Like a Snow Lion in Its Prime: The Path of Basic Goodness

By Bill Karelis

Goodness belongs to all, inherently. In fact, we are goodness itself, in our bones and in our heart. We possess natural warriorship--bravery and gentleness. However, we are often obscured from our own goodness and innate, warrior virtues; in such moments, we cannot see our goodness, and we do not feel it. The greatest task we could undertake in this life is to bring out our basic goodness and warriorship, to manifest truly and to be of service to others. The sitting practice of meditation, accompanied by the secular Shambhala vision, equips us to discover and bring out the best within us, on a gradual path of discipline and sudden path of wakefulness. "Like a Snow Lion in Its Prime" describes that path in detail, from an experiential point of view.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9780998771519

Book preview

LIKE A SNOW LION IN ITS PRIME

Drala Publishing

1800 30th St., Ste. 201

Boulder, CO 80301

© 2017 by Bill Karelis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-0-9987715-1-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017909873

Table of Contents

Illustrations

Homage

Author’s Preface

Introduction

SECTION I: How to Be

  1: Uplifted Existence

  2: Learning How To Be

  3: Relating with Others

SECTION II: Warrior

  4: Basic Goodness in Direct Experience

  5: Basic Goodness as the Path

  6: To Remain Genuine

SECTION III: Basic Humanity

  7: Fearless and Gentle

  8: Inherent Dignity

  9: No Fundamental Problem

10: Vulnerability

SECTION IV: Forward Vision

11: The Map Is Only the Map

12: Sadder and Sadder

13: Being Without Deception

14: Further Bravery

SECTION V: Sun and Sky

15: Great Eastern Sun

16: Not Afraid To Be a Fool

17: Clear Sky of Mind

18: Trust

SECTION VI: Being in the World

19: Authentic Presence

20: Spark of Confidence

21: Friendliness to Oneself, Mercy to Others

22: Dissolving Arrogance

23: Working with Others

SECTION VII: Like a Snow Lion in Its Prime

24: Springing the Trap of Doubt

25: Doubtlessness

26: Always Disciplined

27: Life Force

28: The Gradual Path

SECTION VIII: Dwelling in Simplicity

29: On the Cliff Edge

30: Averting Accidents

31: Letting Go

SECTION IX: Appendices

 A: Rays of the Sun, part I

 B: Rays of the Sun, part II

Illustrations

Mosque, photograph by the author

Gold, calligraphy by the author

Spring, calligraphy by the author, permission of Mikl Brawner

Tiger, photograph by Joanna Prażanowska

Eagle, photograph by Darcie Rose

Storm clouds, photograph by the author

Baby and father, photograph by Joanna Prażanowska

Horse, photograph by Joanna Prażanowska

Man with umbrella, photograph by the author

Moon, photograph by Darcie Rose

Waterfall, photograph by Joanna Prażanowska

Ceres in the Louvre, photograph by I. Sh.

Baby elephant, photograph by the author

Giraffes, photograph by the author

Line drawings of the four dignities by Sherap Palden Beru

Homage

I salute the great enlightened ones, who did and do and will exist,

Who live among us as the teachings and the practices,

Who are the glory of the world.

As far as our having met them, perhaps we did or we did not,

Yet even nameless, true warriors are not to be forgotten.

I say to myself: find them in the confines

Of the heart that beats within this very chest.

Make them live through this person; there is no choice,

We must find ourselves, stand up,

Head out into the world and make it right—

There is no choice at all.

We must unearth our strength and sanity,

Build a palace on this very spot,

Welcome all beings to flourish, offer them our life.

Now for the brilliance, which cannot be denied,

Like so many storm clouds at sunset,

Twirling into space before our eyes.

All that is given up is gone. All that is kept propels

To the next stage, where who we thought we were is not recalled.

For the dying, this is no tragedy at all—only experience.

It is the living left behind who feel it.

To warriors of all ages, cultures, habits, personalities,

It is the same challenge. Each of us bears a unique visage,

Particular genius; each treads a solitary path.

Each moment begins here, with oneself alone.

This is the raw truth, celebration, spark of life,

Torch that lights the way, horse that carries far, eyes that see—

This is the brilliance of the world.

May 2nd, 2017

Boulder, Colorado

Author’s Preface

IKE THE SHAMBHALA teaching stream it is intended to represent, Like a Snow Lion in Its Prime: the Path of Basic Goodness is experiential. It can be fully understood only through personally engaging with the material. Therefore, a few words about how the book should be read might be useful. I recommend small bites—taking in a paragraph or two at a time. Although the topics do build from beginning to end, reading each chapter in sequence is not essential; it would be fine to open the book and begin reading at any point. Stopping to pause and digest is recommended as well.

