The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: 3 (91 page)

Vajrayogini
(Skt.): One of the principal deities or yidams of the Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism. Vajrayogini is the consort of Chakrasamvara. She represents the principle of nonthought or wisdom beyond conceptual mind.

vipashyana
(Skt.; Tib.
lhakthong
): Awareness practice. Shamatha and vipashyana together constitute the basic practice of meditation.
Vipashyana
also refers to the development of insight and discriminating awareness in meditation practice. It is the hallmark of the development of egolessness in the hinayana.

yidam
(Tib.): Vajrayana deities, who embody various aspects of the awakened nature of mind.

SOURCES

“Cutting Through,” in
Garuda II: Working with Negativity
(Barnet, Vt. & Boulder, Colo.: Tail of the Tiger and Karma Dzong, 1972)
,
pp. 3–6. © 1972 Diana J. Mukpo.

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism,
edited by John Baker and Marvin Casper, illustrated by Glen Eddy (Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 1987). © 1973 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“Cynicism and Warmth,” in
The Vajradhatu Sun
(December 1989–January 1990), p. 11. © 1989 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“Dome Darshan,” in
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche at Lama Foundation
(San Cristobal, N.M.: Lama Foundation, 1974), pp. 4–11. © 1974 by Lama Foundation. Used by gracious permission of Lama Foundation.

Foreword to
Buddha in the Palm of Your Hand
by Ösel Tendzin, edited by Donna Holm (Boulder & London: Shambhala Publications, 1982), pp. xi–xiii. © 1982 by Diana J. Mukpo.

Foreword to
Living Dharma: Teachings of Twelve Buddhist Masters
by Jack Kornfield. (Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 1977), p. vii. © 1977 by Diana J. Mukpo.

Foreword to
Mahamudra: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation
by Takpo Tashi Namgyal, translated and annotated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa (Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 1986), pp. xv–xvi. © 1986 Diana J. Mukpo.

Foreword to
The History of the Sixteen Karmapas of Tibet
by Karma Thinley (Boulder: Prajñā Press, 1980), p. vii. © 1980 Diana J. Mukpo.

Foreword to
Women of Wisdom
by Tsultrim Allione (London, Boston, Melbourne & Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984), p. viii. © 1984 Diana J. Mukpo.

Foreword to
Jewel Ornament of Liberation
by sGam.po.pa, translated by Herbert Guenther (Berkeley: Shambhala Publications, 1971). p. vi. © 1971 Diana J. Mukpo.

Foreword to
Mandala
by José and Miriam Argüelles (Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1995). p. 8. © 1973 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“Freedom Is a Kind of Gyp,”
East West Journal
5, no. 6 (June 15, 1975), p. 15. © 1975
East West Journal.
Used by permission.

The Heart of the Buddha,
edited by Judith L. Lief (Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 1991). © 1991 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“Report from Outside the Closet,” in
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche at Lama Foundation
(San Cristobal, N.M.: Lama Foundation, 1974), p. 36. © 1974 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“The Myth of Don Juan: An Interview with Chögyam Trungpa” by Karl Ray, in
Codex Shambhala
4, no. 1 (1975), pp. 1, 23–24. © 1975 by Shambhala Publications.

The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation,
edited by John Baker and Marvin Casper, illustrated by Glen Eddy (Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 1988). © 1976 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“The Three-Yana Principle in Tibetan Buddhism,” in
Sangha: A Bi-annual Journal
1, no. 1 (Autumn 1974). © 1974 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“The Tibetan Buddhist Teachings and Their Application.” Based on two versions: the first published in
The Laughing Man
1, no. 1 (1976); the second published in
Friends of the Buddhadharma,
Bulletin Number One (Spring 1978). © 2003 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“The Wisdom of Tibetan Teachings,”
The American Theosophist
60, no. 5 (May 1972), pp. 117–19. © 1972 by Diana J. Mukpo.

“Tower House Discussions I and II,” in
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche at Lama Foundation
(San Cristobal, N.M.: Lama Foundation, 1974, pp. 12–23. © 1974 by Lama Foundation. Used by gracious permission of Lama Foundation.

