Our Hearts Are So Soft

"You may feel lonely on your journey; still, you are not alone. If we sink, you and your warrior comrades and I will all sink together. If we rise, we rise together. So you have a companion, even if we never have met one another personally. In the Shambhala tradition, we cry a lot because our hearts are so soft. And we fight the setting sun because we feel that basic goodness is worth fighting for, so to speak. Our obstacles can be conquered. So we should cry and fight, as long as we know that the warrior’s cry is a different type of cry and the warrior’s battle is a different type of battle.

As a warrior without aggression, you are fearless and good. Fundamentally, you can never make a mistake, so please cheer up. Even in the darkest of the dark age, there is always light. That light comes with a smile, the smile of Shambhala, the smile of fearlessness, the smile of realizing the best of the best of human potential. All of the teachings, the very heart’s blood of Shambhala, are yours. We are all part of the same human family. Let us smile and cry together.

When a warrior king presents a gift,
It could be a naked flame, which consumes the jungle of ego,
Or an ice-cold mountain range, which cools the heat of aggression.
On the other hand, it could be a parachute.
One wonders whether it will open or not.
There is a further choice: Thunderbolt:
Whether you are capable of holding it with your bare hand is up to you.
So, my heartfelt child, take these gifts and use them
In the way that past warriors have done."

~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Smile at Fear

Photos
~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche unsparingly devoted his entire life to the preservation and dissemination of the Buddha Dharma.
~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
~ Thunderbolt (Vajra; Tibetan: Dorje)
Eastern Tibet or China, 18th-19th century