| On Fearlessness
Nothing coming up
Nothing goin' down
Everything feels a blue shade of numb.
Thoughts arise, then dissolve
into a misty murk
I cannot resolve.
The feelings, they are jammed, stuck.
Repeated they seem useless
or at best redundant.
This is not a complaint.
Just a statement
about frustration, an exercise in
temporary futulity.
The flower arrangements are beautiful,
so precise.
The empty space they occupy
is cut out and opened by their presence.
If we tune into this, we can wake up
and share an understanding
above the mundane
The colours surround
fire red and bright golden.
These too are reminders,
a reflection of state of mind -
wake up!
Fearlessness, the entity we try to touch on
here and now
is a journey, not a destination.
And is it the opposite of being scared?
Or frightened?
Or is it a costume we pull off
when the tough guys can see?
Or is it reverse armour
substituting the cocoon?
How do we know when we have it?
How do we know - do we cry?
Do we yelp with joy?
Is it sad or mad or basically good?
Achieved or overcome,
Attained or surpassed.
No matter what, we have to have the
acceptance of fear in our lives
Before we learn to live fearlessly.
This is the warrior's challenge.
by Sean Raggett
Level II Shambhala Training
|
Beginning to sit
a warrior sits
in open
darkness
holding my only
heart
unfolding
in the February wind.
--Paul Belserene
Windhorse
"The wind principle is that the energy of basic goodness is strong and exuberant and brilliant. It can actually radiate tremendous power in your life. But at the same time, basic goodness can be ridden, which is the principle of the horse. By following the disciplines of warriorship, particularly the discipline of letting go, you can harness the wind of goodness".
"The Art of Calligraphy
Joining Heaven & Earth"
Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
"It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
And if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments"
Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder, 1994
|
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche speaks at the Vancouver Shambhala Centre
