In the economic hardship the world is now suffering, it is possible for us to spin out and become very dualistic. When we are not sure what is going on, we react in fear and start labeling things black and white, good or bad, doomed to fail or destined to succeed. The process of labeling something because we are not sure what it is further increases the illusion of duality. Dualistic mind creates an aggressive scenario because we project a self and “other.” This process becomes a cycle: the heavier the dualism, the heavier the fear.

Egolessness, or practicing now, frees us from that cycle. But when fear has taken over and we can’t control the negative emotions that arise, the internal freedom that comes from egolessness is beyond our means. Instead we become fixated. We are living in the memory of the past or the fantasy of the future. We are stuck, unable to see the fluid truth of now.

At the heart of the dharma, we know that the world is fluid. When we practice now, we see the flow clearly. Now is now. There is not another now. If we realize that truth, we stop putting things off and engage in our life wholeheartedly. The Shambhala teachings call that the quality of windhorse, lungta; we unstick what has been stuck and move forward.

In this particular time, we are dealing with a high level of fear. It is appropriate to see that somehow we have mistaken material freedom for freedom itself. Now the natural laws of the universe are catching up to us. The law of interdependency is showing us that really nothing is free; somebody is always paying for it. Although there are many intricacies in how we have arrived at this situation, in essence the cause is not complicated. It is the result of the habitual pattern known as ego.

The point of the dharma is egolessness, which is more than just an isolated situation on a meditation cushion. Especially during the current financial instability, in a worldly or secular sense, there needs to be a level of egolessness. It is something that we can bring into our daily life. We are living in a world that is already too crowded and small for a lot of big egos, and in stressful times like these, we tend to isolate ourselves and refortify the ego. But fortunately we have the tools to turn this pattern around.

What virtues can we develop to overcome the fear that freezes life into a dualistic illusion? Gentleness is key in overcoming the aggression that results from the process of fixating. We’re living in a time when even within our own mind, it is difficult to find peace. We label many faults in ourselves; we become harsh with ourselves. When we’re unable to find peace with ourselves, it becomes difficult to find peace with each other. Therefore we begin to practice peace by being gentle with ourselves. That requires overcoming a level of our own fear. When we are gentle with ourselves, we are naturally gentle with others.

Part of being gentle with others is not blaming them. Finding someone to blame is a sidetrack that derails us from the path. If we are gentle with others, we are not trying to fight with the world. This is how we engage in the enlightened society.

If gentleness is the key, the method is mindfulness. Many of us practice in a speedy environment. In a sense, speed is the disease of our times. It’s always there and it’s very hard to extract ourselves from it. But speed is in fact just a hallucination, a self-imposed reality that we can change. Being mindful cuts speed. Being present cuts speed. Paying attention cuts speed. If we cut speed and relax with what’s going on in our life right now, kindness and patience will naturally come about.

My father Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche said, “We hold in our hands the ability to help the world.” Even in the current atmosphere of trepidation and insecurity, it’s important to realize that our basic goodness has not changed. Good times or bad times, the basic-goodness meter does not go up or down. Its stock remains the same. Our own natural richness is here. The qualities of the Buddha are unwavering. We practice in order to remember that.

If we are practicing being present for our lives, we are doing the best possible thing, yet we may still have obstacles. When something is good or virtuous, it is often very difficult. When things are contaminated or bad, they are often easy and seductive. The Buddha faced big challenges before he attained enlightenment. In reading biographies of great teachers, I am amazed by the difficulties that they all went through. My father’s generation went through inconceivable hardships and unimaginable loss, from which they emerged with an unequivocal dedication to goodness, virtue, and the dharma.

Because as practitioners we are doing something that is good and wholesome, we too have difficulties. It’s important for us not to give up. We should not be foolishly seduced into fantasy, thinking that somehow something miraculous is going to happen. When it comes right down to it, the practice path is manual labor of the mind, and it’s hard work. But that doesn’t mean that there is no magic. When we pay attention to the details of our life, we do find magic. This particular magic is all-pervasive; it is something that is part of us all the time. Seeing it, we appreciate the honesty of this spiritual tradition that says we have to work to uncover it.

With gentleness and mindfulness, we can appreciate what we have. We are still enormously capable and free, and if we begin to develop appreciation, our mind doesn’t dwell on what we do not have or on what we have lost. If we begin to dwell on all those things, we just worry more. Sometimes we feel that worrying might help, but worrying can only produce more worrying, and we are already tight at a time like this. Tightness of mind limits our ability. We need generosity in our mind, which is limitless. Generosity is the seed that allows us to receive help in the future.

The Shambhala teachings of warriorship tell us that a good society is not based upon a quick fix. Good fortune—whether spiritually or worldly—has to be earned. We may not always want to acknowledge it, but it is clear that to bring about any accomplishment there needs to be some virtue, whether it’s on a global, national, or an individual level. For example, people sense something strong in President and Mrs. Obama, and it is not complicated: virtue is like a daytime star that everyone can see. No matter how strong our leaders are, we all need to practice responsibility and discipline ourselves. We must look at our own habits and begin to alter them. We can’t hire out our practice and have somebody else do the work, but we can do the manual labor with delight and decency. True relief lies in finding what lies under the chaos and negativity—our inherent awakened nature. The notion of fearlessness is finding it now.

back