“Transcending Materialism,” in
Garuda I: Tibetan Buddhism in America
(Barnet, Vt. & Boulder, Colo.: Tail of the Tiger and Karma Dzong.
Garuda I
(1971), pp. 6–10. © 1971 by Diana J. Mukpo.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
WOULD LIKE TO THANK
James Minkin, editor of
Dawn Horse
and
The Laughing Man,
for locating and sending a copy of “The Tibetan Buddhist Teachings and Their Application,” and to James Gimian for helping me to locate James Minkin! Tom Bonoma at Shambhala Publications provided photocopies of several forewords that appear in Volume Three. Melvin McLeod, James Gimian, and others at the
Shambhala Sun
magazine provided unfettered access to the archives of both the
Vajradhatu Sun
and the
Shambhala Sun.
Emily Sell loaned me her copy of
Women of Wisdom
so that I might photocopy the foreword. Gordon Kidd at the Shambhala Archives helped me to locate several articles. Amanda Lydon, an editorial intern at
Natural Health
magazine, helped me track down a copy of “Freedom Is a Kind of Gyp,” an interview that appeared in
East West Journal
in 1975. Thanks to all these people for their assistance.

I would like to thank John Baker and Marvin Casper for having edited both
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
and
The Myth of Freedom.
To John, additional thanks for providing information on the history of the editing of both books. Judith L. Lief, the editor of
The Heart of the Buddha,
deserves thanks for putting together that charming volume. As well, I am grateful for her comments on the editorial history of the book. Thanks also to Lama Foundation,
The Laughing Man,
Routledge, and
Natural Health
for permission to reproduce material by Chögyam Trungpa. Philip Barry at Shambhala Booksellers in Berkeley, California, was exceedingly helpful in getting information on the
Shambhala Codex
and the
Shambhala Review of Books and Ideas.
Sam Bercholz suggested I contact Philip and thus led me to the source of information I was searching for.

To Shambhala Publications, particularly Samuel Bercholz, Kendra Crossen Burroughs, and Emily Hilburn Sell, tremendous thanks for the support of this series. To Diana Mukpo and the Mukpo family, deepest appreciation for their support of this work. And finally, to Chögyam Trungpa himself, the most profound thanks for having given the extraordinary teachings that are published in this book. May we continue to carry high the standard of dharma that he brought to the West.

A BIOGRAPHY OF CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA

T
HE
V
ENERABLE
C
HÖGYAM
T
RUNGPA
was born in the province of Kham in eastern Tibet in 1939. When he was just thirteen months old, Chögyam Trungpa was recognized as a major tulku, or incarnate teacher. According to Tibetan tradition, an enlightened teacher is capable, based on his or her vow of compassion, of reincarnating in human form over a succession of generations. Before dying, such a teacher may leave a letter or other clues to the whereabouts of the next incarnation. Later, students and other realized teachers look through these clues and, based on those plus a careful examination of dreams and visions, conduct searches to discover and recognize the successor. Thus, particular lines of teaching are formed, in some cases extending over many centuries. Chögyam Trungpa was the eleventh in the teaching lineage known as the Trungpa Tulkus.

Once young tulkus are recognized, they enter a period of intensive training in the theory and practice of the Buddhist teachings. Trungpa Rinpoche, after being enthroned as supreme abbot of Surmang Monastery and governor of Surmang District, began a period of training that would last eighteen years, until his departure from Tibet in 1959. As a Kagyü tulku, his training was based on the systematic practice of meditation and on refined theoretical understanding of Buddhist philosophy. One of the four great lineages of Tibet, the Kagyü is known as the practicing (or practice) lineage.

At the age of eight, Trungpa Rinpoche received ordination as a novice monk. Following this, he engaged in intensive study and practice of the traditional monastic disciplines, including traditional Tibetan poetry and monastic dance. His primary teachers were Jamgön Kongtrül of Sechen and Khenpo Gangshar—leading teachers in the Nyingma and Kagyü lineages. In 1958, at the age of eighteen, Trungpa Rinpoche completed his studies, receiving the degrees of kyorpön (doctor of divinity) and khenpo (master of studies). He also received full monastic ordination.

