The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Eight (49 page)

When you achieve such fearlessness, then you can abandon your giant backpack, where you carry all sorts of things to protect yourself from nature. You begin to realize that nature has its own quality, and you begin to live with nature. In the midst of fearlessness, a sense of ease arises. Because of the ease and naturalness of fearlessness, you feel that you are not being attacked, so you don’t have to defend yourself. There is no paranoia. With that ease and looseness, your head and shoulders begin to perk up. Ordinarily, our image of head and shoulders is a tight posture. But when this tremendous ease takes place, you feel that you are just there, like the sunshine, so brilliant, so natural. So the posture of head and shoulders is quite natural. It is simply viewing the universe without hassle.

Out of that arises natural hierarchy. Hierarchy, according to the dictionary, is a pyramidal power structure that you climb until you get to the top. But we are talking about natural hierarchy, which takes place when for the first time somebody experiences the Great Eastern Sun and sees its humor.

It is like the four seasons. Cold winter turns into inviting spring, which brings luscious summer, which gives us the productive autumn, which then goes back to winter. The discipline of winter gives way again to the beautiful unfolding process of spring. The spring melts the snow, bringing the exposed earth of summer. Then again, the possibilities of summer cannot last throughout the whole year. So the discipline of autumn occurs. As autumn comes to an end, we develop the one-pointedness, the one-mindedness, of winter. We can go on, again and again. The one-pointedness of winter begins to lose its grip, its grasp, and it turns into spring. Flowers begin to develop, and the trees are softened by their potential blossoms. Spring is willing to become extravagant summer; then the extravaganza of summer occurs. Nonetheless, there is some comptroller or administrator who says, “Enough is enough.”

Then summer turns into autumn, which brings us back to the practicality of the winter. We enjoy the fires burning in our homes. True reality occurs in the winter. Human beings are different from animals. Human beings have to wear layer upon layer of clothes to face the winter: undershirt, T-shirt, warm top shirt, sweater, jacket, topcoat. All those layers almost recreate the abundance of autumn, but when we’re finally fortified enough to face the winter, it is too late, and spring comes. The gaiety of the spring brings possibilities that truth may be true, although watching the vulnerable buds in the trees, one never knows. There could be a sudden snowstorm or a sudden frost. Spring is like a person about to smile, who hasn’t shown their teeth but is just grinning. Then we show our teeth and we smile properly in the summer. That brings the autumn again. Then, reality is reality. Enough is enough! In winter, we bake good bread, eat our gruel, and enjoy the grain from the harvest that we achieved in the autumn. We could go on . . .

By the way, ladies and gentlemen, that is natural hierarchy.

A king or queen exists. That king appreciates being king, which is like the spring. The spring king is crowned or enthroned by the subjects. So the king does not become arrogant or take pride in himself alone. The king appreciates that the subjects have made him their king. The king appreciates the whole process, which is the king-
dom
. Let the kingdom flourish, let us have freedom, and let every subject enjoy the kingdom. Let our children have good schools, let the workers have good working environments, and let the factories produce their best abundance of food and clothing. Let all the subjects be so elegant and beautiful. That is summer.

Then there is the autumn aspect of the kingdom: let us not indulge, but let us have some system of government. Let us have a good constitution. Let us have a real sense of working properly with each other. That brings us to the winter. When the kingdom is cold and troublesome, we don’t regard it as an attack or as depression in the kingdom. We regard it as an opportunity to show how brave and arrogant we can be as subjects of this kingdom. In that way, natural hierarchy is based on the four seasons.

A kingdom isn’t always a country. The kingdom is your household, and your household is a kingdom. In a family, you may have a father, a mother, sisters, brothers. That setup is in itself a small kingdom for you to practice and work with as its king or queen. Those who don’t have a family can work on how they schedule and conduct their own personal discipline properly and thoroughly. You eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You meet your friends, do your work, do your studies. There is automatically a pattern involved. That pattern should be a joyous one, a happy one, rather than merely obligatory.

