Mexican Drala
“It is especially important for directors and assistant directors to look into this and try to find examples of Great Eastern Sun, both as vision and as activating energy, in other societies.” — The Sacred Path of Warriorship Teaching Guide, p. 35.
The drala energy of Mexico is vast and diverse, and manifests in the culture of that nation in many ways as its brilliance and energy, but also as its neurosis and limitation. The drala energy of Mexico is both dramatically visible and hidden. Mexico is a nation with many indigenous cultures, and many native languages which are still spoken. Its native traditions have been suppressed by the Spanish conquest, merged into the fusion which is modern Mexico, or quietly continued in the backwaters of the native population, all three of these. Mexico glorifies its native cultures and despises them.
I am a mere tourist of Mexico with a minimal knowledge of its language and heritage. I have visited central Mexico as well as Oaxaca and the nearby Mixtec and Zapotec villages. I have been to Patzcuaro, and stayed in Casa Werma where the Werma Sadhana was written, and visited the Purepecha speaking villages around Lake Patzcuaro and seen how the drala of that land manifests in their artisan objects.
Part I: The Teachings of Don Juan – The Path of the Warrior
“The art of a warrior is to balance the terror of being human with the wonder of being human.”
In August, 1973, the Druk Sakyong gave a seminar at Karmê Chöling (then Tail of the Tiger) on The Teachings of Don Juan – the Question of Reality. This is presently being transcribed. At that time, the Shambhala teachings had not been publicly proclaimed. While the Druk Sakyong expressed some reservations about the authenticity and consistency of Castañeda’s books, he was also enthusiastic about some aspects of these teachings. If he had been utterly dismissive, he would not have chosen this as the topic for a seminar.
Neither the Druk Sakyong, nor anyone else can be certain as to the extent to which Carlos Castañeda fictionalized, and whether Don Juan is really a single person who was Carlos’ teacher. Castañeda’s books are a mixed lot. There are passages that surely teach a profound wisdom, and reveal the depth and passion of the warrior path. There one may listen to the words of Don Juan and his companion and fellow sorcerer Don Genaro. We hear the voice of the very obtuse Carlos , who refuses to cop to any wisdom beyond the rational mind, and constantly tries to reduce these profound teachings to an anthropological study of the different views of “reality” of two different cultures. Yet this same Carlos is the one who is able to listen and later bring to life these voices from memory. At other times, he completely misses the point, and fills his books with confusing misinterpretation.
My purpose here is not to unravel any of the complex questions surrounding Castañeda’s work, but to simply offer some of the pages that I have found most powerful, and directly related to the path of the warrior as we teach it. The books are available in print, and in my view, the best ones to read are the first, The Teachings of Don Juan: a Yaqui way of knowledge, and the third, Journey to Ixtlan.
The Four Enemies of the Path of the Warrior
These are not the enemies of the four directions found in Shambhala teachings. These four are fear, clarity, power and old age. According to Don Juan, these obstacles appear in sequential order. But they should be familiar to the Shambhala warrior, — stepping out of the cocoon of fear and disowning the experiences of the path. The Teachings of Don Juan, pp. 79-83
Focus on Your Death
As far as I know, the Druk Sakyong never taught his students rebirth in the sense of a succession of human lives. I don’t know the reason for this, it may have been because he knew that those raised in a secular scientific environment did not believe in rebirth, or it may be that he saw students using this view to conclude that they had plenty of time. In the 1973 seminar, he expressed his delight that Don Juan taught that the path of the warrior ends in death, and that awareness of the finality of death illuminates the life of the warrior and makes it precious and genuine. This is altogether a remarkable passage that covers many issues and speaks for itself. Journey to Ixtlan, pp. 107-115
Journey to Ixtlan
The last several pages of this book are the most beautiful that Castañeda has written. They speak directly to the loneliness of the warrior path, and the experience of sadness and joy that is so much a part of the Shambhala world. Journey to Ixtlan, pp. 306-315
El Viaje Definitivo
The complete poem by Juan Ramón Jiménez that Carlos partially recited in the passage above. (in Spanish) ..