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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 294
EAN num: 9781570629570
ISBN number: 1570629579
Label: Shambhala
Manufacturer: Shambhala
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: 2002-08
Publishing house: Shambhala
Release Date: October 22, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 21134
Studio: Shambhala
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Product Description:
In this modern spiritual classic, the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa highlights the commonest pitfall to which every aspirant on the spiritual path falls prey: what he calls spiritual materialism. The universal tendency, he shows, is to see spirituality as a process of self-improvement—the impulse to develop and refine the ego when the ego is, by nature, essentially empty. 'The problem is that ego can convert anything to its own use,' he said, 'even spirituality.' His incisive, compassionate teachings serve to wake us up from this trick we all play on ourselves, and to offer us a far brighter reality: the true and joyous liberation that inevitably involves letting go of the self rather than working to improve it. It is a message that has resonated with students for nearly thirty years, and remains fresh as ever today. This new edition includes a foreword by Chögyam Trungpa's son and lineage holder, Sakyong Mipham.
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Rated by buyers -
If you ever have any intention of formally working with a Spiritual Teacher, this is a must read! It shows that Enlightenment is a process, not a destination. It is a journey of accessing consciousness at deep levels. I have read hundreds of books on spirituality, and this one is authentic, in respect to what is required. Trungpa, clearly lays out the rewards and the ordeals of the spiritual path. I know, since I am student and a teacher. When reading the book, do not get lost in the Buddhist terminology...they are not important.Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism (Shambhala Library)
Rated by buyers -
I kind of backed into reading Trungpa via an interest in his student, Pema Chodron. I am neither in any sense an advanced meditator nor a practicing Buddhist. My only reason for writing a review is to address the question of whether this is a good book for a general reader with vague questions about meditation as a practice, and about Tibetan Buddhism as a belief system and spiritual practice, and IMHO, it is.
This book is definitely one person's guide to transcending self-improvement, and both the goal and the prose quirks of the author may put some people off. But if Sutra study or Pema's tapes have convinced you that there's something here worth investigating, and you want to know how meditation works as a practice (among other things, a social practice) this is a great place to start.
Rated by buyers -
I had been a Zen Buddhist for almost two years when I read this book, but this book showed me that I had been practicing Buddhism all wrong, for I had unknowingly been a spiritual materialist the whole time. This book helped me to see that and to begin to let go. If you are a Buddhist, or for that matter a spiritual person of any stripe, you should read this book.
Rated by buyers -
Essential reading for anyone of any religious or spiritual persuasion who fancies her/himself a spiritual aspirant or truth seeker. Reveals the need to be constantly aware of the tendency we have to fashion our spirituality into a commodity that actually bolsters egoism rather than liberating us from it. Gives many examples of how this process takes place. This book forced me toward a deeper honesty about the motivations behind my own spiritual quest.
Rated by buyers -
Chogyam Trungpa(rinpooche(bright star?))'s (how's that for a possessive apostrophe 's'?) book is so far the best I've read of Buddhism and how to get There from Here. No worry that there is here, but simply you may not be, yet. After 40ish years of off and on study of and practice, I have reread this book from the section, "The 4 Noble Truths" all the way to the end. The beginning I have lived and am familiar with. I've done chi gong, inner smile, inner heat(Kathleen McDonald), Taiji,read TaoTeChing, Chuang Tzu, and practiced other skills of my own devising, BTW. I am no expert, not a scholar, but after working with Kathleen's pedantic methodology and Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught, and even the wonderful Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, Trungpa's presentation is clean and clear, straight to the heart of the matter.
I reread and re-mine these chapters whilst walking a treadmill, before or after sitting. Never really knew what the turnings of the wheel of dharma were(but like the concept), never felt like 'surrendering" to no buddha, dharma, sangha--it's all in the gap.
Trungpa is a master of concision. This book is a service to us beginners.
I hear the book is middle level instruction. That's neither here nor there.
Enjoy.
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