Can weaponry be nonaggressive ?
Rick Fields: Rinpoche, you mentioned that dharma art is nonaggressive. One of your installations is a drum room that contains many weapons and a set of Japanese armor. How can a display of weaponry be nonaggressive? Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche: It is a question of how you relate with your teeth and your nails and the expression on your face, which are basic to man’s existence. Human beings have a question about how they can actually handle that kind of situation. Specially produced weapons, such as swords and bows and arrows, are not particularly a problem at all. The whole question of weapons is basically a question of not being afraid of having sharp teeth, or long nails. It is not a question of creating warfare as such, but of overcoming your own cowardice. As we know, it has been said that if you are placed among warriors, and you are a coward, you are constantly petrified because the warriors are carrying weaponry and you are expected to carry a weapon as well. It is a question of no
