed themselves being lovesick.

You hurt
You tingle mc
You tingle hurt
Hurt tingle
Tingle hurty
Hurt tingly
Pain
Lust
Love
Passion
Red
Ruby
Wood
Ruby lust
Lust cold
Cold ruby
Frozen rose
Rose frozen
Lust passion
Cold hate
Hate ruby
Passion lust cold hate ruby
Hot ruby lust
Flute hot
Lust flute
Cold icicle
Hot ruby lust passion cold flute
Pure
Pure ruby
Pure hot cold ruby
Lust passion pure cold ruby
Cheat
Hot cheat
Cheat convert
Hot passion cheat
Cheat blood
Cheating blood
Passion ruby flute.
Cold hot flute.
Play
Hot play
Cheat play
Cheat play hot passion ruby
Drum
Thunder
Thunder drum
Drum thunder
Hot drum hot cheat
Hot cheat ruby drum
Drum drum drum
Cheat drum ruby
Cheat hot passion
Ruby hot piss
Flute
The flute
Throbbing flute
Throbbing heart
Cheat throbbing heart
Hot cheat throbbing passion flute:
Throbbing sex
Passion ruby
Deaf
Mute
Mute passion
Deaf passion
Throbbing deaf mute passion in cold ruby liquid.

3 August 1976

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PAN-AMERICAN DHARMADHATU III

Thick oak tree trunk
Is hard to break with two hands.
Thick oak ego
Skandha tree trunk
Is easier to break by the two hands of the vajra master.
Farmingdale
Thistledale
Heatherdale
Lovely sites beautiful to look at
That is Dharmadhatu.
Some Dharmadhatus are tall and skinny,
Colored with luscious leaves;
Some Dharmadhatus are fat and stocky,
Weighted with delicious fruit;
Some Dharmadhatus are thorny and tough,
Dotted with bright berries;
Some Dharmadhatus are bending,
Swayed by wind;
Some Dharmadhatus are upright,
Growing n the midst of a giant forest.
Oh such Dharmadhatu jungle--
It is beautiful.
Wandering in the Dharmadhatu forest
You meet meek chipmunks
Humorous porcupines
Delicate magpies
Sneaky squirrels
Powerful tigers
Exotic jackals
Manipulative ants
Doing their own little duties right and left,
It is quite an experience to be in the midst of Dharmadhatu jungle.
Glory be to the Forestry Department of Vajradhatu,
That such jungle has been taken care of and appreciated.
However, dry twigs and wounded branches need to be pruned,
So that we could nurse the cosmic universal pan-American
Dharmadhatu jungle.
It is nice to be a jungle man,
Tree warrior.
I send my love to the invincible perpetuating jungle of Dharmadhatus.

4 October 1976
Land 0' Lakes, Wisconsin

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TIBETAN LYRICS

Like a hunting dog, my friend,
You are always hungry, hoping for me.
The weather is good today:
Vanish to the distant jungle.

***

Yesterday I did not offer you tea,
Today I ask you not to be angry;
Tomorrow, if the weather is good,
Together we will go to battle.

***

This black stallion of mine:
If you ride it to the plain, it is like the shadow of a bird;
If you ride it to the mountain, it is like a flame;
If you ride it to the water, it is like a fish;
If you ride it to the sky, it is like a white cloud.
When ornamented with a saddle, it is like a king
setting out to battle.
This is an excellent great horse
Out of delight and respect, I offer it to you.

1976

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ASLEEP AND AWAKE

While the grass was falling asleep
Waiting for the snowflakes,
Timid world has been reshaped into warrior world:
My accomplishment is achieved.
Abundance of sympathy, devotion, kindness, politeness--
All amount to asleep and awake.
When dying culture is reintroduced,
It becomes genuinely powerful.

11 February 1977

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GREAT EASTERN DAUGHTERLET

When I discovered her,
She was one,
And when I searched for her,
She was ten;
When I sent for her,
She was fifteen;
When I invited her,
She was nineteen;
When I discovered her unicorn's horn,
She was twenty-five;
When I taught her the English language,
She was fifty;
When I taught her how to walk,
She was seventy;
When I told her that she is the daughter of Shambhala,
She was one hundred and two;
So much for her age.
She still remains nineteen years old
Princess who possesses the delightful white face of the highland
moose.

3 June 1977
Ingonish, Nova Scotia

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WHYCOCOMAGH?

