The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Eight (60 page)

Shambhala tradition could also be somewhat connected with the culture of the American Indians and the Eskimos, or with the Aztec and South American traditions. All these traditions have previously been connected with some theistic tradition at a pre-Christian level, but their notions of warriorship also provide a reference point of nontheism. That concept of warriorship is epitomized by the Japanese samurai tradition and the shogun concept, as well as by Eskimo culture.

Shambhala is a Central Asian culture, which is neither Aryan nor Mongolian. It is a unified tradition, one which we have long forgotten altogether. There are supposedly several areas in Hungary that have maintained some sort of warrior tradition, but the whole thing is very obscure. We have no idea of what is really going on there. Csoma de Körös, the Hungarian translator who visited Tibet, picked up the possibility of a connection between Tibet and Hungary, but apart from that we have no idea at all of the recent record.

On the whole, there is the basic notion that earth—our earth, this earth, the planet earth—has very big blotches of good warriorship happening, and we are trying to bring those principles together, including the European Christian tradition of warriorship. There are monolithic possibilities; that is highly possible. But first we have to look into more of the details.

S:
I’d like to bring up the matter of dancing once more. I hope you will be patient and discuss that one more time. We were talking about balance, balance in personalities, balance in society. I consider it very important because for a long time the expression of sexuality has been repressed. The type of dancing which is not very popular expresses an important part of life, and that is why I consider it to be good.

DD:
Your guess is as good as mine. Please don’t pollute the atmosphere: you can do it. Let me see what you can do.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I’m sorry we have to end at this point. In connection with our practice and study of the Shambhala principles, and in connection with this particular course that we are presenting to you, it is very important for you to sit. In that way, you could begin to discover the possibility that what we are discussing, what we are doing here, is real. Sitting practice is regarded as highly important, so please don’t give up on it. And once more, ladies and gentlemen, you are more than welcome. We will be warriors. I can imagine everybody here becoming a warrior; it will shake the whole earth. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, once more, and please try to study these principles and work with them in your daily life, your domestic situation. Please take advantage of your discussion groups to talk more about the warriorship principle. Thank you very much for coming to this class. You are more than welcome.

The Shambhala World

W
ELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
I’m so pleased that you came along. I may not have much to say and you might go back with a disappointment, which is also fine. We have all been disappointed many times in our lives.

The topic that we would like to discuss tonight is “enlightened society.” Such a topic might be very full, and while it might be completely unworkable, at the same time it is workable, the reason being that we believe we possess goodness. Because of that belief we are capable of manifesting basic goodness. It is all connected with the idea of some sense of natural responsibility that we might have. The natural responsibility is thinking of others’ pain and misery. But before we do that, we have to realize that we have basic goodness, and that we want to help others. “Help” meaning anything, any help. The basic idea of help here is the possibility of bringing people into a reasonable life, into “reasonability.” We don’t cause further pain and further confusion to anybody else at all. We just simply promote that basic reasonability, that basic goodness. That seems to be the key point to this.

It is nice to be back in San Francisco. A lot of people are reasonable, basically cheerful. Hopefully, nobody walks in the street with a long face. We might say that we are on the verge of a nuclear holocaust, but in my way of thinking, such a thing is not going to take place. We will live our lives. We will have our breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We will have our friends. We will continue our life for at least a thousand years. I’m afraid there’s not going to be catastrophic excitement or entertainment. There’s not going to be a nuclear holocaust. I’m afraid we’re going to have to lead lives which are very boring.

One of the main principles of Shambhala teaching is bravery, freedom from cowardice. That kind of bravery is based on the idea of basic goodness and also on some sense of joy. We don’t imitate or follow the example of an animal. We will be as a human being, as we have always been. As I mentioned already, I have nothing else to say. That’s what I have to say.

The cheering up is important. The sense of responsibility is important, and the sense of realizing that you do have a basic goodness, that you are basically good is important. These are the points. If you would like discussion at this point, you are more than welcome.

Question:
I have a sense of what you mean by the word
good,
but I’d like to hear how you define the word
good
.

VCTR:
What do you think?

Q:
I guess I relate to it as a feeling of joy, of rightness, as alignment. But I guess I don’t know what the opposite of that is.

VCTR:
Well, think about it. Bad is to begin with “selfish,” seeing oneself as a monster, basically speaking. A sense of egotism and goodness are seen as opposites. A sense of reality is opposed to dreaming in your perspective on life. Of course, in the ordinary sense we could say that basic goodness is the facility that enables you to see, to register red as red, blue as blue, white as white, pink as pink, and so forth. But at the same time, there is a tremendous sense of inspiration. You are not just crumpled by yourself. You are not just subject to a phenomenal world which is unkind. In this case there is a tremendous open spaciousness. I begin to like myself. I begin to feel that we are not so bad after all. It’s just like a proud antelope running in a black forest. It has its head and shoulders and horns and a sense of being naturally groomed. You understand?

It is naturally groomed, naturally dignified. I could even use words like “naturally happy” or “naturally cheerful.” We have all of those elements whether we manifest them or not. So we feel good in the morning, good in the midday, and good in the evening.

Would anybody else like to ask a question?

Q:
What can one do when one is caught in the middle of reaction?

VCTR:
I beg your pardon?

Q:
What can be done when one finds oneself in the middle of reaction?

VCTR:
Little reactions?

Q:
Reaction, aggression, and so on. How can one think about the sense of goodness then? What can one do?

