giving
Chögyam Trungpa
Photo: © Thea Boldt
Due to copyright issues, only an excerpt of the English text is published by Dharma/Arte. Excerpt from True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art.
Approaching symbolism based on our desire constantly to learn more and more is questionable, because a lot of aggression is taking place there. Not in the sense of being angry, or losing your temper, but aggression as a fundamental obstacle. All the collections you have made, and continue to make, are questionable. When you get really angry, your eyes are bloodshot and you can’t see properly; you begin to stutter and you can’t speak properly. You become a mean vegetable. That kind of aggression is the greatest obstacle to perception and to perceiving symbolism. If you really see the city of Boulder, if you really see the mountains of Boulder or the skies of Boulder, there is no aggression. But I somewhat doubt that you have really seen it. This remark is not condescending, putting down your honorable existence. It is a reminder. Maybe you haven’t got anything together to experience what you should experience. That’s highly possible, because aggression is very powerful. When you project toward an object, you want to capture it, as a spider captures a fly, and suck its blood. You may feel refreshed, but that is a big problem. The definition of dharma art, as well as iconography, is the personal experience of nonaggression.
There is more to aggression than losing your temper and beating your husband or your wife or your kid or having a fight with your neighbors. All of that is simply a by-product of aggression. Actual aggression takes place in our minds, in our hearts. It makes our blood boil. It can make us so completely stupid and offended that we cannot even see.
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