Chogyam Trungpa secrets from the Buddhist tantric tradition of Shambhala
This is part 3, in a continuing series on Shambhala by Chogyam Trungpa.
- When you are completely mindful in the present moment, mind and body are synchronized. Here, synchronizing mind and body is connected with developing fearlessness, in the sense of being accurate and direct in relating to the phenomenal world. You begin to realize that you have a perfect right to be in this universe. You can uplift yourself and appreciate your existence as a human being. This discovery is the first glimpse of what is called the Great Eastern Sun, which is the sun of human dignity, the sun of human power.
By the dance of the setting sun, the entire world becomes cowardly
- The warrior’s vision of how to lead a sane and dignified life, is based on celebrating life. It is contrasted to the setting sun what is going down and dissolving into darkness. Setting-sun vision is based on trying to ward off death. It is based on fear. In the world of the setting sun, we are constantly afraid of ourselves, ashamed of who and what we are.
The food of the setting sun fills everyone with grease and fat
- In the setting-sun or degraded approach, you have a giant vision, beyond anything you can consume, and you get bloated and end up throwing things away. Great Eastern Sun vision is that the world is very sacred, so you have to constantly serve your world and clean it up. It’s not necessary to overindulge. Also, because you appreciate the world, you don’t leave a mess in it.
Always return to the primordial ground
- In this world, there are always possibilities of original purity, because the world is clean to begin with. Similarly, our physical and psychological existence is originally clean. We may smear the situation with our conflicting emotions, but fundamentally, our existence is all good, and it is all launder able. This is what we mean by basic goodness: the pure ground that is always there, waiting to be cleaned. We can always reconnect with the primordial ground.
All-Victorious, you have nothing to conquer
- Being all-victorious is not a matter of talking yourself into believing that everything is okay. Rather, if you actually look, if you take your whole being apart and examine it, you find that you are genuine and good as you are. In fact, the whole of existence is well-constructed, so that there is very little room for mishaps. There are, of course, constant challenges. But for the true warrior, there is no warfare. You are never at war with your world.
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Tags: , buddhist, Eastern sun, Shambhala, tradition
