Recommended Readings
The following is a list of books and publications by the Vidyadhara, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, published by Vajradhatu Publications in Halifax and Shambhala Publications in Boston. Many of these books are used as source material for our courses.
Shambhala Training
The quintessential teachings on Shambhala. "The Shambhala teachings are founded on the premise that there is basic human wisdom that can help to solve the world's problems. This wisdom does not belong to any one culture or religion, nor does it come only from the West or the East. Rather, it is a tradition of human warriorship that has existed in many cultures at many times throughout history" (Excerpt from Chapter One, Shambhala: the Sacred Path of the Warrior.)
The journey that began in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior reaches a new level of intimacy and depth in this book, based on talks Chögyam Trungpa gave in the last ten years of his life.
Buddhadharma
This book spans the gulf between the esoteric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the everyday joys, sorrows and questions of spirituality in everyday modern life. This presentation of the spiritual path focuses on the role of expectation and promise of reward.
In a series of talks on the life of Padmasambhava (the teacher who first brought the Buddhist teachings to Tibet), Rinpoche presents the notion of "crazy wisdom" -- a perspective of freshness and innocence that provides practitioners a means of discovering delight in the challenges of daily existence.
This book is a series of talks and lectures which span Rinpoche's presentation of the essential buddhist teachings, as well as an overview of his teachings on a variety of other subjects.
Based on a course taught at The Naropa Institute in 1974, this book presents a comprehensive overview of the essential teachings on the Vajrayana.
This commentary on the life of the great Indian pandit Naropa examines an extraordinary journey away from conventional attitudes toward a naked encounter with reality, which still has significance for contemporary Western practitioners.
An introduction to the vajrayana through an in-depth discussion of the nine yanas, or vehicles, relating ancient wisdom to modern life.
This is the first comprehensive book by Rinpoche published in English. It remains one of the core sources of his teaching on the basic Buddhist journey.
Our attitudes, preconceptions, and even our spiritual practices can become chains that bind us to repetitive patterns of frustration and despair. Trungpa Rinpoche explains the significant role that meditation plays in bringing into focus the causes of frustration and in allowing these negative forces to become aids in advancing towards true freedom.
Orderly Chaos: The Mandala Principle
According to the mandala principle, all phenomena are part of one's reality. Whether good or bad, happy or sad, everything is interrelated and reflects a single totality. From the perspective of the mandala principle, existence is orderly chaos.
The slogans ("pithy sayings") along with commentary by Trungpa Rinpoche contained in this book are designed to awaken the heart and cultivate love and kindness towards others. They are revolutionary in that practicing them fosters abandonment of personal territory in relating to others and in understanding the world as it is.
A very earthy description of the ground, path, and fruition of shunyata from a practitioner's perspective. Ground: being by not being, path: wisdom and compassion, and fruition: ultimate nonego. Ground is hopeless, path is confused and fruition is impossible. Lively and unsettling discussion periods evoking on the spot the experience being described. Based on 1972 Karmê-Chöling seminar.
Art and Life
"Dharma art" refers to creative works that spring from the awakened meditative state, characterized by directness, unselfconsciousness, and nonaggression. Trungpa Rinpoche shows that dharma art provides a vehicle to appreciate the nature of things as they are and express it without any struggle or desire to achieve.
The Art of Calligraphy features
The Vidyadhara was an accomplished and renowned poet. This book is a collection of poetry written in the late sixties through the early eighties.
A selection of the Vidyadhara's poetry with a foreword by Allen Ginsberg.
A collection of early poetry and essays.
Biographical
This is the autobiographical story of the life of Trungpa Rinpoche from his early childhood through his escape from Tibet in 1959. This edition includes an afterword that provides an update through 1976.
Chögyam Trungpa wrote more than two dozen books on Buddhism and the Shambhala path of warriorship. The Essential Chögyam Trungpa blends excerpts from bestsellers like Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior , Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism , Meditation in Action , and other titles into a concise overview of Trungpa's teachings. Forty selections from fourteen different books articulate the secular path of the Shambhala warrior as well as the Buddhist path of meditation and awakening. This "new classic" vividly demonstrates Trungpa's great appreciation of Western culture which, combined with his deep understanding of the Tibetan tradition, makes these teachings uniquely accessible to contemporary readers. It will appeal to beginning students of meditation as well as seasoned readers of Eastern religion.
Other
A selection of edited transcripts from five Buddhist-Christian conferences hosted by Naropa Institute between 1981 and 1986.
Teachings by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, taken from works published by Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources. To subscribe, visit the Chögyam Trungpa website.
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