Tequila and Tantra
“Quite possibly there is no such thing as spirituality
other than to stop deceiving ourselves.”
- Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche –
The last time I saw Chogyam Trungpa he was walking down the street in Boulder, Colorado with Allen Ginsburg, Gary Snyder, and Robert Bly. It was 1970 and on the previous night this motley group of pirates had presented a very spacy poetry reading at the University’s performance hall. Gary Snyder introduced his epic poem “The Smoky the Bear Sutra”, Ginsburg played the harmonium and recited stream-of-consciousness ravings, and Chogyam placed a meditation bowl over his head, beat on it, and laughing until he fell over, broke up the scene. It was cosmic fun at its finest.
I never got my private audience with the Rinpoche like several of my friends did. Two friends had a private meeting with him and he sent them off to India where they met Neeb Karori Baba. They went overland from London the entire way, it took months, and arrived just in time to meet Richard Alpert, AKA Ram Dass, as he was settling in. Remarkably they discovered other synchronous events related to Chogyam Trungpa throughout that journey and on many other journeys to come.
Since I read Trungpa’s earliest works I have been deeply engaged by the Tibetan Buddhist way. It has enabled me to make sense out of chaos and then put it back to be itself. As time passed, I noticed that Carlos Castaneda’s teachings seemed more and more like a Mexican shaman’s mirror of Trungpa’s teachings. No wonder really because the truth comes in many forms. What packaging do you prefer?
Trungpa spoke a lot about “Spiritual Materialism”, the concept of “shopping” for spiritual meaning that Americans fall prey to by being suddenly exposed to the fabulously colorful and esoteric teachings of monks, gurus, psychics, crystals and shamans from all around the world who offer new and exciting ways of “getting better” and “finding truth”. He felt it was an obstacle to what he described as “waking up”. He would probably have a field day in Sedona if he were alive today viewing the proliferation of New Ways in the New Age, in all their bright and cheery forms. Still, what can you say about his own path – he was living the way of Crazy Wisdom and drank a lot of sake along the way. His life has not been without the harsh judgement of others, too, regarding the way he walked the walk and talked the talk.
One of Shambhala Publishing’s Trungpa offerings is a collection of fifteen previously published articles by him. It is called The Heart Of The Buddha (Shambhala Publications, 1991). I find the question and answer sections in his books that are transcripts of his talks at seminars to be of great value because they contain typical questions and streamlined answers, like FAQs, that make sense out of his deep transmissions. This book has a few of those Q & A sections, however most articles in this book present the basic teachings of Buddhism and how they relate to everyday life in the form of short essays.
I love Tequila and other fine spirits. And sake is right up there with Single Malt Scotch. I have always had questions related to drinking and spirituality that I wanted to ask Trungpa since he was a legendary drinker at times, that is to say, an alcoholic. A fine chapter in this book, “Alcohol as Medicine or Poison”, finally answered some of my questions from Trungpa’s Vajrayana teachings. It was composed during Trungpa’s personal, private retreat in Charlemont, Massachusetts, 1972. This retreat was famous because after he finished it, Trungpa began a new style of teaching that was more suited to western students. He “joined” their world as a Bodhisattva would and gave up a lot of the external trappings of traditional Buddhism. He wore a suit, ate pizza, and had martinis at lunch.
Trungpa states that alcohol can be used in transcending the duality of the apparent world as part of Buddhist tantra practice. When a yogi drinks, it is his or her way of accepting the dualistic world, the world of ordinary appearance. Alcohol in this case serves as an invitation to communicate with compassion and relationship. It becomes fuel for relating to students and the world in general. It becomes amrita, the sacred potion that is antideath.
With alcohol, unlike other intoxicants, there is always a sense that we still have a body. It involves a process of coming down rather than going up into space. To fully relate with alcohol, it is extremely important for the average person to maintain an awareness of their state of mind during drinking, that they tighten up their system as an “intelligent defense mechanism” as Trungpa states it. This form of “conscious drinking” allows a person to be aware of a sense of dance with alcohol, an ability to avoid relating only to the joviality of alcohol that spells a destructive level that is absent of mindfulness. As humans we tend to relate incompletely with booze, to either the cheering up, the party aspect, or the sedative, the relaxing aspect. It is this incomplete relationship with alcohol that changes it from medicine to poison. The end result is that a person’s neuroses take over, the style he or she is habitually hiding. By staying conscious of the increasing effects of alcohol, a creativity arises and brings the drinker down to ordinary reality. A sense of humor evolves at that point from the poignant sights, sounds, colors, and smells of life. For the conscious drinker, elation seemingly without limitation is seen accompanying the depression of knowing one’s neuroses. It is not one or the other. It does not become an unconscious experience.
Trungpa mentions that in the Guhyasamaja Tantra, the Buddha teaches that that which intoxicates the dualistic mind is the antideath potion. The person who truly enjoys drinking is usually uncertain and questions whether it is an alliance with good or with evil. This uncertainty allows space to develop for a sense of intelligence and fearlessness and to relate to the present moment as it truly is. In Trungpa’s words, “ Fearless willingness to be intelligent about what is happening in the face of the unknown is the very energy of transmutation that has been described in the tantric tradition of Buddhism”. Ultimately, the conscious drinker can glimpse, or even attain, the highest level of intoxication if they are open enough. It takes surrender and the acceptance of the notion of freedom rather than doubting it. This is regarded as the highest level of intoxication, skillful means and wisdom.
I find Trungpa’s thought on the subject of drinking to be like many pearls of wisdom, it either resonates in your being or it doesn’t. Like many activities that are emotionally-charged and come sprinkled with feelings of guilt and judgement, other people’s opinions can certainly get in the way. To see clearly takes work. To consider the question with awareness and an open mind puts one in the position of being alone. Drinking alcohol has all the attributes necessary for waking up and letting go of self-deception. At the same time, because of its inherent ability to invoke personal demons in the form of neuroses, alcohol is an energy that beckons mindfulness in order to stay off the floor and on the path.
“In other words, you think you are able to deceive the path by being
a smart traveler on the path, but you begin to realize that you are
the path itself. You can’t deceive the path because you make the path.”
Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
Crazy Wisdom