Certain terms are repeated throughout the book, framed in a different way each time. The reformulations are never identical; the context is provided by the talks in which they were originally presented. In the Shambhala teachings, conceptual references are not regarded as fixed points, but assume fresh meaning with each new circumstance. The intention, as always, is to point back to direct experience.

Although we must make use of concepts to convey the teachings, this teaching stream is based in nonconceptual experience from the start, and the path continues to unfold in that manner. For instance, fearlessness takes on a different meaning, tone and implication, depending on the context in which it is used, and it relates to the other Shambhala virtues in myriad ways. The teachings are like a jewel in the sun; they reflect differently, relative to the light and the exact angle from which they are viewed.

The Shambhala teachings being presented here derive directly from the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, also known as the Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong. Vidyadhara means Knowledge Holder, Chögyam means Ocean of Dharma, Rinpoche is an honorific term meaning Precious Jewel. Dorje Dradul translates as Master Warrior, and Mukpo Dong refers to the Mukpo clan, which is one of the prominent family groupings from Tibet. In this book, the Vidyadhara, Trungpa Rinpoche, is referred to by his Shambhala title, the Dorje Dradul, because the title, Master Warrior, most straightforwardly conveys the qualities which distinguish him in the context of the Shambhala tradition, especially once the underlying principles of warriorship are understood.

The presentation here is not principally derived from any other Shambhala teaching stream than the one he presented, although it has its roots and corollaries in a number of different ones. There are various interpretations of the Shambhala myth and the Shambhala teachings. According to some traditions, the Buddha appeared in the pure land of Shambhala to present the Kalachakra Tantra, which translates as The Wheel of Time, and contains the Shambhala teachings. The Shambhala pure land is one of the eight pure lands within Buddhist cosmology; the Kalachakra belongs to the Vajrayana cycle. The Kalachakra is said to have been taught to King Dawa Sangpo by the Buddha, which would have been a historical event—even if it has a mythological aspect.

There is undoubtedly some truth to this attribution. The Tantra and associated practices of Kalachakra are very elaborate and highly respected as a genuine vehicle within the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. However, the relationship between that Tantra, those practices and their potential application to everyday life is highly encrypted, inaccessible to all but a few adepts worldwide. Furthermore, the mode of application of the Kalachakra Tantra belongs to that of the Vajrayana practitioner; that is to say, one would practice in secret or in a closed circle under the guidance of an enlightened master, and re-enter society from a yogic perspective.

In any case, such an approach differs dramatically from the path outlined in the Dorje Dradul’s presentation of the Shambhala teachings. It is quite important to understand that this Shambhala tradition— that of creating an enlightened society based on the journey of basic goodness of the individual warrior citizen—is for everyone. The Dorje Dradul was extremely clear on this point.

The Shambhala teachings he revealed have universal application to human society, regardless of belief system. Someone could claim that the teachings of any great religion or world system are also universal, and that claim has some validity, but still the various religious traditions do each present a spiritual view or theory, method and result. One finds specific terminology; a body of philosophical/psychological source material; practices and methods; and physical manifestations, such as altars, shrines and places of worship, which bear the mark of a particular religion. These aspects support the various paths; but they do not foster their wisdom reaching a greater portion of humanity—those with other spiritual backgrounds, those who avoid religion (or what they perceive as the trappings of religion), and those who are searching for a simpler, more direct access to profound human truth. The Shambhala teachings bring the sitting practice of meditation and a fully articulated path to everyone, not only those attracted to established spiritual traditions.

I have presented meditation in many places over the course of my teaching life. In most of them, only a secular approach was possible: universities (especially psychology faculties), art institutes, government agencies, military and criminal justice environments, churches of different denominations, libraries, and other public venues. I have found the Shambhala teachings applicable in all of them, whereas a teaching stream based in a spiritual tradition would have been inappropriate.

It is obvious that the planet is crying out for a valid teaching vehicle which provides an avenue into the insights of meditation without religious or spiritual implications. I believe the Shambhala teachings of the Dorje Dradul exactly fit this need. The question now is how to communicate them according to received tradition, reliably, without hypocrisy or aggression, in ways that suit the vast reach of humanity yearning for such truth.

I feel my duty is to present these teachings the way he presented them, accurately representing what he said, and at the same time maintaining the freshness of the programs wherein he so meticulously, painstakingly and lovingly transplanted the genuine Shambhala Dharma in the hearts of his students. May this volume fulfill that intention.

