Renunciation, Discipline and Letting Go


In this post, facilitator Tom McCann gives some personal insight into Renunciation, Discipline and Letting Go in Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chögyam Trunpa Rinpoche.  The Dharma Study Group weekly one-hour discussions of the book will resume in October of 2021.
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In Chapter 8, we receive instructions on how to use renunciation and why it’s important.

  • Renounce any barriers or territory set up between ourselves and others
  • If we begin to think that we possess Basic Goodness and others do not, renounce that too.
  • If we feel overwhelmed by the Great Eastern Sun or if we assume that the Great Eastern Sun is a safe haven from the setting sun, this should be renounced.

 

In Chapter 9, we begin to celebrate our journey on the path to Warriorship with the application of three aspects of discipline:

  • Unwavering Discipline
  • Discerning Awareness
  • Meditative Awareness

 

In Chapter 10, Trungpa Rinpoche completes the first part of the book with some instructions, insights and advice on Letting Go. But letting go of what?

  • Doubts about our worthwhileness
  • Hesitation to be ourselves

 

A deeper level of letting go is experienced through practices of truth-telling. These practices facilitate communication channels to allow an open understanding between individuals.

Trungpa Rinpoche encourages us to trust in our heart and build our confidence.  We need to take action to get to that place of “Letting Go” and to build our confidence to move along the path.

Open the Mind by suspending the voices of:

  • Judgement
  • Cynicism
  • Fear

Open the Heart by:

  • Engaging in wonderment
  • Sensing things differently
  • Allowing our humor to flow
  • Acting compassionately

Open our Willingness:

  • To Let Go of doubts about our worthwhileness and any hesitation about being our selves
  • To Let Come the new things that help us along on the path of Warriorship

 

Shambhala The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

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