The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Eight (7 page)

The next article included in Volume Eight, “The Seven Treasures of the Universal Monarch,” gives us a more mythical view of the world of the Shambhala monarch. A small fragment composed at an unknown date by Chögyam Trungpa, this little gem describes the attributes of the world of the universal monarch. For a commentary on how these treasures, or riches, of the monarch can be cultivated as qualities leading to a good human life for all of us, see the chapter “How to Rule” in
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
.

Earlier, the introduction touched on the political structures that Rinpoche created as part of the Shambhala world in which he taught. One of the last such ventures was the establishment of a kind of embryonic legislature or parliament as a structure for governance within his community, which was called the delek system.
Delek
is a Tibetan word that means “auspicious happiness.” It was used by Chögyam Trungpa to refer to creating a system of governance that fosters peace and goodness. Rinpoche suggested that people should organize themselves into deleks, or groups, consisting of about twenty or thirty families, based on the neighborhoods in which they lived. Each neighborhood or small group would be a delek and its members, the delekpas.
²²
Each delek would elect a leader, the dekyong—the “protector of happiness,” by a process of consensus for which Rinpoche coined the phrase “spontaneous insight.” The dekyongs were then organized into the Dekyong Council, which would meet and make decisions affecting their deleks and make recommendations to the administration of Vajradhatu about larger issues. This structure, in somewhat modified form, continues today.

The idea of organizing people to form a nascent parliamentary structure in this manner was first discussed by Rinpoche with some students in 1968, while he was in Bhutan (where he received
The Sadhana of Mahamudra
mentioned earlier in the introduction). The approach of the delek system is to include everyone in the decision-making process. It recognizes that being practically engaged in politics and decision making is a fundamental
practice
for everyone in the Shambhala world. It’s not just something that a few leaders or administrators do. Rather, all of us have a duty to involve ourselves in our communities. As Buddhist and Shambhala practitioners, we need to learn to apply what we have learned about goodness, loving-kindness, and helping others, by learning how to cooperate and create harmony on a practical level. As he wrote in a letter to the community about the delek system in 1984: “In Buddhism, usually the guru’s word is regarded as command and followed faithfully, but at the same time the councils of the sangha play an important part in maintaining institutions and organizations. . . . All members of the deleks, not just the dekyongs, should understand the importance of cultivating a strong neighborhood identity and a commitment to working together as a group with a sense of mutual purpose, cooperating and caring. The deleks should take it as their role to sort out many kinds of issues—spiritual, social and economic—and to deal with various difficulties and details by themselves. They should understand that their contribution to our work is important and, in fact, essential.”
²³

The initiation of the delek system was also related to the Shambhala idea that everyone has the germ of king or queenship, the power of leadership, within him- or herself. As Rinpoche wrote to the community: “. . . the delek system is a most important vehicle for strengthening ourselves as a sangha and for overcoming difficulties we have had in the past. All of you should regard yourselves in some sense as ‘elders’ of the sangha and have confidence that the significance of the delek system and the health of the sangha is in your hands.”
²⁴
At the same time, the delek system was not proposed as a form of pure democracy, since Rinpoche upheld the importance of hierarchy in human as well as natural affairs. But he felt that there needed to be a balance between what is dictated from above and what arises from below. When he administered the oath of office to the first dekyongs, he made these remarks:

The delek system cuts down the extraordinary hypocrisy of dictatorship, as well as the idea of too much democracy. It brings us a middle path, which is somewhat democratic. Your individual contributions could become very positive and excellent through the delek system, and the dictatorial aspect of society could be cut down. Our notion of hierarchy is more like a flower than a lid. It is more like a waterfall than a volcano. Hierarchy can help people organize their lives in such a way that they can contribute individually—every one of them. You as dekyongs have the possibility of uplifting people. You have the possibility of bringing people up and cheering people up genuinely.
²⁵

Volume Eight ends with the article “Realizing Enlightened Society,” in which indeed we are brought full circle, back to square one. In this three-part article, based on talks given by Chögyam Trungpa in his last public seminar, in 1986, the unity of Buddhism and the Shambhala teachings is affirmed. They are not, in fact, two distinct streams of thought but two sides of the same coin. “It is my greatest privilege to proclaim the inseparability of the Shambhala approach and buddhadharma,” he said in his opening talk of this seminar.

This was not saying that the Shambhala path of secular warriorship should now be merged into the Buddhist path. It was rather saying that the teachings on basic sanity and compassion of the Buddhist tradition are indivisible from the teachings on warriorship and sacred world of the Shambhala tradition. More fundamentally, he was saying that it is not possible to separate out one’s personal path of realization from the larger need to create a good and sane society in which we all can live.

In Tibet, Rinpoche had witnessed how spirituality can be attacked and suppressed so that the practice of any spiritual discipline becomes impossible. There have been many such times and places, in the past and present, and one imagines there will be more in the future. In his last seminar, many people asked, “Is Shambhala the ground or is Buddhism the ground?” At different times, he said different things. From the point of view of the most basic and profound realization of mind, he often talked about Buddhism as the ground on which the Shambhala tradition would flourish. But from the point of view of providing an actual, societal container, he also talked about Shambhala as the support for the Buddhist teachings. More fundamentally, he was saying that there has to be a basic container, which is culture and society, to contain the teachings of sanity and spirituality and to provide a place where they can expand and grow. We have to begin with ourselves, with our own practice, our own perception, our own sanity and loving-kindness. But if we ignore the larger situation of the world we live in, if we do not accept the burden of warriorship, we may find ourselves unable to practice, unable to express our fundamental sanity.

