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One day passes and another day comes along, and everything happens the same. But basically, we are so afraid of the brilliance coming at us, and the sharp experience of our life, that we can’t even focus our eyes.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 60 - 61)

Without any actual practice of sitting meditation to enable us to make friends with ourselves, nothing can be heard or seen to its fullest extent; nothing can be perceived as we would like to perceive it.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 53)

Photographs are also boxlike. We have a square camera with a square perspective, and as we wind our film we see one square after another. That squareness seems to be our general frame of reference. But we don’t have to be too concerned with that squareness - we could dance with it. Let’s view that corner, this corner, this corner and that corner. Above we could allow lots of space; at the bottom we could allow a lot of solidity; on the sides we could play with how we view our world. If the world is pushing us to the left or the right, we could go along with that. As long as we don’t fight, there’s no problem. We could have the right invading our left; that’s okay, that’s a nice picture. If the left is invading our right, that also makes a nice picture.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 49)

The basic principle of photography from that point of view is viewing things as they are in their own ordinary nature. It is very simple and direct. We should be prepared to see how we can present a picture or concept in our minds. Can we do it or not? The obvious answer is that we can do it. However, we actually should be willing to see a particular vision without expectation or conceptualization. We should have the perspective of being willing to take any kind of good old, bad old shot. The whole point is that we should be extremely careful and inquisitive about what we see in our world: what we see with our eyes, what we actually perceive, both how we see and what we see. This is very important.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 49)

When we see something, we don’t have to believe in it, but we do have to see it properly. We have to look at it - then it might be true. The interesting point here is that in sharpening our perception completely and properly, we don’t have to put philosophical or metaphysical jargon into it. We are just dealing precisely and directly with how our perception or vision works as we look at an object and how our mind changes by looking at it.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 49)

When you first perceive something, there is a shock of no conceptual mind operating at all. Then something begins to occur. You begin to perceive: whether you like it or not, you begin to see colors and perceptions, to open your eyes. So that non-reference-point mind can become highly powerful and extraordinarily sensitive.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 42)

In the nontheistic discipline of Buddhism, we do not glorify that because we want to confirm this. Instead, we simply go along. We are not denying God, but we are simply trying to approach reality as simply as we could. A tortoise walks and carries a heavy shell; a cow walks along and grazes by itself in a green meadow, depositing its dung; pigeons make their own noises and live on the roof. Things have their own place. They don’t have to be commanded by the higher or the greater, particularly. Things are as they are, ordinary and simple. Seemingly, that is a very simpleminded approach, but actually it is extremely deep.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 33)

In awareness practice, called vipashyana in Sanskrit, there seems to be a need for a general sense of appreciation or artfulness. Awareness practice is highly psychological: it brings a lot of new material into our lives as well as utilizing the material we already have. We could say that an appreciation of mind brings an appreciation of everyday life. So we find that we are surrounded by all kinds of ways of experiencing and expressing our artistic talent, so to speak.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 25)

In terms of art, if you do art, you just do it. You can see that this part of the clay is wrongly put or this particular color is wrong, so you scrape it out or use another color. You go ahead and do it. There’s no problem, and there’s no challenge either. Nobody is trying to compete against anything. You are not trying to become the master of the world. You are just trying to be yourself and express yourself in a very, very simple, meditative, and nonaggressive Buddhist way. And as you meditate more and you work on your art more, the boundary between meditation and the practice of art, between openness and action, becomes fuzzy - which is what everybody experienced in the past.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 20 - 21)

The purpose of dharma art is to try to overcome aggression. According to the Buddhist vajrayana tradition, if your mind is preoccupied with aggression, you cannot function properly. On the other hand, if your mind is preoccupied with passion, there are possibilities. In fact, artistic talent is somewhat related to the level of passion, or heightened interest in the intriguing qualities of things. Inquisitiveness is precisely the opposite of aggression. You experience inquisitiveness when there’s a sense of wanting to explore every corner and discover every possibility of the situation. You are so intrigued by what you’ve experienced, what you’ve seen, and what you’ve heard, that you begin to forget your aggression. At once, your mind is at ease, seduced into greater passion.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 15 - 16)

You wait for the good moment - the infamous first thought - but nothing happens. There is a thought of giving up the whole thing, or else trying to crank something up artificially. But neither of those things works. Then you sort of become distracted by something else that - and when you come back, there it is! The whole thing exists there. That little flicker of gap brings you to first thought.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 11)

We have to be honest, real, and very earthy; and we need to really appreciate things as they are. They are so beautiful and wonderful already, but in order to appreciate that, it takes time and discipline - so much discipline.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series) (Page 3)

In a meeting in 1982 with the Naropa Institute arts faculty, the Vidyadhara referred to artistic practice as ongoing and all-pervasive. For instance, if you are a musician, you are a musician always, not just while you are playing your instrument. Your awareness of sound and silence is a twenty-four-hour practice. It applies to the way your knife clinks in a restaurant, the way the car door closes, the way somebody sneezes.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series)

This book introduces Vidyadhara the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s teaching on meditation, perception, and artistic expression, which he termed dharma art. Dharma means “norm” or “truth.” In the context of art, it refers to “the state before you lay your hand on your brush, your clay, your canvas—very basic, peaceful, and cool, free from neurosis.” Art refers to all the activities of our life, including any artistic disciplines that we practice. It is not an occupation; it is our whole being.

— Dharma art by Chögyam Trungpa (Dharma ocean series)