You are a warrior when you have the bravery to face who you are, without fear, embarassment, or denial.
"Meditation is key to seeing yourself as well as to seeing beyond yourself. Seeing yourself is the first aspect, discovering all sorts of terrible things going on in you. Facing the possibilities and the realities of that is not all that bad. If you begin to do that, you are being an honest person. Then, beyond that, you have to have further vision. Your honesty allows you to realize your goodness. You do possess Buddha in your heart."
~ Chogyam Trungpa
"Many people try to find a spiritual path where they do not have to face themselves, but where they can still liberate themselves. In truth, that is impossible. We have to see our gut, our real shit, our most undesirable parts."
Facing Youself
Our subject matter is warriorship. Anyone who is interested in hearing the truth, anyone who is interested in finding out about him or herself, and anyone who is interested in practicing meditation is basically a warrior.
Many approaches to spirituality and to life in general are influenced by cowardice. If you are afraid of seeing yourself, you may use spirituality or religion as a way of looking at yourself without seeing anything about yourself at all. When people are embarassed by themselves, there is no fearlessness involved. However, if someone is willing to look at himself or herself, to explore and practice wakefulness on the spot, he or she is a warrior.
The general goal of warriorship is to have no fear. But the ground of warriorship is fear itself.
We could get into further details, but first we should discuss he fundamental understanding of fear and fearlessness. One of the main obstacles to fearlessness is the habitual patterns that allow us to decieve ourselves. People may use tranquilizers or yoga to suppress their fear. They may go to Starbucks or the mall. We have all sorts of gimmicks and gadgets that we use in the hope that we might experience fearlessness simply by taking our mind off of our fear.
Ordinarily, we don't let ourselves experience ourselves fully. That is to say, we have a fear of facing ourselves. Experiencing the innermost core of their existence is embarassing to alot of people. Many people try to find a spiritual path where they do not have to face themselves but where they can still liberate themselves, in fact. In truth, that is impossible. We cannot do that. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to see our gut, our real shit, our most undesirable parts. We have to see that. That is the foundation of warriorship and the basis of conquering fear. We have to face our fear; we have to look at it, study it, work with it, and practice (meditation) with it.
We must decide to look at ourselves and experience ourselves honestly. We need to find ourselves, face ourselves, and beyond that, give up our inhibition. You remain true to yourself if you give up inhibition. You just give up your privacy, your sense of shyness, and the longing to have a personal "trip." It doesn't mean you become an exhibitionist; but you could be a real person.
Then you begin to realize that you have something in yourself that is basically good. It transcends the notion of good or bad. Something that is worthwhile, wholesome, and healthy exists in us all. For the first time, you are seeing the Great Eastern Sun.
But you can't jump the gun. First, let us look at ourselves. If you put one hundred percent of your heart into facing yourself, then you connect with this unconditional goodness.
The heart of the matter, the technique that seems to be the way to realize this, is the sitting practice of meditation. Meditation is key to seeing yourself as well as to seeing beyond yourself. Seeing yourself is the first aspect, discovering all sorts of terrible things going on in you. Facing the possibilities and the realities of that is not all that bad. If you begin to do that, you are being an honest person. Then, beyond that, you have to have further vision. Your honesty allows you to realize your goodness. You do possess Buddha in your heart.
from "Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery" by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
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