A constant, underlying sense of dread is not a good reason to ignore the dinner dishes.

CONQUERING COWARDICE
Cowardice is the seductive and distracting quality of our wandering or neurotic minds which
prevents us from resting in our natural state, the state of unwavering wakefulness which we
have called the warrior's confidence. Cowardice is actually the force of evil which obstructs
what we could call our basic goodness, our inherent state of confidence, which is by nature
devoid of cowardice and aggression, free from evil. From that point of view, the purpose of
warriorship is to conquer the enemy, to subjugate the evil of our cowardly minds and uncover
our basic goodness, our confidence.

From "Foreword" to THE SUPERHUMAN LIFE OF GESAR OF LING, in THE COLLECTED

WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Eight, page 411.
CONQUERING FEAR IS NOT BLOCKING SENSITIVITY
Conquering fear is not based on blocking your sensitivity. Otherwise, you become a deaf and
dumb monarch, a jellyfish king. Sitting on a horse requires balance, and as you acquire that
balance in the saddle, you have more awareness of the horse. So when you sit in the saddle on
your fickle horse, you feel completely exposed and gentle. If you feel aggressive, you don't have
a good seat. In fact, you are probably not even riding the horse. You don't put your saddle on a
fence railing. You have to saddle a real horse. In this case, riding the horse is riding somebody
else's mind. It requires a complete connection. In the Buddhist tradition, this is called compas-
sion, or working with somebody else. You are completely exposed in this situation. Otherwise,
it's like a medieval knight encased in his armor. It's so heavy that he has to be cranked up onto
the horse. Then he rides off to battle and usually falls off. There's something wrong with that
technology.

From "Conquering Fear," in Volume Eight of THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM

TRUNGPA, page 406.
ETERNAL NO FEAR
Expanding insightful confidence
Sharpening the spearhead of intellect
The troops of passionlessness permeate everywhere.
Since at the beginning no fear arose,
Fly the great flag of eternal no-fear!

From "Shambhala Anthem" in ROYAL SONGS, published by Trident Publications.

FACING IT

We have a fear of facing ourselves. That is the obstacle. Experiencing the innermost core of our
existence is very embarrassing to a lot of people. A lot of people turn to something that they
hope will liberate them without their having to face themselves. That is impossible. We can't do
that. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to see our gut, our excrement, our most
undesirable parts. We have to see them. That is the foundation of warriorship, basically speak-
ing. Whatever is there, we have to face it, we have to look at it, study it, work with it and prac-
tice meditation with it.

From Talk One of "Warriorship in the Three Yanas," an unpublished seminar given by Chögyam
Trungpa at the Rocky Mountain Dharma Center, August 22, 1978.

FEARLESS NO
Fearlessness is extending ourselves beyond a limited view. In the Heart Sutra, [one of the Bud-
dha's talks to his disciples,] it talks about going beyond. Gone beyond, or ga-te in Sanskrit, is
the basic NO. In the sutra, it says there is no eye, no ear, no sound, no smell -- all of those
things. When you experience egolessness, the solidity of your life and your perceptions falls
apart. That could be very desolate or it could be very inspiring, in terms of shunyata or the
Buddhist understanding of emptiness.
Very simply, it is basic NO. It is a real expression of fearlessness. In the Buddhist view, egoless-
ness is pre-existing, beyond our preconceptions. In the state of egolessness everything is simple
and very clear. When we try to supplement the brightness of egolessness by putting a lot of
other things onto it, those things obscure its brilliance, becoming blockages and
veils.

From "Conquering Fear" in Volume Eight, THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA.
DEVELOPING FEARLESS RENUNCIATION
The ground of fearlessness and the basis of overcoming doubt and wrong belief is to develop
renunciation. Renunciation here means overcoming that very hard, tough, aggressive mentality
which wards off any gentleness that might come into our hearts. Fear does not allow fundamen-
tal tenderness to enter into us. When tenderness tinged by sadness touches our heart, we know
that we are in contact with reality. We feel it. That contact is genuine, fresh, and quite raw. That
sensitivity is the basic experience of warriorship, and it is the key to developing fearless renun-
ciation.

From "Conquering Fear" in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA,

Volume Eight, page 396.
Fearlessness is the absence of cowardice. That is to say, cowardice, or uncertainty, comes from
speed, from not being on the spot, and from not being able to lead life properly and fully. You
miss a lot of details, and you also miss the overview. To correct that, you need ROOM for fear-
lessness, which comes from having faith in your existence. Basically speaking, fearlessness is
not particularly a reward or a goal, but fearlessness is part of the journey on the path. Fearless-
ness alternates with fear, and both of those are kindling for the fire. You are nervous, speedy,
fearful. Then that brings another area of steadiness, solidity, and calm. So fear and fearlessness
constantly alternate.

From "Sacredness: Natural Law and Order," in GREAT EASTERN SUN: THE WISDOM OF
SHAMBHALA, page 90.

THE GENTLE WARRIOR IS ALSO FEARLESS

The confident warrior conducts himself with gentleness, fearlessness, and intelligence. Gentle-
ness is the warm quality of the human heart. Because of the warmth of his heart the warrior's
confidence is not too hard or brittle. Rather it has a vulnerable, open, and soft quality. It is our
gentleness which allows us to feel warmth and kindness and to fall in love.
But at the same time we are not completely tender. We are tough as well as soft. We are fearless
as well as gentle. The warrior meets the world with a slight sense of detachment, a sense of dis-
tance and precision.
This aspect of confidence...allows the warrior to meet challenges without losing his integrity.

