Lauren's News

Monday, 13 December 2010 00:00

I’d like to share with you some writing by Cogyam Trungpa, Buddhist meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, and artist.

His words inspire growth as we move into an age of spiritual warriorship . Many Blessings to all on this very sacred journey into the year 2011.

With love,

~L

The birth of a warrior is like the first growth of a reindeer’s horns. At first, the horns are very soft and almost rubbery, and they have little hairs growing on them. They are not yet horns, as such: they are just sloppy growths with blood inside. Then, as the reindeer ages, the horns grow stronger, developing four points or ten points or even forty points. Fearlessness, at the beginning, is like those rubbery horns. They look like horns, but you can’t quite fight with them. When a reindeer first grows its horns, it doesn’t know what to use them for. It must feel very awkward to have those soft, lumpy growths on your head. But then the reindeer begins to realize that it should have horns: that horns are a natural part of being a reindeer. In the same way when a human being first gives birth to a tender heart of warriorship, he or she may feel extremely awkward or uncertain about how to relate to this kind of fearlessness. But then, as you experience this sadness more and more, you realize that human beings should be tender and open. So you no longer need to feel shy or embarrassed about being gentle. In fact, your softness begins to become passionate.

You would like to extend yourself to others and communicate with them. When tenderness evolves in that direction, then you truly can appreciate the world around you. Sense perceptions become very interesting things. You are so tender and open already, that you can not help yourself from opening yourself to what takes place all around you. When you see red, or green, or yellow or black, you respond to them from the bottom of your heart. When you see someone else crying or laughing or being afraid, you respond to them as well. At that point your level of fearlessness is developing further into warriorship. When you begin to feel comfortable being a gentle and decent person, your reindeer horns no longer have little hairs growing on them---they are becoming real horns. Situations become very real, quite real, and on the other hand, quite ordinary. Fear evolves into fearlessness naturally, very simply, and quite straight forwardly.

The ideal of warriorship is that the warrior should be sad and tender, and because of that, the warrior can be very brave as well. Without the heart felt sadness, bravery is brittle, like a china cup. If you drop it, it will break or chip. But the bravery of a warrior is like a lacquer cup, which has a wooden base covered with layers of lacquer. If the cup drops, it will bounce rather than break. It is soft and hard at the same time.


~Cogyam Trungpa

From the The Sacred Path of A Warrior

Thursday, 11 November 2010 17:25

​