The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Eight (52 page)

Tonight, we’re going further in our understanding and realization of the Shambhala principles. To begin with, we feel revulsion toward the setting-sun world. The setting sun is one’s personal depression. Anything that you think is grossly unpleasant, or
yucky,
is connected with the setting-sun principle. We are trying to get out of that setting-sun world by trusting in ourselves and becoming warriors.

You have a head on your body, and when the head and the body are synchronized together, you realize that you are a real human being and a decent human being. In the Shambhala teachings, we call that having good head and shoulders. With that very ordinary experience of head and shoulders, you begin to smile. When you realize that you don’t have to separate mind and body, then you can eat properly, sleep properly, get your hair cut properly—do anything properly. You can experience tremendous sacredness in ordinary activities. What is ordinarily regarded as casual activity, we regard as the sacredness of Shambhala.

In traditional societies such as the Tibetan society I came from, you ride your horse, you pitch your tent, you make a fire. Whatever you do, it is done simply and directly. If you have to kill your enemy, you do so in the same spirit of simplicity and directness. Your enemy should die in your lap rather than being slaughtered off in the distance. And having killed your enemy, you’re supposed to kiss the enemy. I don’t know if you can understand this. In America, the white man just wiped out the Indians. There was no sense of sacred warfare. What I’m talking about is quite the opposite of that approach.

Last night, we talked about the importance of the warrior’s smile. That is daringness. Whatever you do, you are not confused or intimidated. Like an eagle perched on a boulder, you fluff up your feathers with the demeanor of fearless dignity. Eating, walking, sleeping: you are not afraid to do anything. Please be decent. You don’t have to be cowards anymore. Do you understand? For the warrior, fearlessness and love are the same. When you are in love, you are terrified at the same time. Nevertheless, you can develop love without terror and without horror.

The Shambhala flag represents the principles we’re talking about tonight. The yellow disk is the sun, which symbolizes compassion. The surrounding white space is skillful means. White also represents wakefulness and yellow, wisdom. There are four stripes on the flag, which represent four stages in the warrior’s understanding and attainment. The blue stripe represents inscrutability. The red represents the sense of outrageousness. The white stripe represents perkiness. Perky, in this case, is the sense that you’re awake all the time. Last, the orange stripe represents meekness. Meekness is humble modesty that brings together all of the Shambhala qualities that we have developed.

I have a personal flag or standard that incorporates the same principles. On this flag, the tiger represents meekness, the lion represents perkiness, the garuda represents outrageousness, and the dragon represents inscrutability. Going down one side of the flag, there are six white dots on a black background, which represent the six traditional clans of Tibet. All of the Tibetan clans practiced the disciplines of meek, perky, outrageous, and inscrutable. The six clans of Tibet are somewhat like Scottish clans, in that they represent the strength and dignity of family and the power of joining your identity together with others.

I am from the Mukpo clan. His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and His Holiness the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa also belong to this clan. The great Tibetan warrior Gesar of Ling was also from the Mukpo clan. Clan is a general way of relating to reality. Clan is a sense of how to rule the world and how to perceive the world at the same time. The heritage and benevolence of the Mukpo clan are my gift to you. Decency is the heritage of the Mukpos. In the past, the Mukpo clan tried to be decent, and we achieved decency altogether. Why not pass that decency down to you and the generations to come?

Chögyam Trungpa teaching a dharma art program in Boulder, Colorado. Behind him can be seen his personal flag or standard. To his right is the Shambhala flag. From top to bottom, the four stripes on the Shambhala flag are orange, white, red, and blue
.

PHOTO BY ROBERT DEL TREDICI.

Please smile and please join our clan. Meek, perky, outrageous, and inscrutable are the way we work. It was, and it still is. I have been working with those principles since I came to the Western world, and now I am giving this treasure to each one of you.

There’s nothing very much to say. By giving you this gift, it is both the closing of one door and the opening of another. I feel so relieved, so unburdened that you can share the Mukpo experience of helping others. My clan is yours, and I am so pleased that you are joining my clan. My clan has never deceived anybody. My clan shed
so much blood
in order to protect and maintain meek, perky, outrageous, and inscrutable. We worked so hard, ladies and gentlemen.

I didn’t come to America to sit on a comfy cushion. I came here, you realize, to promote and to present everything that the Mukpo clan has gone through. It’s real, sweethearts. It takes tremendous effort to be genuine and real, and tonight such effort is being shared with you. Warriorship is being handed over to you. I am giving you the heart of the warrior tradition. The Mukpos are not into having fake warriors, or double warriors, like in
Kagemusha
.
¹
We are true, maybe too true. It is up to you, of course, but
we
never cheat. If we have to, we kill on the spot. If necessary, we would slice off a person’s head without doubt, without confusion. Whatever the situation calls for, we are always true to ourselves. At the same time, tremendous joy and celebration take place. It is quite different from a wake. When somebody has died, at a wake, you might drink a lot to drown your sorrows—before the funeral. That is not the way of the Mukpos.

Shambhala means being true and honest at the same time. One thing you can be certain of: in the Shambhala world, nobody will be cheated, at all. If you keep a long face and hold on to your aggression, you will be punished by your own aggression. Otherwise, the Shambhala principles are quite cheerful! Thank you very much.

I

A
USPICIOUS
C
OINCIDENCE

Wealth and Vision

The tiger has developed more stripes.