The material presented here is based on talks given over several years and at various locations; the specific details are noted at the end of each chapter.

I would like to thank the people who assisted me in the composition and editing process: first of all, my wife, Brigitta, for her loving support; Christian Doll and Pam McCollum for their extensive transcription work, as well as to Gary Allen, Anete Krumina, Irma Slekyte and Jurgita Visakaviciute for their transcribing assistance; Marcia Schmidt, who inducted me into publishing; Anne Paniagua, who edited the manuscript the first time through; Jeff Fuller, whose keen eye and light touch have helped shape and prune the manuscript as it evolved, and who designed the book and saw it through the painstaking stages of production; Zivile Adomaityte, for her beautiful cover design; Joanna Prażanowska and Darcie Rose, for the use of their photographs; J.C. Cleary, for his friendship going back fifty years and for his Introduction to this book; Sidney Piburn, for his editorial advice when I first began writing, which I continue to follow; and my fellow community of holders of the Shambhala teachings of the Dorje Dradul, for their dedication to the teaching stream and their brilliant, uplifted presence, bearing the Dorje Dradul’s indelible imprimatur in a way of which I am sure he was and would be proud.

Most of all, my undying gratitude goes to the Dorje Dradul himself, the expositor of basic goodness for our time, who carried the Great Eastern Sun in his person, and brought the teachings of enlightened society to the world.

Introduction

N Like a Snow Lion in Its Prime: the Path of Basic Goodness, Bill Karelis skillfully reveals the importance of meditation practice in reawakening our basic goodness and our natural capacity for perceiving reality, including how to move past the barriers often encountered on the path. The map is only a map, of course, he writes. We take the journey ourselves; there’s no other way.

Like a Snow Lion in Its Prime is a fine example of simple advice by someone with deep experience of meditation practice. The lessons Karelis gives are clear, vivid, concrete, down-to-earth, specific and doable. Meditation is not a flight into some imaginary spiritual realm. Rather, Meditation is concerned with getting to the reality within ourselves.

As Karelis puts it, We can liberate ourselves from our habits, and at the same time uncover the uplifted instinct, health and brilliance, which preexist in us. The journey is a return to this natural dignity, so that we can put it into operation it in all areas of everyday life: through personal relationships, at work, and in the community. Once we learn how to access our own innate goodness, we can make contact with the innate goodness of other people. When we reach this stage, sensitized by our meditation practice, the world appears in a whole different light. It is full of endless learning opportunities.

— J.C. Cleary

LIKE A SNOW LION IN ITS PRIME

Ragged Edge

Ragged, open, neither good nor bad,

Any thought will do—

Any realm arises.

In sky-like openness

Clouds pass through.

Unclipped nails,

Aging face—

To the unconstructed truth

Let us go,

And with our gentle brush

Calligraph a life

Beginning with one drop,

Famously one drop.

On ragged edge

Falls away fixation.

In openness

Is born a smile.

Thoughts like song

Come galloping along.

January 7th, 2011

Livermore, CO

S E C T I O N   I

How To Be

Uplifted Existence 1

E COULD NOT have the aspiration to live an uplifted existence if we had not already personally tasted it. It cannot just be somebody else’s idea or something we found in a book. Even though we might read about uplifted existence, we would not know internally, truly, what it is, if we had not had a prior glimpse. It is like the taste of honey on the tongue, or, for that matter, an exquisite jalapeño sauce—unmistakable and indescribable.

At the same time, tasting uplifted existence also implies the experience of its opposite. Because we have known suffering, difficulty and degradation, therefore, we value the prospect of living according to our basic instinct of what is decent, brilliant, and fulfilling.

So, we have two background scenarios. First, we can identify an uplifted instinct in ourselves, unconditionally, since before we can remember. If we look inside, we won’t find a moment when it was born in us. Second, we also know our own trouble, with the implicit understanding that we are the creators of it on one level; we are our own destroyers. We have surely run into negative people and situations— individual encounters, organizations, or whatever we want to say—that have brought us down. However, we also have enough life experience and sophistication to know that those outside influences cannot, by themselves, sink our ship. We are to some degree torpedoing ourselves. We may not know the exact role we play in that particular co-conspiracy, but we do know it is our personal responsibility. Otherwise, we would not be interested in individual disciplines, such as meditation.

Meditation is always individual, even when we practice in groups, because each of us possesses a consciousness, which others cannot perceive. Meditation allows us to work with our own mind in an essential way, apart from the world, and then to incorporate our newly gained understanding into our lives.