I see and hear from a lot of people for whom the regularity of life is a pain. They wish they had a different menu every minute. You have to settle down, somewhere. You have to work on having a regular life, a disciplined life. Traditionally, Shambhalians stay in a job for at least five years. In my case, it has been forty years, and I haven’t had the faintest temptation to change my job. The more discipline that occurs, the more joyous it becomes. That is a very important point in the Shambhala training.

You can help others to overcome frivolity. Based on your own inspiration, you can help people get out of situations that they’re stuck in. Usually, frivolity occurs when people are stuck, literally, in one place. They go to the same place and listen to the same music, do the same things, eat the same food. You can help create a change of attitude, a change of environment for them. With your own Shambhala inspiration, you can bring others into a different environment. At the beginning, they might find it slightly awkward; nonetheless, they will probably find it more enjoyable.

Acting as a leader for others has to be based on your own development, how confident you feel in yourself, and how much training you have. If you feel capable and trained and processed enough in your daily life, then you can launch into working with others. It is a question of your own personal development. From the Buddhist point of view, friends who create discipline and lighten up our ego are called the sangha. In the Shambhala culture, we call such friends
warriors
. Warriors can cheer one another up and together create a warrior society.
Warrior,
by the way, is a term that applies to both men and women.

There is a powerful bond between yourselves and myself. We share the Great Eastern Sun together, which is very powerful and important, whether in times of trouble or no trouble. Together, we share in caring for this world, which means that we share the Shambhala Kingdom together. We share the Shambhala tradition. We are brothers and sisters, or father and child in the Great Eastern Sun.

Welcome to the Shambhala world. I’m so pleased that you are here to liberate yourselves from personal burden and to take on other people’s burden with compassion. Don’t be lazy. The world needs you, very badly, so try to apply these teachings to your day-to-day life situation. Please don’t forget. We have a lot of work to do. Hundreds of thousands of people need tremendous help.

I think almost everything has been said. There’s nothing left unsaid, except one last thing, which is the parting of friendship. I would like to make a toast to the best of the students, the best of the listeners, and to the great would-be warriors of the future. No doubt about it. To the warriors of the past, present, and future, I would like to raise a toast: To fearlessness!

S
EASONING
L
IFE

Children run barefooted

Old men with walking sticks sniff fresh air

Spring is good—we all blossom

Active time for the umbrellas

Muddy path for the horses

Chrysanthemums and peonies are gorgeous

Summer is imperial festival

A drop from heaven on my head

I discover it is merely apple

Prosperous time

We are attacked by hailstorms of grain

Home is precious

White world is cold

However, the icicle tunes are melodic

The emperor is returning to his palace

Part Four

POWERFUL

The remaining chapters in the book are written as though you were there. You’re invited to participate. Please come along and join the audience. The speaker has arrived, so take your seat. The talk is about to begin . . .

The Warrior’s Cry

FIFTEEN

The Basic Gasp of Goodness

G
OOD MORNING.
I’m so pleased to be here. I am struck by your sweetness and your kindness. I hope there may be some underlying cynicism as well. We open by saying “Good morning” because the Great Eastern Sun never sets. We don’t have much time to discuss the great depth of possibilities of Shambhala vision, but we will do our best.

We are going back to basic goodness. Why do we possess basic goodness at all? Why is it basic? Why is it good, for heaven’s sake? Basic goodness is based on your first mind, first thought. Before thought, you have a gasp, a sharp in-breath,
Ah-ah!
¹
Whatever you think, even before you think, before you gasp, there is space. There is purity. There is
Ah-ah!
Sometimes you feel so dumb that you can’t think of anything. Sometimes you think you’re so intelligent, and you can’t think of anything. There is just
Ah-ah!

That is basic goodness. It is not good as opposed to bad. It is basic vacantness, just vacant, pure. That basic gasp, basic awake, basic
Ah-ah!
—just before you hiccup—is basic Shambhala mind altogether. Out of that, believe it or not, fearlessness arises. Fear is another kind of
Ah-ah!
Fearlessness is also
Ah-ah!
Once you realize that basic gasp, you are fearless.