The lion has developed more mane.

Could the garuda fly further!

Is it possible that the dragon could resound deeper!

Could my ten years of being here be more!

Sometimes I feel I have been in North America 10,000 years,

Other times, maybe only ten seconds—

We grow young and old simultaneously.

We certainly appreciate what we have done,

What we have achieved, in ten kalpas
²
or ten seconds.

It is wondrous,

Shocking,

That you as the noble sangha

And I as the Vajra Master—

We grew old together.

Such a wonderful dharmic world would be impossible

If we never met each other.

We could say that the wise and the wicked have no time to rest.

Let us not indulge each other

In the ground, path and fruition of our journey.

Let us wake and join in the celebration,

And let us go further without rest.

In the name of the lineage and our forefathers,

Let us hitch up our chubas fearlessly;

Let us bring about the dawn of tantra

Along with the Great Eastern Sun.

II

H
AIKU

(Excerpt)

All goes well.

Ki Ki—all goes worthywhile—So So!

I take pride in our expedition.

Since my mother left me without her fur chuba

I decided always to be chubaless,

A warrior without wearing clothes, walking in the cold.

My mother and my guru have agreed on this principle,

So now I am furless, clothesless.

On the other hand I remained a king,

Sitting on a throne with a self-snug smile.

If I never had my heritage,

This never would have happened:

Thanks to Gesar

And anybody related to the Mukpo family

Who has had the delicious meal of the Mongolian meat-eaters.

Good dish,

Solid gold brocade,

Genuine suit of armor,

Riding on a white horse into battle—

We take pride in all of those.

Ki Ki So So!

Ki Ki So So to Lady Jane!

Ki Ki So So to my white horse!

Ki Ki So So: We are the warriors without ego!

O
M SVABHAVA-SHUDDAH SARVA-DHARMAH SVABHAVA-SHUDDHO
’
HAM
³

Ki Ki So So!

1
. In Kurosawa’s film
Kagemusha,
a Japanese lord dies, and his officials find a peasant who has an eerie resemblance to him. They train him and force him to take the lord’s place. He successfully plays this role and fools everyone throughout much of the movie. The theme is similar to that of Mark Twain’s
The Prince and the Pauper
.

2
. A kalpa is a very long aeon, sometimes reckoned as 4,320 million years.

3
. A traditional Buddhist mantra, or religious chant, that invokes the nontheistic principles of emptiness and egolessness. It means “All dharmas or phenomena are pure in nature; I am pure in nature.”

TWENTY

Beyond Depression

O
CCASIONALLY,
we may have difficulty expressing ourselves or difficulty understanding the realities of human nature. We may feel inadequate, thinking that there’s something we don’t know. We think there’s some knowledge we should acquire. In that situation, the emphasis on learning is an obstacle. Why don’t we wake up without learning? Why don’t we cheer up without learning?

The real problem is that we cannot work with our depression. We might say that depression is good: when we are depressed, we begin to see the other shore. We can empathize with others, and we can see the need for an alternative. Yet when we are depressed, we are unable to transcend neurosis. Let us give up depression. Let us literally give up depression.

Then we can smile beautifully, utterly, extraordinarily. Ladies and gentlemen, why do we have to wallow in the mud? We don’t deserve that. We don’t deserve to wallow in a pile of excrement. Why don’t we wake ourselves up! And smile at the same time!

We are capable of smiling. Let us not become dutiful oxen. Let us not become obedient worms. Let us not become the worst of the worst. I know that sometimes the brilliance of going beyond your depression is
so
terrifying, but nonetheless, you have to do it. Your cowardice will provide bravery at the same time. When you feel so cowardly and afraid, it is equal to when you see a terrible darkness: you see brilliance at the same time. Please come and join us with a smile. You can do it! It has been done, and you are capable of doing so. Thank you. Please ask questions.

Student:
Could you explain a little more what you meant by cheering up or waking up without having to learn?

Dorje Dradül of Mukpo:
You tell me. What do you think?

Student:
Is it that we become too preoccupied with getting somewhere as opposed to just cheering up right on the spot?

Dorje Dradül of Mukpo:
Yes, that’s right. That’s perfectly right. But there are some problems. What are the problems? Please tell us.

Student:
I suppose that, if you always take the approach that you must learn something more in order to cheer up or to wake up, all you’re doing is setting up habitual patterns for yourself.

Dorje Dradül of Mukpo:
That’s right. Thank you very much. At this point, you are a child of Shambhala, and I’m proud of you.

Student:
Sir, did you say that depression is good and then say that we have to get rid of depression?

Dorje Dradül of Mukpo:
Not quite get rid of depression per se. We can actually stand on the platform of depression. It’s like this chair that I’m sitting on. A long time ago, it was made by people who were depressed. Now, we have flipped the coin. This particular chair is now a Shambhala chair, a Shambhala throne. So we are not trapped in depression. Ça va?

Student:
Is there some kind of wisdom behind the depression, and we get depressed because . . .

Dorje Dradül of Mukpo:
Not wisdom
behind,
but wisdom in front. Wisdom is
there
. R-r-r-r-right now!

Student:
Then, why do we get depressed?

Dorje Dradül of Mukpo:
You don’t. People talk about miracles. Miracles don’t occur, but at the same time, they occur. Miracles are worked on the spot, r-r-right on the spot. It makes us smile, and we begin to realize that reality is not a source of confusion and solemnness.