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A sense of nonthinking is necessary at the same time as a sense of the thinking process. According to the Buddhist tradition, the sitting practice of meditation provides basic footing, solid ground to develop further understanding, further experiences of square one. So I feel somewhat guilty if I provide just words, words, words, planting further confusion in the world of confusion; whereas if people sit and stop thinking and talking by means of meditation, I feel that we have planted dynamite to transcend the world of confusion. So it would be good if you could practice meditation as much as you can, as much as is physically and psychologically possible. It would be good if you could get into the sitting practice of meditation. You could become more clear and sane, and you could also influence the national neurosis in that way. Keep that in mind.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 125)

If you are dealing with somebody who is completely competent, who is actually living the information, the teaching has become part of his whole being For instance, if you study with a teacher who acquired his understanding by information alone, that person may tell you very wise things, beautiful things, but he won’t know how to handle the gaps. He blushes or he gets embarrassed or he fidgets around between stories, between the wisdoms that he utters. But if you are dealing with somebody who is completely competent, who is actually living the information, the teaching has become part of his whole being, so there is no embarrassment. It goes on and on and on, like the waves of an ocean. There is endless richness. You receive a lot, but at the same time you don't feel that he emptied out all his information to you. You feel there's much more to be said.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 116 - 117)

Creating art is like meditating. You work with one technique for a long, long time, and finally the technique falls away.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 114)

A work of art is created because there is basic sacredness, independent of the artist’s particular religious faith or trust. [..]. Sacredness from that point of view is the discovery of goodness, which is independent of personal, social, or physical restrictions.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 112)

Art involves relating with oneself and one’s phenomenal world gracefully. In this case, the word gracefully has the sense of nonaggression, gentleness, and upliftedness; that is, a basic attitude of cheerfulness. It is important in becoming artists to make sure that we do not pollute this world; moreover, as artists we can actually beautify the world. Inspired in this way by our contact with dharma art, there is less room for neurosis. That is the actual project of dharma art, which is both necessary and important.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 104)

When we begin to realize pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying as the natural expression of our desire to work with the whole universe, we are free from accepting too eagerly or rejecting too violently; we are free from push and pull. In Buddhism, that freedom is known as the mandala principle, in which everything is moderated by those four activities. In the mandala, east represents awake; south represents expansion; west represents passion or magnetizing; north represents action. That seems to be the basic mandala principle that has developed.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 103)

Once the practice of meditation is developed and you begin to see yourself clearly, then you also begin to see your environment clearly. You don't have to be labeled an artistic person, necessarily; anyone can work on that kind of perception. The only obstacles are hesitation and disinterest. The sitting practice of meditation allows a sense of solidness and a sense of slowness and the possibility of watching one’s mind operating all the time. Out of that, a sense of expansion slowly begins to develop and, at the same time, the awareness that you have been missing a lot of things in your life. You have been too busy to look for them or see them or appreciate them. So as you begin to meditate, you become more perceptive. Your mind becomes clearer and clearer, like an immaculate microscope lens.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 89 - 99)

The path of buddhadharma does not try to unify everything and reduce everyone to good little tantric robots. The intent is to heighten individuality, but within the framework of some common world.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 92)

There’s a sharp precision that exists in our life, which generally arises from some form of training or discipline, the sitting practice of meditation in particular. It’s not that meditation sharpens our perceptions, but that sitting practice makes it possible to perceive. It’s a question of removing the clouds, rather than recreating the sun.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 88)

You could work with the five buddha family principles by picking up a piece of stone or a twig and approaching it from each of its five different aspects. With each family, a whole different perspective will begin to develop. At that point, you have limitless resources. You don’t feel obliged to produce ever more materials, because you can take one thing and make it vajra, karma, padma, ratna, or buddha. You can make all kinds of tartan plaids out of that.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 84 - 85)

We have to allow ourselves to realize that we are complete fools; Otherwise, we have nowhere to begin. We have to be willing to be a fool and not always try to be a wise guy. We could almost say that being willing to be a fool is one of the first wisdoms. So acknowledging foolishness is always a very important and powerful experience. The phenomenal world can be perceived and seen properly if we see it from the perspective of being a fool. There is very little distance between being a fool and being wise; they are extremely close. When we are really, truly fools, when we actually acknowledge our foolishness, then we are way ahead. We are not even in the process of becoming wise - we are already wise.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 75)

If you appreciate your world, then you might pick something up that personally benefits your spiritual journey and increases your wisdom. You could see the world as it is, with its own perspective, and with a touch of insight. You could learn how to look at a needle on a pine tree, how to smell a racoon, how to drink a cup of tea, how to feel your hair, your dress, your clothes, how to touch your feet on the ground, how to walk. At the perceptual level, everything is artistic in some sense, but there has to be communication and real perception.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 66)

We create this world mutually. Maybe it’s not so good, not so beautiful, but it’s not so bad either-it’s a regular world. You can get along in this world, and once you begin to relate with the world, you can appreciate the idea of symbolism. Aggression and paranoia, being unable to leap, are obstacles to symbolism. But once we stop rejecting the world, the world begins to pounce on us. Symbolism is imposed on us. ReaIizations and perceptions of all kinds of realities begin to take shape. There is symbol right and left and front and back.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 65)