From "Foreword" to THE SUPERHUMAN LIFE OF GESAR OF LING, in THE COLLECTED

WORKS OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, Volume Eight, page 411.
HOPE AND FEAR CANNOT ALTER THE SEASONS
Commentary

2
The four seasons occur free from anyone's demand or vote. The natural law and order of this
world is not "for" or "against" you. Fundamentally, there is nothing in the world that either
threatens you or promotes your point of view. There is a natural law and order that allows you
to survive, which is basically good. We often take for granted or reject this basic law and order
in the universe, but we should think twice. We should appreciate what we have. We should feel
that it is wonderful to be in this world.

FROM Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior Book and Card Set

In order to understand the notion of fearlessness, one has to understand fear itself. Fear is a
trembling, shaky feeling of being afraid of nonexistence....Such fear is not necessarily regarded
as problematic. It is like an attack of sneezing. But you have to study your fear, definitely: how
it arises, how it manifests, and how it is actualized. When you begin to understand such fear,
then you begin to find that it is almost a big joke. But you shouldn't try to cast fear out. Fear
should be regarded as the kindling you use to build a big fire of fearlessness. So you have to
understand fear as the starting point of fearlessness. Fear is not regarded as black, and fearless-
ness is not regarded as white. You have to make friends with fear.
DON'T BE AFRAID OF WHO YOU ARE
Commentary

The key to warriorship and the ultimate definition of bravery is not being afraid of who you are.
Examine your experience to see what it contains that is of value in helping yourself and others.
Warriorship is the opposite of selfishness. We become selfish when we are afraid of ourselves
and afraid of the seeming threats the world presents. We want to build a little nest, a cocoon, to
protect ourselves. But we can be much more brave than that. Even in the face of great problems,
we can be heroic and kind at the same time.

FROM Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior Book and Card Set
OVERCOME BOTH HOPE AND FEAR
Commentary

When you hope for something in your life, if it doesn't happen, you are disappointed or upset.
If it does happen, then you become elated and excited. You are constantly riding a roller coaster
up and down. With nothing to hope for and nothing to fear, fearlessness is achieved.

From SHAMBHALA: THE SACRED PATH OF THE WARRIOR BOOK AND CARD SET, Slogan
49.
SMILE AT FEAR
When you are frightened by something, you have to relate with fear, explore why you are
frightened, and develop some sense of conviction. You can actually look at fear. Then fear
ceases to be the dominant situation that is going to defeat you. Fear can be conquered. You can
be free from fear if you realize that fear is not the ogre. You can step on fear, and therefore you
can attain what is known as fearlessness. But that requires that, when you see fear, you smile.

From "Mirrorlike Wisdom," in GREAT EASTERN SUN: THE WISDOM OF SHAMBHALA, page 75.

Learning how to handle fear, both how to utilize one's own fear and that of others, is what al-
lows us to brew the beer of fearlessness. You can put all of those situations of fear and doubt
into a gigantic vat and ferment them. The path of fearlessness is connected with what we do

3
right now, today, rather than with anything theoretical or waiting for a cue from somewhere
else. The basic vision of warriorship is that there is goodness in everyone. We are all good in
ourselves. So we have our own warrior society within our own body. We have everything we
need to make the journey already.

From "Conquering Fear," in Selected Writings in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHOGYAM

TRUNGPA, Volume Eight, pages 403.
THE BODHISATTVA'S FEARLESSNESS
Student: Could you explain more of what you mean by being a warrior or a soldier on the path?

Chogyam Trungpa: Being a warrior is not necessarily being a soldier, but it is being fearless and
willing to trod on the path.....It is not that you are unafraid of enemies or fearless towards cer-
tain particular things. It's different than saying, "I'm not afraid of rattlesnakes. I'm not afraid of
dogs." That's very dualistic, a special kind of adolescent approach, a boyish approach to grow-
ing into manhood. When we talk about basic warriorship here, we are talking about being a
bodhisattva [someone who has taken a vow to put others before him or herself], someone who's
willing to include everything and willing to work with everything without any fear. Even fear
itself is frightened by the bodhisattva's fearlessness.

From "Bodhisattva and Paramita," Talk Nine of THE TIBETAN BUDDHIST PATH, the first seminar
given by Chögyam Trungpa at the Naropa Institute, Summer, 1974. Unpublished.
TO EXPERIENCE FEARLESSNESS, IT IS NECESSARY TO EXPERIENCE FEAR
Commentary

The essence of cowardice is to not acknowledge the reality of fear. Fear takes many forms. We
are afraid of death, we are afraid that we can't handle the demands of our life, and there is ab-
rupt fear, or panic, when new situations occur. Fear is expressed as restlessness: how we move,
how we talk, how we chew our nails, how we sometimes put our hands in our pockets use-
lessly. We have to realize our fear and reconcile ourselves with fear. However, acknowledging
fear is not a cause for depression. Because we possess such fear, we can potentially experience
fearlessness.
GO BEYOND FEAR
Commentary

When you examine your fear, if you look beneath the veneer of your nervousness, you find
sadness. Nervousness is cranking up, vibrating all the time. When you slow down, when you
relax with your fear, the sadness is calm and gentle. In the Shambhala tradition, discovering
fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart.

FROM Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior Book and Card Set