Customer Reviews

Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is really the third in a series of what I would consider essential teachings from one of the most important Buddhist teachers of our time. It follows "Shambhala, Sacred Path of the Warrior" and "Great Eastern Sun." I love reading this before I sit for meditation in the morning. I salute Carolyn Rose Gimian for a loving and elegant job editing these talks.

In case you have any doubts, this is no little book of "left-overs" that are being put out long after Trungpa's death. This is the "real deal." I find these teachings--arranged in bite sized chapters--to be profound and literally enlightening. The material not only covers diving into your fears or being present with them rather than recoiling; but more importantly to me, it explains how to shine with the unconditional fearless, doubtless awareness that fuels the confidence and joy of Windhorse energy.

This pithy little book is surprisingly powerful--at least it is to me. I recommend it very highly, especially to anyone who has found resonance with the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa, Pema Chodron or Sakyong Mipham.

Very rich and rewarding indeed!

We live in an age of easy access to information about virtually anything; that's a double edged sword. Sometimes, what we don't know won't scare us; when we find out about every little thing that could pose a threat to our well being, we have a tendency to worry; and when we worry, we're not living life to its fullest potential.

The late Chogyam Trungpa (1940-1987) understood how fear can hold us back, and his writings from over two decades ago are particularly helpful for guiding us through the scary world of 21st century realities.

His simple strategy relied on looking objectively at ourselves and meeting every possible challenge to our sense of safety and security head on; instead of running away from our fears, we assertively address them, and they become minimalized. By mastering this ability, we discover the "way of the warrior"; our true heart of bravery is awakened, and suddenly that big presentation you were dreading in front of all those people doesn't seem like such a big deal, after all.

Trungpa's sage advice is particularly valuable in dealing with today's modern problems---from a struggling economy, to unstable world affairs, to trying to avoid the swine flu. Personally, the latter never crosses my mind, until I see another story about it as a trending topic on Twitter. Still, I think I'll manage to avoid its devastation, perhaps forever. We'll see.

In the meantime, for readers of this book, you'll come away with a better understanding that life's not so challenging after all; especially if we keep smiling (or even laughing) in the face of fear.

The essential teaching of mindfulness: to turn towards our fears and suffering and surround them with the compassionate space of pure awareness. We spend so much of our lives reacting against our fear and anxiety, which is a path to suffering; to open to experience fully what is real is the path to awakening and freedom. I also recommend 'The Path of Mindfulness Meditation', available through Amazon.

I really wanted to like this book, and might have just suffered from over expectations. Basically, this book just kind of rambled from one topic to another. I can imagine that the teacher was a great one, but a compilation of talks like this really doesn't communicate that well to me. I'm a novice, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. It's not a "top of the list" read, but if you have the time, worthwhile.

This is a wonderful, rich book -- a real tool for your toolbox, when it comes to making your way in the world.
I appreciate the insights and wisdom, but mostly I appreciate the specific ways to implement this lovely spiritual framework, into the nitty gritty of your very human life.

I have suggested this book to many friends, gave away my own copy, and I intend to buy more to pass along to other Spiritual Warriors I bump into on the path.

With all of the problems we are facing, all of the complexity and confusion of our daily existence, "Smile At Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery" offers a very simple, yet profound way to connect with life, in all of its richness and layers of pleasure and pain.

Awakening your Brave Heart, is the very remedy called for, in these times. A welcome relief! It's the very essence of what is needed and what will get us through: It is the only thing that can propel us forward as these times (like all times) unfold before us.

I was skittish about buying this book knowing the good, the bad and the ugly about Trungpa Rinpoche and his legacy.
Trungpa founded Naropa Institute, was Pema Chodren's primary teacher, and began a number of meditation centers. His personal life was a disaster and embodied the worst of what can happen when Tibetans encounter the West with its perversions and their self restain fails.He died at a young age from the ravages of alcoholism.

Now we have that out of the way, this book is amazing. Although it is a compilation of Trungpa's talks on this subject, it flows as if these talks were meant to be sewn together. It is written with the characteristic openness and bluntness of many Tibetan masters which I find refreshing in this time of political correctness and self-soothing. The first chapter is titled Face Yourself-in which he elaborates unblemished self-examination, The second chapter gives specifics of meditation, the book proceeds on about how to develop fearless which is actually the process of finding one's own true nature, basic goodness and developing one's windhorse which arises out of mindfullness and is characterized by natural gallantry and fearlessness.
This books has many gems including the need to embrace the paradox that constitutes one's true nature...happiness but always with a touch of sadness.To get all this book has to offer requires more than one reading.
Perhaps that is what we are called upon to do with Trungpa himself...see the paradox of this brilliant man...the dark and light. By Trungpa's own words that doesn't mean condoning his actions.

Chogyam Trungpa was truly a brilliant teacher. This book was written from his teachings on looking at your fears and overcoming them. It's well written and just makes you feel good after reading it.

I am about 1/4 of the way through this text and am unable to force myself to read any further. The author's style is far too metaphorical and rambling for me. This was not evident from the sample, which consisted mainly of the preface and forward, which were written by others. Despite what is promised in the sample materials, there is so far no practical advice about managing fear, nor is there any concrete instruction about anything at all. Perhaps such helpful advice comes later in the book, but I am not up for struggling through his ramblings long enough to find out.

A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE. FEAR PREVENTS HUMANS FROM BEING ALL THEY CAN BE. THIS BOOK TEACHES THE READER HOW TO OVERCOME, NOT CONQUER FEAR.

especially liked the windhorse instruction which was understandable even though it is advanced practise....pema is the best buddhist teacher of our time as she is so accessable and has a great sense of humor....she was a householder so she writes and teaches in a manor that i can relete to...

of course carolyn is knowlwdgeable and also a good teacher...they work well together

i went to the teaching in san franciso and it was life changing there are only a few experiences like that

appreciation to amazon for getting me the book before the teaching so i could prepare many thanks

sheila shane