Below are some extracts from a powerful little book I encountered on a
recent journey. Written by Dorje Dradul of Mukpo (better known as
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche), the book is called
SHAMBALA:
The Sacred Path of the Warrior
I found the book refreshing and timely, and I'd like
to share bits of it with you.
There is a natural order and harmony to this world, which we can discover. But we cannot just study that order scientifically or measure it mathematically. We have to feel it - in our bones, in our hearts, in our minds.
..........Heaven, earth, and man can be seen literally as the sky above, the earth below, and human beings standing or sitting between the two. In Chinese the character for the ruler, or king, is a vertical line joining three horizontal lines, which represent heaven, earth, and man. This means that the king has the power to join heaven and earth in a good human society. Traditionally, if there was plenty of rainfall, and crops and vegetation flourished, then this indicated that he truly joined heaven and earth. But when there was drought and starvation or natural catastrophes, such as flooding and earthquakes, then the power of the king was in doubt.
............If we apply the perspective of heaven, earth, and man to the situation in the world today, we begin to see that there is a connection between the social and the natural, or environmental, problems that we are facing. When human beings lose their connection to nature, to heaven and earth, then they do not know how to nurture their environment or how to rule their world - which is saying the same thing. Human beings destroy ecology at the same time that they destroy one another. From that perspective, healing our society goes hand-in-hand with healing our personal, elemental connection with the phenomenal world.
............If we try to solve society's problems without overcoming the confusion and aggression in our own state of mind, then our efforts will only contribute to the basic problems, instead of solving them. That is why the individual journey of warriorship must be undertaken before we can address the larger issue of how to help this world.
............In order to discover magic in the world, we have to overcome the individual neurosis and self-centered attitudes that prevent us from experiencing greater vision beyond ourselves. By obscuring our vision, they also prevent us from uplifting ourselves so that we can extend ourselves to help others.
...........The result of practicing the discipline of warriorship is that you learn to stop ambition and frivolity, and out of that, you develop a good sense of balance. Balance comes not from holding onto a situation, but from making friends with heaven and earth. Earth is gravity, or practicality. Heaven is vision or the experience of open space in which you can uplift your posture, your head and shoulders. Balance comes from joining practicality with vision, or we could say, joining skill with spontaneity.
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