The Three Fierce Mantras are three simple yet profound and powerful sentences of teachings by 12th Century Tibetan Buddhist ascetic, Tsangpa Gyare, that can cut through our confusion, anxiety, and despair in this life. They are:

• Whatever has to happen, let it happen!
• Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!
• I don’t need anything whatsoever (but the Dharma)!
  (or as the teacher phrased it: “I really don’t need anything to be happy (but the Dharma)!”

“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”

These are challenging mantras as they go against the grain of our culture. Our sources of suffering are driven by our hope and fear – hoping things will happen in certain ways and afraid that they won’t happen in those ways. Even as realities are already unfolding, we continue to resist. But as the first mantra teaches us, whatever has to happen, that is, whatever is already unfolding due to causes and conditions that led to that unfolding, be in harmony with that unfolding, let it happen. It’s already unfolding so it is already the truth – accept it. By accepting reality, it frees us up to act in a way that moves with the circumstances, where we can modulate/change things with wisdom, kindness, and compassion.

The teacher quoted Śāntideva’s teaching: “If there’s something to be done, do it. If there’s nothing to be done, accept it.” and reminded us that a myriad of causes, conditions, and effects are at play at all times. By understanding karma and causes & conditions, we’ll understand why we have the world we have today, why people are the way they are today. Causes and conditions are realities. By totally accepting the unfolding of our lives, it allows us to truly live inside our lives as opposed to living outside of it as if we are just an observer of our lives. We cultivate a mindset that is not afraid, not in despair, but rather, we can have a very clear, open, accepting, and intelligent way of living life.

“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”

The second mantra — “Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!” — is about the present moment, when things already happened. The “fine” here, the teacher taught, is beyond “good” or “bad.” It’s not from a moral or ethical point of view. Rather, it means: “it is what it is.” That is, what’s happened is perfectly responding according to the causes and conditions that led to that situation. We do not reject or resist; instead, we totally stand here in our lives, fully responsible and present to the situation. Then, the only challenge before us is: “what do I do now?” So, it is not a passive “what will be will be” attitude, but rather, a clear, accepting mind of the realities from which we can then respond with kindness and intelligence.

“I really don’t need anything to be happy (but the Dharma)!”

On the third mantra — “I really don’t need anything to be happy (but the Dharma)!” — the teacher said the emphasis is on “things.” That includes physical things but also jobs, relationships, and so forth. Realizing all these “things” are impermanent, and that really only a few things are truly essential to sustain our lives, we can reflect on how we really don’t need many things in life and if we don’t have any of those non-essential things, we can still be happy and content.

Meditation & The Three Fierce Mantras

The teacher then talked about how the most direct way we can learn to integrate these mantras into our lives is by first practicing them on our cushion. When we sit for meditation, no matter how we expected it to go, we can simply let things happen, let thoughts and feelings and bodily sensations arise. We learn that we don’t have to control them. We learn to let them be, to see them clearly as what they are. Not grasping or averting them. We may get in touch with feelings, mind states, and physical states that we don’t like.

While we meditate, we can learn the second mantra – whatever the situation is, it’s fine – it’s workable. Building a strength of mind. We learn that the resistance is all happening in our mind – not happening outside of it. We learn that we have the ability to hold it in mindfulness and awareness, to see what it really is, and to experience what we are calling “uncomfortable” and realize they don’t kill us.

The ever deepening meditative practice allows us to develop this capacity where it really counts in daily lives. Using this inner clarity and strength, and the Dharma to guide us, we can learn to deal with every situation in life with ease. When we don’t get swept away by emotionality, we can enter the realm of suffering and still have the capacity to be there in a good way to help people – in a supportive, kind, intelligent, and strong way. The practice is: “let go” — let go of our resistance, our expectations, our hope & fear. Enter the world openly, accepting everything as it is, and just freely working with it, no matter what comes our way.

Reflecting on The Three Fierce Mantras

During Q&A in the recording, the teacher explained ways we can deeply reflect on these three mantras in every moment, so that eventually they become part of us, part of our view, to a point where we no longer have to keep bringing the mantras up deliberately. To reflect on the first two mantras, every time we suffer, including moments of “little sufferings” like little anger, little judgement, little hurts, we look at what’s going on and ask ourselves: “what am I holding onto? what is it about this situation or this person that I don’t want to accept? what is it about this thing that’s unfolding that I don’t want to be unfolding? what am I resisting?” And to reflect on the third mantra, whenever a needy voice arises inside our mind, ask ourselves: “do I really need this that much? is it really true that if I don’t get this need met, my life would be fundamentally over?”

During group discussion, members agreed these fierce mantras are challenging but, at the same time, could be very useful. They also discussed the importance of acknowledging emotions that do arise and including them into the “unfolding” and “situation” in the first two mantras, and not simply trying to push them away.

From the Teachers: The Three Fierce Mantras

Dharma Video: The Three Fierce Mantras

The Three Fierce Mantras — by Fred Eppsteiner *To support teacher Fred Eppsteiner and his sangha, please visit: www.floridamindfulness.org/donate

* Fred Eppsteiner has been a student of Buddhism and a practitioner of meditation for over fifty years. He has practiced primarily in the Zen and Tibetan Buddhist lineages, but bases his teachings on the full breadth of the Buddhist philosophical, psychological and meditative traditions.

He began his Zen practice with Roshi Philip Kapleau (author of The Three Pillars of Zen) in the late 1960s at the Rochester Zen Center in upstate New York. In the mid-1970s, he established a close relationship with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. In 1994, Fred received Dharma Transmission and permission to teach from the Master.

Fred has also had a long-standing relationship with the Tibetan Buddhist tradition (Vajrayana), and is an experienced practitioner within the Nyingma lineage of the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) teachings. His teacher was Dzongnar Rinpoche from the Palyul Monastery of Tibet.

Fred is the editor of two books on Buddhism, “The Path of Compassion” and “Interbeing”. In 1986 Fred moved to Naples, FL, where he practiced psychotherapy and founded the Naples Community of Mindfulness in 1998. He is also the founder and the resident Dharma teacher of the Florida Community of Mindfulness in Tampa, FL.