As Chögyam Trungpa looked into the future, he saw that the world was in need of tremendous help. Did he wonder: Will Buddhism have a home? Will spirituality have a home? Will sanity have a home? Might we wonder those things ourselves?

In the opening chapter of
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior,
he wrote: “Within our lifetime there will be great problems in the world, but let us make sure that within our lifetime no disasters happen. We can prevent them. It is up to us. We can save the world from destruction, to begin with. That is why Shambhala vision exists. It is a centuries-old idea: by serving the world, we can save it. But saving the world is not enough. We have to work to build an enlightened human society as well.”

That aspiration remains as up to date and applicable now as the moment it was first said. In his role within the Shambhala world, Chögyam Trungpa was also known as the vajra (indestructible) warrior, the Dorje Dradül.
²⁶
By some standards, he was an outrageous human being. He was at times unreasonable, occasionally wrathful, and always unbelievably stubborn in his adherence to promoting true wakefulness. He was, in that regard, traditional: like the Wrathful Wild Guru, Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to Tibet; like the Zen Patriarch, Dharma Bodhi, who brought Buddhism to Japan. It took his “wild” energy to bring the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism into the forefront of consciousness on the American continent. It will take the efforts of many thousands of us to ensure that this legacy is not wasted or diluted.

From
The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa
one can see just how fathomless Trungpa Rinpoche’s mind was and how vast was his vision. Yet he always believed that the largest truths in life, the most vast and profound insights, came down to a single point, a single breath, a single moment of sanity in the conduct of everyday life. With that in mind, it is not so difficult to take up the challenge that he left us.

Rinpoche carried the wisdom of his tradition out of Tibet. He brought with him the victory banner of the Buddhist teachings, from the high plains and mountains of his homeland. As he wrote in
Great Eastern Sun:

Tibet is a lost country, at this point. The Chinese have occupied my country, and they are torturing my people. It is quite horrific. . . . We Tibetans were unable to avoid that situation. Nonetheless, the Tibetan wisdom has escaped. It has been brought out of Tibet. It has something to say, something to offer. It gives us dignity as Tibetans. (chapter 2)

When Chögyam Trungpa proclaimed that wisdom in the West, he was unfurling the banner of victory on a new continent. When we ourselves proclaim that wisdom, we are planting this banner firmly in our soil. Yet simultaneously, we honor the birthplace of such profound wisdom, its roots in the Asian continent. As we shout the warrior’s cry, Ki Ki So So, we help to bring the world full circle, uniting us all, East and West. For sanity is the birthright of human beings, the primordial inheritance of all. The Shambhala teachings are Trungpa Rinpoche’s precious gift to this generation and to the future of the world. May they guide, inspire, and protect us. May they help us to promote enlightened society by following the sacred path of the warrior, for the benefit of all sentient beings.

C
AROLYN
R
OSE
G
IMIAN

October 11, 2002

Trident Mountain House

Tatamagouche Mountain,

Nova Scotia

1
. In Tibet, there is a well-documented tradition of teachers discovering or “receiving” texts that are believed to have been buried (some of them in the realm of space) by Padmasambhava, who is regarded as the father of Buddhism in Tibet. Teachers who find what Padmasambhava left hidden for the beings of future ages, which may be ritual objects or physical texts hidden in rocks, lakes, and other locations, are referred to as tertöns (literally “treasure discoverers or revealers”), and the materials they find are known as terma. Chögyam Trungpa was already known as a tertön in Tibet since the age of around six, when he began to discover such treasures.

2
. From
The Sadhana of Mahamudra: Which Quells the Mighty Warring of the Three Lords of Materialism and Brings Realization of the Ocean of Siddhas of the Practice Lineage
. See Volume Five for an excerpt from this text and Chögyam Trungpa’s teachings on it.

3
. See the Editor’s Preface in
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
.

4
. In years to come, Trungpa Rinpoche would often refer to this as the “root” text.

5
. Diana Mukpo, “Protecting the Mind,” talk given in Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 2002.

6
. From Chögyam Trungpa,
True Command: The Teachings of the Dorje Kasung,
chap. 12, “The Kalapa Court: Being at Home Is Also Discipline,” forthcoming from Trident Publications.

7
. From an unpublished letter by Chögyam Trungpa to Joshua Zim, 1977. Used by permission.

8
. The fivefold logic of Shambhala Training developed by Chögyam Trungpa can be seen as the core of a deep level of empowerment, or transmission, which he gave to the program. In my experience, the application of these logics is related to the ability of the program to come alive for participants. In 1993, I was involved in a review of the curriculum of Shambhala Training. At that time, a proposal was made to revamp the levels and to make significant changes in the threefold logic of the programs. An excerpt from a letter I wrote to one of the main architects of this plan argues: “We have had Levels One to Five [of Shambhala Training] since the beginning, and the last time we tinkered with them, I believe that it was to go back to the pure threefold logics of each level given to us by the Dorje Dradül [Chögyam Trungpa] himself—not any doctored or later versions. I have always thought that one of the greatest strengths of Shambhala Training has been the unchanging quality of the undergraduate program. Unchanging here is not a bad word; it does not mean out of date, neither does it mean inflexible or out of touch. I use
unchanging
here in the sense of
vajra:
adamantine truth, which I think those five little logics actually contain.”

9
. For additional information on Chögyam Trungpa’s creation of the Shambhala Training program, see Fabrice Midal,
Trungpa,
chap. 11 (English edition forthcoming 2004 from Shambhala Publications under the title
Chögyam Trungpa
).