Sometimes there are trees;
Sometimes there are rocks;
However, occasionally there are lakes;
Always, to be sure, there are houses;
To be sure certain there are views of a
certain gentleman being
crucified.
Nevertheless, the deep-fried food is very decent,
So good that one almost forgets bourgeois cuisine.
The coastal sky seems to frown at us
With its benevolent threat;
We receive plentiful rain.
In green valley pastures brown cows graze.
Tibetan-tea-like rough rivers carry the highland soil.
Occasional mist and fog bring wondrous possibilities.
Naive hitchhikers laugh and scrutinize our convoy.
The highlands are beautiful, free from pollution,
The lowlands regular, telling the whole truth:
There is nothing to hide.
Harmonious province hangs together,
But for occasional economic panic.
Men of Shambhala would feel comfortable and confident in the
province of no big deal,
Flying the banner of St. Andrew adorned with the lion of Scotland,
red and yellow.
We find it beyond conflict to fly the banner of the Great Eastern Sun.
It is curious to see their flags strung on yellow cords;
Nice to watch the children cycling in the ditch;
Nice to discover all the waiters serving on their first day;
Nice to see that nobody is apologetic;
Good to see alders taking root after the forest fire of pines.

June 1977
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia

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LION'S ROAR

In the jungles of flaming ego.
May there be cool iceberg of bodhicitta.

On the racetrack of bureaucracy,
May there be the walk of the elephant.

May the sumptuous castle of arrogance
Be destroyed by vajra confidence.

In the garden of gentle sanity,
May you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.

20 October 1977

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TIMELY RAIN

In the jungles of flaming ego.
May there be cool iceberg of bodhicitta.

On the racetrack of bureaucracy,
May there be the walk of the elephant.

May the sumptuous castle of arrogance
Be destroyed by vajra confidence.

In the garden of gentle sanity,
May you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.

20 October 1977

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PAN-DHARMADOLLAR

Looking for cheaper restaurants,
Paying for expensive ties,
Are dualistic as much as Mohammed and the mountain.
Would the mountain come to Mohammed
Or Mohammed go to the mountain?
Sadat and Begin made a pact,
But who is going to achieve peace?
Vision and dollar are in conflict:
When there are lots of dollars,
There is no vision;
When there are no dollars,
There is lots of vision.
Clearly stranded,
Goodly rich,
Goodly poor,
Can't afford to pay for one's own tuxedo,
Can pay for one's luxury in the realm of buddhadharma,
Elegant waltz participation,
Contradiction after contradiction.
Why is a parrot green,
Speaking human language?
Why is the monkey ambidextrous,
Mocking humans?
Why do Americans mock the vajra kingdom?
They don't mean to,
They are merely being casual because they have no money,
Or they have too much money;
Therefore, they can come up with cheap proposals.
Will this go down in our history?
No.
The Noh play says:
Worshipping every deity is trusting in ancestral heritage.
For the cosmopolitan communication of dharma,
Let us have lots of ratna.
For the hermit who is in the cave in order to perpetuate the practice,
Let us have lots of ratna.
For the scholars who are translating buddhadharma intoAmericanism,
Let us have lots of ratna.
For the householder yogis who could practice tantra with indestructible conviction,
Let us have lots of ratna
For the freelancers who might give up their ego trips,
To accommodate and lure them into the dharma world,
Let us have lots of ratna.
For the young maidens who fall in love with the dharmic man,
To create a truly genuine dharmic world,
Let us have lots of ratna.
For the warriors who fight for the sake of Shambhala kingdom,
Who never leave their prajna swords behind,
Let us have lots of ratna.
For the administrator who never breathes for his own sake,
But is purely concerned about the facts and figures and morality of our organization of the vajra mandala,
Let us have lots of ratna.
For the vajra master who couldn't exist without the vajra world,
dedicating his life and yet receiving longevity nectar from others,
Let us have lots of ratna.
Money peeps,
Money tweaks,
However, money has never roared.
Lion's roar could be money.
Pay!
Due!
Accelerate!
Save!
Complain!
Bargain!
Let us save money by spending,
Let us spend by saving:
Sane money is free from dualistic territory.
For the Great Eastern Sun, frigid money is no good.
Computerized this and that is a kid playing cowboys and lndians:
Let us relax and be taut in our money world.
May there be Sukhavati of dollars.
May there be Shambhala kingdom with lots of wealth--
But wealth comes from waltz,
Waltz comes from dignity,
Dignity comes from consideration,
Consideration comes from being sane.
Let us spend,
Let us save:
The Great Eastern Sun saves and radiates.
Good for you
jolly good show to everyone
Let us be genuine.

3 December 1977