Ngak’chang Rinpoche says of Dorje Tröllö:
Dorje Tröllö is the master of Wisdom-chaos. Wisdom-chaos is Chögyam Trungpa
Rinpoche’s translation, and it has thus been taken up by most people as the most
suitable rendition of the term.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
expands this further by saying that it is ‘the wisdom gone wild’
Some people in recent times have misunderstood this term – confusing it for any mode of
buffoonery that comes to mind. I would hazard the guess that this was far from Chögyam
Trungpa Rinpoche’s intention. The Tibetan phrase of which Wisdom-chaos is a translation is
yeshé ’cholwa (ye shes ’hol ba) ‘Ye’ means ‘primordial’,
and ‘shes’ means
‘knowing’ – therefore yeshé means primordial wisdom or uncreated
knowingness.
’Cholwa means chaotic but it also signifies a broad
variety of ideas including: actualisation, irregularity, thrown together
at random, eccentricity, raving, and deviating from the norm.
The syllable ‘chol’ when found in these
words expands the sense of meaning and gives us subtleties of meaning with
regard to the word ‘chaotic’; words such as: ’chol bar gro, meaning
intermixing; ’chol bar byed, meaning contrivances; ’chol bar byed pa,
meaning thrown into disorder; ’chol med, meaning randomness; ’chol ma, meaning sly
sensual woman; ’chol ba pa, meaning
crafty libidinous man; ’gLags ’chol, meaning
seeking opportunities; ’chol gTam, meaning brazen speech; ’chol pa, meaning
disorderly; ’chol spyod kyi mdzad pa, meaning wild actions.
When we consider the
breadth of meaning supplied by these words, we can see that there is a precise
application of language here – in terms of Vajrayana. When we say: ’chol bar byed pa,
i.e. thrown
into disorder – it means that samsara is thrown into disorder. When we say: gLags
’chol – it means that
primordial wisdom is seeking opportunities
to undermine samsara. When we say: ’chol ma – it means that the sly
sensual woman of emptiness wishes to unite with our form in order to dissolve
duality. When we say: ’chol ba pa – it means that the crafty libidinous man of empty
form unites with our bewilderment in order to dissolve duality.
Wisdom-chaos is only
chaotic according to the point of view of samsara, and the more distorted samsara
becomes the crazier the guise in which the
Vajra Master may manifest.