Out of that, you begin to realize individual dignity, and you settle down as you are, as basic being, as Joe Schmidt, Mary Newton, Tom Smith. Isn’t it wonderful to be Tom Smith? Isn’t it fantastic to be Mary Newton? Please smile. You have a self-snug grin in you, where not only your mouth laughs but your heart also laughs. That sense of joy and greatness is always there.

By the way, this is not a theory. I, Lord Mukpo, have experienced it myself. You might refer to me or address me as Lord Mukpo. Lord Mukpo is both my title and my name. Lord is like the sky. Mukpo is like the sunshine in the midst of the sky. I grew up as a lord of Tibet. Mukpo is my family name, my true name, my real name. Literally, it means “dark.” Mukpo is like the darkness after the sun sets, but with an interesting twist. When the physical sun sets, Mukpo shines. Mukpo sunshine. Mukpo—that is my name. That is my clan.

Ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to introduce myself properly to you as Lord Mukpo because all of you are part of my clan. Even in the darkest of the dark age, there is always light. That light comes with a smile, the smile of Shambhala, the smile of fearlessness, the smile of realizing the best of the best of human potential.

We have much more to discuss. But for now, I would like you not to speculate but just to be. Look at your mind. Just be. Hold your posture, be upright, hold up your head and shoulders. Sit cross-legged in good warrior posture. This is not a gloomy situation. We are at the height of the best and most cheerful world that has ever been known—which is called enlightened society.

Let us smile. Hold up your posture. When I count three, click in. One, two, ready . . . We are the happiest people in the entire world. We are the most enlightened society in the entire world. It’s very moving. It’s very real. We are not kidding ourselves.

I would like to explain the warrior’s bow to you. This bow is done from a standing or sitting position. You may be sitting in a chair, kneeling, or sitting cross-legged in the posture of meditation. You bow as a sign of greeting. You bow as a sign of respect. When you start a meeting, you may bow, and you bow at the end as well.

When you bow, your posture is upright. Your torso, your shoulders, and your neck are all held upright. You sit up like a good arrow. Then your arms make the bōw.
²
You place your hands on your thighs, with your arms held out a little from your torso, rounded into a gentle bōw shape. Then, when you bow, it is like shooting directly at a target. The bōw and arrow bow together.

Why don’t we try it? Can you do it? Sit up straight like an arrow, and then make your hands, arms, and shoulders into the bōw. Now you are ready to bow. When you bow, don’t look for danger. Don’t look for obstacles. Just bow completely.

Let’s practice it again. Be up, up. Include your shoulders. Your head and shoulders are upright. Then, keeping your head straight, bend forward, bring your shoulders along, and bend down. Bend down more. Then let your neck go over your shoulders a little bit. Finally, bend from your neck.

Exchanging a bow is like sharing a kiss with your lover. First, you turn your face toward your lover. Then, you bend your neck toward your lover, and your lover bends their neck toward you as well. Then you embrace together. That is the example of how to surrender with a bow.

I appreciate your presence here, and I love you all. Thank you very much.

1
. If you breathe in sharply through your mouth, so that you can hear your breath, you will be approximating the sound made here by the author.

2
. The author is speaking here about bowing, as surrendering or bending down, and he is also talking about a bōw and arrow. To distinguish the bow from the bōw, I have included the diacritical mark ˉ, to make the long
o
in “bōw and arrow.”

SIXTEEN

Helping Others

T
HE PURPOSE OF THE
S
HAMBHALA TRAINING
is to help others, to save others, and to cure others’ pain. That is the key point. There are so many confused people and psychotics in the world, and it is your duty,
our
duty, to help them. How you do that depends on what profession you are engaged in. You may be involved with child care. You may be involved with the fine arts or with making movies. You may be involved with gardening and raising plants in a nursery. The point is to help others through any means you can, through your particular profession, whatever it may be.