Reddit reviews Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
We found 9 Reddit comments about Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
I've been meditating for almost 2 years and I love it. My favorite side-effect from meditating is that I start to see the beauty in the world around me more and more. For example, there's a stretch of road I go down on my way home where I am kinda high up and I get a tremendous view of the city and sky. But I never really noticed how beautiful the view was until I started meditating. Also, you may become more patient and compassionate and you will begin to have greater control over your emotions. The time between an event and your reaction to that event will slowly grow. For example, if someone cuts you off in traffic you might immediately start cursing. But after a great deal of practice, you might discover that, after being cut off, you have a few seconds to decide how you want to react instead of instantly reacting. I hope that makes sense.
I recommend finding a group. Doing this on your own will be good for a while but you will quickly get tired of it and eventually quit (if you're anything like me). An experienced group with a good instructor can make all the difference. You will have a support group who you can complain to about the downfalls of sitting (a sore back, a wandering mind, etc.) and you will have people who can give you advice. If you're a little shy about finding a group, don't worry! They're the most laid back non-judgmental people you will ever meet!
Find out if there is a meditation group in your area. I recommend Shambhala. The Shambhala group was founded by a Buddhist monk who set out to make the practice of meditation a little more laid back and westernized. Also, two great books to start out with are Turning the Mind into an Ally and The Sacred Path of the Warrior. And just about any book by Pema Chodron, Chogyam Trungpa, and Sakyong Mipham will probably help.
Good luck!
Nerves of steel come from confidence and being above fear. Confidence comes from practice and competition. Being above fear comes from a lifestyle of conquering fears.
If you want to be more comfortable on the street, figure out exactly what you're afraid of and get better at it. Are you afraid he's going to hit you? Learn boxing or muay thai or bjj. Are you afraid he's going to yell at you? Learn debate skills.
My dad was a firefighter for a decade. His dad trained WW2 bomber pilots. I asked my dad how he kept calm on intense calls. He said he would rely on his training and took every problem as it came. You have no idea what the scene is going to look like on your way there, but you can trust that you're the best prepared one there, so everyone's depending on you to take charge and lead. Planning ahead is very important, but more important is staying in the moment.
Meditation works out that muscle. Staying in the moment is a muscle in your brain that you have to work out. What fear and anxiety is is you living outside of the moment. Fear is you trying to bring the past into the present. Anxiety is you trying to predict the future. Live in the moment and take shit as it comes. The more you can do that, the more you can relax into chaotic situations with confidence. Just do your best and know that that's all anyone can do in life. We can only do our best.
Another thing is your mindset for life. Always do your best. Always give your fullest. Figure out your core values and live to them every day of your life. If you can say every day that you did your fucking best, then you are going to be able to say "I am ready to die today" and you won't walk around terrified of death. Death is the root fear of all the fears. If you can conquer the fear of death, you will be very strong.
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There's a lot more to this, I'm just kind of rambling off what comes to mind before I go to work. But this will get you started. I wish you all the best and I hope I've helped some.
Some good resources are Shambhala, The Art of Learning, On Becoming a Leader, Better Under Pressure, Leading at the Edge, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and then this interview with Rickson Gracie (one of the greatest fighters to ever walk the Earth).
You look beautiful! It's subtle but changes are definitely happening. Your face looks rounder and softer...I think the major changes we all crave take like three or four months, at least.
Thank you for having the courage to go on this path. I'm trans too and the closer I find myself getting sucked into transition, the more I realize that I don't have a choice. It's my destiny. What a weird destiny...it's both horrifying and uplifting. But, I know I'm bound to receive tons of love from the friends who support me. At least there is that. The hate and the alienation are scary, but there is still a lot of love.
Learning to be mindful has made it infinitely easier but I'm still petrified. I saw your post history. I've been very depressed before...seeing a therapist, going to a few meditation retreats, and reading the books of this guy have solved so many of my problems.
Anyways, good luck :)
Shambhala in general is legit. Very grateful to have learned tonglen from them. The one near me also seems to be composed mostly of people who are very serious about just sitting and doing the practice (in a good way). They were pretty generous with loaning books out too. This was a good introductory read.
I'd check 'em out.
From Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa:
"We experience glimpses of goodness all the time, but we often fail to acknowledge them. When we see a bright color, we are witnessing our own inherent goodness. When we hear a beautiful sound, we are hearing our own basic goodness. When we step out of the shower, we feel fresh and clean, and when we walk out of a stuffy room, we appreciate the sudden whiff of fresh air. These events may take a fraction of a second, but they are real experiences of goodness. They happen to us all the time, but usually we ignore them as mundane or purely coincidental. According to the Shambhala principles, however, it is worthwhile to recognize and take advantage of those moments, because they are revealing basic nonaggression and freshness in our lives—basic goodness.
Every human being has a basic nature of goodness, which is undiluted and unconfused. That goodness contains tremendous gentleness and appreciation. As human beings, we can make love. We can stroke someone with a gentle touch; we can kiss someone with gentle understanding. We can appreciate beauty. We can appreciate the best of this world. We can appreciate its vividness: the yellowness of yellow, the redness of red, the greenness of green, the purpleness of purple. Our experience is real. When yellow is yellow, can we say it is red, if we don’t like the yellowness of it? That would be contradicting reality. When we have sunshine, can we reject it and say that the sunshine is terrible? Can we really say that? When we have brilliant sunshine or wonderful snowfall, we appreciate it. And when we appreciate reality, it can actually work on us. We may have to get up in the morning after only a few hours’ sleep, but if we look out the window and see the sun shining, it can cheer us up. We can actually cure ourselves of depression if we recognize that the world we have is good.
It is not just an arbitrary idea that the world is good, but it is good because we can experience its goodness. We can experience our world as healthy and straightforward, direct and real, because our basic nature is to go along with the goodness of situations. The human potential for intelligence and dignity is attuned to experiencing the brilliance of the bright blue sky, the freshness of green fields, and the beauty of the trees and mountains. We have an actual connection to reality that can wake us up and make us feel basically, fundamentally good. Shambhala vision is tuning in to our ability to wake ourselves up and recognize that goodness can happen to us. In fact, it is happening already."
Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior
Your tenderness is your strength.
You feel so full and rich, as if you were about to shed tears. Your eyes are full of tears, and the moment you blink, the tears will spill out of your eyes and roll down your cheeks. In order to be a good warrior, one has to feel this sad and tender heart. If a person does not feel alone and sad, he cannot be a warrior at all. The warrior is sensitive to every aspect of phenomena—sight, smell, sound, feelings. He appreciates everything that goes on in his world as an artist does. His experience is full and extremely vivid
-https://www.amazon.ca/Shambhala-Sacred-Warrior-Chogyam-Trungpa/dp/1590304519
A few of my favorites:
Discussed in this book --
https://www.amazon.com/Shambhala-Sacred-Warrior-Chogyam-Trungpa/dp/1590304519
Things like, feet go on the floor, butts in chairs, and hands on desks.