The late 1950s were a time of great upheaval in Tibet. As it became clear that the Chinese communists intended to take over the country by force, many people, both monastic and lay, fled the country. Trungpa Rinpoche spent many harrowing months trekking over the Himalayas (described later in his book
Born in Tibet
). After narrowly escaping capture by the Chinese, he at last reached India in 1959. While in India, Trungpa Rinpoche was appointed to serve as spiritual adviser to the Young Lamas Home School in Delhi, India. He served in this capacity from 1959 to 1963.

Trungpa Rinpoche’s opportunity to emigrate to the West came when he received a Spaulding sponsorship to attend Oxford University. At Oxford he studied comparative religion, philosophy, history, and fine arts. He also studied Japanese flower arranging, receiving a degree from the Sogetsu School. While in England, Trungpa Rinpoche began to instruct Western students in the dharma, and in 1967 he founded the Samye Ling Meditation Center in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. During this period, he also published his first two books, both in English:
Born in Tibet
(1966) and
Meditation in Action
(1969).

In 1968 Trungpa Rinpoche traveled to Bhutan, where he entered into a solitary meditation retreat. While on retreat, Rinpoche received
¹
a pivotal text for all of his teaching in the West, “The Sadhana of Mahamudra,” a text that documents the spiritual degeneration of modern times and its antidote, genuine spirituality that leads to the experience of naked and luminous mind. This retreat marked a pivotal change in his approach to teaching. Soon after returning to England, he became a layperson, putting aside his monastic robes and dressing in ordinary Western attire. In 1970 he married a young Englishwoman, Diana Pybus, and together they left Scotland and moved to North America. Many of his early students and his Tibetan colleagues found these changes shocking and upsetting. However, he expressed a conviction that in order for the dharma to take root in the West, it needed to be taught free from cultural trappings and religious fascination.

During the seventies, America was in a period of political and cultural ferment. It was a time of fascination with the East. Nevertheless, almost from the moment he arrived in America, Trungpa Rinpoche drew many students to him who were seriously interested in the Buddhist teachings and the practice of meditation. However, he severely criticized the materialistic approach to spirituality that was also quite prevalent, describing it as a “spiritual supermarket.” In his lectures, and in his books
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
(1973) and
The Myth of Freedom
(1976), he pointed to the simplicity and directness of the practice of sitting meditation as the way to cut through such distortions of the spiritual journey.

During his seventeen years of teaching in North America, Trungpa Rinpoche developed a reputation as a dynamic and controversial teacher. He was a pioneer, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist teachers in North America, preceding by some years and indeed facilitating the later visits by His Holiness the Karmapa, His Holiness Khyentse Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and many others. In the United States, he found a spiritual kinship with many Zen masters, who were already presenting Buddhist meditation. In the very early days, he particularly connected with Suzuki Roshi, the founder of Zen Center in San Francisco. In later years he was close with Kobun Chino Roshi and Bill Kwong Roshi in Northern California; with Maezumi Roshi, the founder of the Los Angeles Zen Center; and with Eido Roshi, abbot of the New York Zendo Shobo-ji .

Fluent in the English language, Chögyam Trungpa was one of the first Tibetan Buddhist teachers who could speak to Western students directly, without the aid of a translator. Traveling extensively throughout North America and Europe, he gave thousands of talks and hundred of seminars. He established major centers in Vermont, Colorado, and Nova Scotia, as well as many smaller meditation and study centers in cities throughout North America and Europe. Vajradhatu was formed in 1973 as the central administrative body of this network.

In 1974 Trungpa Rinpoche founded the Naropa Institute (now Naropa University), which became the first and only accredited Buddhist-inspired university in North America. He lectured extensively at the institute, and his book
Journey without Goal
(1981) is based on a course he taught there. In 1976 he established the Shambhala Training program, a series of seminars that present a nonsectarian path of spiritual warriorship grounded in the practice of sitting meditation. His book
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
(1984) gives an overview of the Shambhala teachings.

In 1976 Trungpa Rinpoche appointed Ösel Tendzin (Thomas F. Rich) as his Vajra Regent, or dharma heir. Ösel Tendzin worked closely with Trungpa Rinpoche in the administration of Vajradhatu and Shambhala Training. He taught extensively from 1976 until his death in 1990 and is the author of
Buddha in the Palm of Your Hand.