Orderly Chaos

Accordingto the mandala principle, a prominent feature of tantric Buddhism, allphenomena are part of one reality. Whether good or bad, happy or sad, clear orobscure, everything is interrelated and reflects a single totality. AsChögyam Trungpa explains in this work, from the perspective of the mandalaprinciple, existence is orderly chaos. There is chaos and confusion becauseeverything happens by itself, without any external ordering principle. At thesame time, whatever happens expresses order and intelligence, wakeful energyand precision. Through meditative practices associated with the mandalaprinciple, the opposites of experience—confusion and enlightenment, chaos andorder, pain and pleasure—are revealed as inseparable parts of a total visionof reality.