View of Enlightened Society

A Talk With Shastri Dan Hessey

At the beginning of Hessey's talk, he spoke of the darkness of our age and the challenge of seeing basic goodness in ourselves. To me and other Shambhalan's, it makes much more sense to see the basic goodness within and outside ourselves rather than concluding we're all basically evil. Because if we are doomed to fail as a race, there's not much hope outside of a Deus ex machina ending for our species. 

A woman in the class brought up something Pema Chodrin said about basic goodness being like the sun. There might be clouds blocking it, hurricanes and even the shadow of the Earth covering the light, but like basic goodness, it is always there, shining within us if we can recognize it. 

Someone else in the class contrasted Hessey's statements about the dark age by bringing attention to the good things happening within our species and that there is always hope for our future. 

In regards to the promise of basic goodness, it was stated that the bad things we see happening in the news about the fall from grace of others isn't the same fate we have to endure. We always have the ground of basic goodness within which we can tap into even when things appear darkest. Those who get sucked in and lost, are the ones who lose sight of who we are at our most basic core. 

In describing the Shambhala vow, Hessey said that in taking it, we become citizens of the world or citizens of goodness. What is interesting about the Shambhala perspective, is that it is a major contrast from the perspectives in Western religion. Many Christians for example, don't see basic goodness as our core nature. They look upon humankind as fallen and stained by the curse of sin. Perhaps this is why their view is dominated by a future finding completion in an apocalyptic and violent conclusion where a God outside ourselves must come down and save us from ourselves.

The Shambhala vision of the future is more benevolent, where humanity discovers our basic goodness in time to end the nightmare and save the world. The scale of their vision is unlimited and all pervasive. Inclusive rather than exclusive. Everyone can tap into their basic goodness and unity doesn't imply uniformity, which means perfect freedom is the highest good.

Even if this is a more optimistic view of our future, the Shambhala perspective doesn't try to gloss over what is happening in the world. They acknowledge the degradation of spirit and the environmental distraction brought about through an acceleration of imbalanced materialism blocking the light of our basic goodness. The spiritual traditions of indigenous people are suffering because their spiritual view of the world is waning.

The hope for the materialistic orientation of our species is to reconnect with basic goodness and bare witness to unnecessary suffering. And someone in the class observed how the internet is helping the world bear witness to what's happening on a global scale. The whole world is awakening to a larger picture. What now happens thousands of miles away can effect all of us.

The Shambhala spiritual warrior will not turn their back on what is happening, but will acknowledge the sadness and suffering of our world. And the challenge is to avoid the temptation to build a cocoon to block yourself off from all the negativity. And within the Shambhala community, the spiritual warriors work to benefit the world; to be guided by basic goodness and trust that it can make a difference. And this is possible when sharing in the same journey together.

Within the Shambhala practice, when one starts to relate to basic goodness, you will find your connection to it. Having a community that acknowledges basic goodness provides the strength needed. Hessey then used the example of the Mycelium mushrooms, which are single organisms that can spread out for miles. Humanity finds some similarities to Mycelium when viewed as a single organism. When we look deeper than the surface of our species through meditation practice, we see our universal core connecting to all human beings; the spirit.

Hessey went on to say that humanity is coming to a crossroads. If we are to build a better world, we must acknowledge basic goodness in all beings. This is the task of the Shambhala practitioner, who is not a warrior of aggression, but a warrior of peace.

One of the students brought up 9-11 and how it had such a polarizing effect on the world. Hessey expanded on this observation by stating that every generation has something like their Pearl Harbor. At the time, Americans demonized the Japanese. And after 9-11, many have demonized the Arab. Hessey then asked what the root of this behavior was. "Are they fundamentally different?" Some of them want to kill us, and some Americans want to kill them. But if we don't look carefully at this question, the idea of the Shambhala warrior doesn't go very deep.

It was then acknowledged that the most difficult part of embracing basic goodness happens in the face of violent threats. "What if someone wants to kill my kid?" How do we deal with that? Is basic goodness always forgotten when it comes down to survival of the fittest? If we don't first understand the nature of fear, "we can't understand fearlessness." "We have to see if fear in our heart is lodged stronger than basic goodness." If we see the world in terms of our fears, it pervades every action. "What do we do with the fear?" When basic goodness is fully understood, there can be a paradigm shift.

