Natural Bravery

How to find freedom from fear: Buddhist teachings that really work, from a respected contemporary teacher.

Fear is something that's such a part of our lives that it doesn't seem it would be possible to live without it. This book disputes that claim in a powerful way. Gaylon Ferguson presents traditional Buddhist teachings to show that the fear that so often wreaks havoc on us is in fact quite insubtantial—and it's mostly something we create ourselves. If we can learn to see that, it becomes pretty simple to un-create it, and we also discover that there's a natural fearlessness in us that goes far deeper than fear. With this natural bravery as our foundation, we can live our own lives more effectively and also be a better help and comfort to others."In Natural Bravery, Gaylon Ferguson has honed the Shambhala teachings into an insightful expedition on which we discover fear to be a gift of our own basic goodness. By engaging in these contemplations, we can empower ourselves to move from fear to fearlessness in every aspect of our lives."—Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, author of The Shambhala Principle

"Gaylon Ferguson guides us along the path to true fearlessness. In these times, when fear abounds—both inside and outside us—such a path cannot be more important or more urgent. Fortunately for us, Ferguson is an authentic and skillful guide for our journey."—Jan Willis, author of Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist

"Natural Bravery fearlessly proclaims that we have access to a vast, sacred wisdom that is always available but often lost sight of in today's chaotic world. If you want to rediscover this wisdom read this important book."—Michael Carroll, author of Awake at Work

"Natural Bravery provides an excellent map for transforming one of the deep causes of our suffering—fear—into freedom."—Sharon Salzberg, author of Real HappinessGAYLON FERGUSON is a faculty member in the religious studies and interdisciplinary studies departments at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. He is an acharya, or senior teacher, in the Shambhala International Buddhist community. After studying meditation and Buddhist philosophy with Tibetan master Chögyam Trungpa in the 1970s and '80s, Ferguson became a Fulbright Fellow to Nigeria and completed a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology at Stanford University. After several years of teaching cultural anthropology at the University of Washington, he became teacher-in-residence at Karmê Chöling Buddhist Retreat Center until 2005, when he joined the faculty of Naropa University.