Your Guess is as Good as Mine

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I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Trungpa give a lecture in Chicago in the 1970’s. I don’t remember the exact year. I was accompanied by a friend, Terry Atwood and we very much were interested at the time in Eastern philosophy and religion. I remember very well a particular incident. Trungpa gave a lecture, which we attended, and at one point invited comments from the audience. A particularly combative and self assured person (which you find in abundance in Chicago) assailed Trungpa with the following question “What is the game here” His meaning was clear, that Trungpa was some sort of charlatan or fraud. Trungpa thought for a second and calmly answered something like this: “Well, I think your guess is as good as mine.”

This answer completely disarmed the assailant. And in addition taught a valuable lesson, that we all can share.

After that answer, more than anything else, I became an admirer of Trungpa. I am very sorry he is no longer with us.

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