Many struggle with the contrast of basic goodness and fear that it may be just wishful thinking. Every moment we have the choice to listen to basic goodness or follow our fear. And if we don't have confidence in basic goodness, everything turns into fight or flight and is based on self interest.

On other hand, if you experience directly, basic goodness as a child or through meditation practice, you can trust that. But one might say "it's so weak in all this competitive aggression, how can it possibly survive?"

And that is the brazen depths of Shambhala; that basic goodness has equally the strength as that survival fear, but expresses itself through kindness and goodness rather than through competitiveness and aggression. We don't' trust that right away but can trust a direct experience of basic goodness as the basis of our path. And that is what the vow is about.

Hessey went on to describe more about the vow, that it was about paying homage to the great lineage of Shambhala spiritual warriors along with acknowledging that basic goodness is always available. Also of great importance is being gentle and compassionate towards yourself and to delight in the details of life. The end result of the Shambhala practice is finding the ability to train and tame your mind like one does a wild horse.

Although the term kingdom in Shambhala is significant on a mythological level, it was spoken of more in spiritual terms, unlike the western concept where world powers go to war and defeat their opponent by capturing their enemy's king or conquering their capital. Kingdom in the Shambhala sense was more in alignment with the indigenous spiritual system, with no king or capital to conquer. Even though indigenous people's way of life has been changed forever, as a people they have survived and their convictions remain viable. In Shambhala, the word for King is Sakyong which means, "Earth protector."

What was interesting about the Shambhala vow ceremony; Hessey explained that not taking the vow was perfectly ok too. This sounds totally different than the perspective of many Christians, who make you feel as if there is something wrong with you if you don't subscribe to their formula for salvation.

Without the implications behind the vow that acknowledges basic goodness, many may instead view Western and Eastern culture as cursed and doomed to fail. But if we look deeper, we can see another perspective in the natural tendency of caring and connection that takes place in every society, leading to health and well being. Taking the vow is seeing the promise of this basic goodness in society to prevail over its alternative; for the potential of humanity to go beyond warfare and aggression.

The implications of the vow and choosing to see basic goodness overcome the alternative, will naturally lead one to drop fears of the worst case scenario unfolding and instead find the courage to believe the best in our nature will prevail. And on a national scale, we can see both these sides being nourished. In the end, which one will be favored over the other? We can see the fears people have about the right coast; becoming consumed by a materialistic and militaristic dogma, leading them to more competition of resources and using more aggression to preemptively strike at enemies. More and more energies are funneled into the creation of deadlier machines capable of more swiftly destroying humans by the millions.

This scenario makes real the fears of those who only see Empire. A battle over oil security throws the world into turmoil and great depression, as America turns into a war economy. The right coast breaks the great rebellions will with the right oppressing the left through force and violence as they seize control of the left coast, dictating complete domination over the internet, turning it into tool of persecution of those with a spiritual orientation. In the end game of this world view, the West is doomed to engage in a tragic clash of civilizations with an outcome leading towards the self destruction of our species.

As an alternative, the depth of spiritual courage to believe in basic goodness overcomes the fear afflicted racial divide of surfaces, as our nation turns its energies towards the left coast. The electronics industrial complex is consumed by a spiritual and artistic renaissance of reformation, as its essential beauty shines even brighter. Conflict minerals are abandoned, off shore workers treated more justly as new technologies bring down prices of the miraculous machines capable of educating humans by the millions.

 

The young and hopeful generation discovers alternative energies capable of transforming our civilization as America turns into a peace economy, dedicated to the spiritual mission of helping humanity fully realize the dream of world spirit. The materialistic and fear filled frenzy of the right coast is tamed by the beauty and power of a spiritual vision for a brighter world. The lion now dedicates its energies towards protecting the lamb and helping to realize its hopes. In this world view, the East and West are destined to fulfill their potential as the nightmare is eclipsed and the dream reborn.