To summarize, understanding that we are, to some extent, the authors of our own tribulation is necessary for our learning to live an increasingly uplifted existence. Since we are the authors, we can also unwrite the ways we block ourselves. Finding out precisely how we do this, we can cease perpetuating the verbal and physical habits that cause problems for us and others. Liberating ourselves from those habits, the uplifted health and sanity that preexist in us are revealed. Therefore, meditation practice is a path of self-discovery and self-liberation.

Quite interestingly, meditation is not primarily something we do. We adopt the meditative posture, and we follow a technique, so we do cultivate a discipline. However, after having learned the technique and applied the discipline for periods of time, when we become familiar with the practice—working with our body, speech, and mind—we realize meditation, at its most fundamental level, is not an activity per se. It is more like doing nothing, which is very ironic. We will discuss the texture of doing nothing when we talk about learning how to be.

If meditation is doing nothing, how can it engender so much? How can it enable us to address the causes and conditions of our self-destructive habits of mind, speech, and body; suspend those behavioral patterns; look underneath the whole thing, under the carpets, so to speak; clean the house completely; and uplift our situation—by doing nothing? How is that possible? Many people might say that this makes no sense—that living is about doing. One wouldn’t say they were wrong, but something is left out, an essential link in the chain of the gradual path for uplifting ourselves.

Western culture particularly has evolved over the centuries into one of activity. We unwittingly follow utilitarianism, even if we may not adhere to it philosophically. In this way, we think life is about taking action; if we are not preoccupied with some activity, we might feel we are wasting our time. We might feel we have to earn our existence every step of the way. To take an ordinary example, we might think we have to keep cleaning the car, even though it doesn’t really need to be washed again. Or when we retire, we find ourselves at a loss as to what to do with our time. We have a driven mentality. Yet we are in the driver’s seat of our own life, are we not? And therefore, we have the choice to engage in activity or not.

It might be a beautiful, tranquil day, with birds singing and nothing much happening. But we can’t stand the space—it’s too boring. So, we go to our computer or phone—there are lots of seductions waiting. Maybe we get on Facebook and chat for an hour or two a day; then after a few months of overloading, we close our account; then we reopen it because we feel cut off from our social set. We go back and forth like that—with a foot on the gas and the other on the brake. We become like a caged gerbil, running endlessly. I am not saying we are gerbils. In fact, this issue is relevant because we are not gerbils; we are human beings. But we have a gerbil-like tendency to go for nonstop activity, with a certain amount of aggression in it. We get high on the speed.

Clearly, something’s missing in the onrush—simply, how to be.

Whatever we do arises from our state of mind, which includes sub-conscious and unconscious aspects. An antsy state of mind, for example, is liable to generate hyperactivity. Meditation practice is intended to take us back to our basic state of mind or basic state of being, without external supports. When we meditate, we cease dialogue with others. We turn off our electronic media and ask others to turn off theirs, as much as possible. We shut the door, unplug for a period of time, and dedicate ourselves purely to the practice.

Deliberately severing action, we work with our thoughts, broadly defined. Having suspended speech and bodily activity, we experience the five sense receptors, our discursive thinking, and our emotions— whatever occurs in the mind—while sitting still for prescribed periods. For instance, the visual sense perception depends not only on having an eye and an object of sight, but also on being conscious of the perception; otherwise, we would not know what we are seeing. Likewise, all the sense experiences, including thought and emotion, filter through the mind.

When we disengage from our active speech and physical behavior, our relationship with the phenomenal world continues in a more limited way. Suspending our speech and behavior, we create the conditions for purely being with our received experience. The emphasis is on being with, because, in this practice, we are not trying to change what is happening. Rather, the mind and heart, their function, and the elements comprising them are allowed to operate without interference.

There are types of meditation, where one attempts to alter the mind; and there are similar practices with the same intention that are not considered meditation as such. While those practices may be valid, the meditation we practice in this tradition differs from them; it goes to the core of our existence. It is the ultimately noninvasive practice, precisely because we are not trying to change our fundamental nature, since we understand there is no need to do so.

The urge to alter our basic nature presumes it is not quite good enough. We could suspend that kind of self-judgment. We might wonder who or how we really are, but it would be best not to assume we need to change fundamentally. Rather, we take the approach of finding out more about the way we are, without reworking ourselves at the most basic level. We can afford to be the way we are—that is more than good enough. Trusting this is the gateway to further discovery. It is the view with