It's easier to put on a pair of shoes than to wrap the earth in leather.
Interpretation
The quote illustrates the impracticality of trying to change the entire world to suit our needs instead of adapting ourselves to it.
Chogyam Trungpa's quote suggests that it is far simpler to adjust our own perceptions and actions than it is to try to alter the external world to accommodate us. The metaphor of putting on shoes versus wrapping the earth in leather highlights the futility of expecting the environment to bend to our will, and emphasizes the importance of personal adaptability and inner change.
In practice
During a motivational speech about overcoming obstacles.
Meditation _x000D_ practice begins by sitting down and assuming your seat cross-legged on _x000D_ the ground. You begin to feel that by simply being on the spot, your _x000D_ life can become workable and even wonderful. You realize that you are _x000D_ capable of sitting like a king or queen on a throne. The regalness of _x000D_ that situation shows you the... dignity that comes from being still and _x000D_ simple.
If you must begin then go all the way, because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time.
The basics teachings of Buddha are about understanding what we are, who we are, why we are. When we begin to realize what we are, who we are, why we are, then we begin to realize what we are not, who we are not, why we are not. We begin to realize that we don't have basic, substantial, solid, fundamental ground that we can exert anymore. We begin to realize that our ideas of security and our concept of freedom have been purely phantom experiences.
Warriorship does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution. Warriorship is the tradition of human bravery, or the tradition of fearlessness.
Our life is an endless journey; it is like a broad highway that extends infinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of constant ups and downs.
But again and again, we should reflect back to the darkness of the cocoon. In order to inspire ourselves forward, we must look back to see the contrast with the place we came from. You see, we cannot reject the world of the cocoon - which out which we may create a new cocoon. When we see the suffering that occured in the old cocoon, that inspires us to go forward in our journey of warriorship. It is a journey that is unfolding within us.
I was not created to be occupied by eating delicious foods like tied up cattle.
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.
Of course God does not consider you hopeless. If He did He would not be moving you to seek Him (and He obviously is). What is going on in you at present is simply the beginning of the treatment. Continue seeking with cheerful seriousness. Unless He wanted you, you would not be wanting Him.
Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them.
Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message.
Your believing or not believing in karma has no effect on its existence, nor on its consequences to you. Just as a refusal to believe in the ocean would not prevent you from drowning.
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