VCTR:
To begin with, look at yourself. Which means exorcising the negativity. Look at yourself. Just look at yourself. You don’t have to be bewitched or anything like that to exorcise the negativity. Just look at yourself. You may begin to find that there’s a trace of doubt in that particular state. We are never definite and clear. There is the same doubt whether we are doing the right thing or the wrong thing. There is that particular doubt which works as kindling for the fire of realness or goodness. Just do it. Don’t think, “What shall I do?” or “What should I have done?” By just doing it, we have an instinct for the goodness in us, we are into that. That’s the only way. We don’t manufacture when we are on the spot. Then maybe we might smile afterwards.

Q:
Buddhism talks about the recognition of pain and suffering and Shambhala view talks about the basic goodness and cheerfulness. I was wondering how these two views mesh?

VCTR:
How what?

Q:
How do the two views come together?

VCTR:
Well, it’s the same thing. The Buddha talked about buddha nature. You don’t have to manufacture buddha nature. You have a buddha nature in you. Already you are buddha, so therefore you have those possibilities.

Can you raise your hands, those asking questions?

So the question is—we are approaching the light according to the intensity of darkness. If there’s a very thick darkness when we shine our torch, the darkness will be dispelled. At the same time the torch looks brighter. So we are talking about the same thing. In the same way there’s no contradiction with the Buddhist and the Shambhala teachings.

Q:
I think that you speak about the optimism of human nature, responsibility . . .

VCTR:
Can you say that again?

Q:
The basic optimism of human nature, the ideal regarding human nature. Speak about basic goodness, basic cheerfulness. Those all seem to be very close to the ideals that were very prevalent in the West, say fifty or a hundred years ago. Then the events of the twentieth century came along with all their shocking consequences and people lost their faith in that ideal. Of course it’s quite right to bring that ideal back; there’s really nothing else to look toward.

VCTR:
The idea of want. What of faith?

Q:
At any rate, people came to believe in them less, they tried to reach those things and they failed. They turned away from it. How is what you’re offering more likely to succeed than the people who were so confident that science was going to solve everything at the turn of the century?

VCTR:
Well, in America they never practiced in the Shambhala tradition. We actually practiced it. We actually did it, personally did it. And we achieved the goodness out of that. Now that America has settled down, its survival mentality is questionable. I think, we could look at ourselves more. I can’t explain it to you, sir, until you have done it. You might talk about textures, flavors, and the beauty of ice cream. But you will never really experience real ice cream until you eat the ice cream. Then you can tell. It is true. It’s a question of doing it, and this particular practice is not based on promise. It is based on a mutual exploration together.

Do you have something else to say?

Q:
I think I’ve had a little bit of the taste of the ice cream. In a way I think for all of us sitting here in front of you that we have nothing else to say also. So the question was really asked to draw you out rather than because I was completely ignorant of the subject.

VCTR:
Maybe you should come and take part in the Shambhala Training program so you will experience it. We don’t believe heavily in publicity and a lot of the information is person-to-person.

We don’t particularly believe in converting people, but we would like to share what we know of these particular teachings of Shambhala. It has been around as long as the time of Buddha. I would like to send you an invitation to come and take part in the training course. Then you can really help by being there, speaking out. Thank you, thank you very much.

Q:
Rinpoche, I have participated in some of these Shambhala trainings and I have a question that others have thought about as well. In terms of getting in touch with basic goodness, and through meditation practice, becoming more compassionate with oneself, and working toward getting in touch with buddha nature, in Situ Rinpoche’s visit he mentioned the ten stages of knowledge and one of those he mentioned was astrology. And I myself have done some investigation into astrology.

VCTR:
Into what?

Q:
Into astrology. And I was wondering if you could describe what validity astrology has, if it has any, in developing basic goodness or developing a clearer understanding of oneself.

VCTR:
Well, the astrology case, which Situ Rinpoche spoke about, is quite different than the Western notion of astrology. It is the notion of how things coincide together and such things could be calculated according to the book on astrology. Everything is mathematically calculated including sunrise, sunsets, eclipses of the moon and the sun. Everything is a calculation of how phenomena work. It’s part of that. You take a certain number, the year and date, month of that particular calculation, and then you add some other things and you come up with a mathematical conclusion and then you can predict eclipses or war, anything. So that’s a part of astrology.

Q:
Do you feel that it’s helpful to understand one’s own astrology chart to facilitate getting in touch with basic goodness or is that just another
go
game?

VCTR:
I doubt if it will be helpful. Astrologers in Tibet spend their whole life in studying, the same as medical study. I think the best thing is just to simply work with oneself, realizing one’s basic goodness, and not play too much with anything else.

Q:
Thank you.

VCTR:
You’re welcome.

Q:
What is the root of fear and does one ever really overcome fear in one’s life?

VCTR:
The root of the fear is believing in oneself too much, which makes oneself very vulnerable. It is as if you have a big cut on your body or a big burn. Then there’s something that needs protection. Then beyond that you’re still haunted by your wound, so you protect even your Band-Aid. Do you understand?

Q:
Does one ever overcome fear altogether, or is it something that persists throughout one’s life?

VCTR:
Fear could be overcome very easily. We have to try it. But the fear could be overcome very easily. I’ve done it myself. I could be trembling speaking in front of such important guests here. I could be stuck with fear and I might not be able to even pronounce or proclaim one or two words. But I’m not in this case. I am not necessarily putting you down as not daring or powerful people. You look fine and dignified in your own ways, but I’m not frightened of you. So fear could be overcome.