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NOV 12, 2019 12 MINUTES

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Cultivating Original Enlightenment: Wonhyo’s Exposition of the Vajrasamadhi-Sutra (Kumgang Sammaegyong Non)

translated by Robert E. Buswell Jr.

University of Hawaii Press, 2018 438 pages; $32.00

IMAGINE a world where dictionaries did not exist and books did not have tables of contents, indexes, or even pages that could be turned, and where note-taking and collation had to be done without a ready supply of paper. In that world libraries were extremely rare, only occasionally filled with hand-copied manuscripts brought back by foot or horseback from China by officials and Buddhist pilgrims who had traveled for months. These are the conditions under which the eminent Korean monk Wonhyo (617–686) wrote his commentary on the Vajrasamadhi Sutra. Despite these and other challenges, Wonhyo was not only able to write the commentary but to do so with consistency, precision, and coherence. This is exactly what Robert E. Buswell Jr., in Cultivating Original Enlightenment, his masterful translation of Wonhyo’s magnum opus, demonstrates with utmost clarity.

Buswell’s translation completes a long intellectual journey that this much respected scholar of Buddhism began over thirty years ago. In 1989, Buswell published his study of the Vajrasamadhi Sutra, which was based on his doctoral thesis published a few years earlier. In this pioneering study, Buswell made a provocative claim: the Vajrasamadhi Sutra was an indigenous scripture written in Korea by an early adept of Son (Chan) Buddhism sometime in the late seventh century. Decades have passed since this claim was first made, but it still remains the most widely accepted view of how the current version of the sutra came into existence. Like all Buddhist scriptures, the Vajrasamadhi Sutra was long presumed to have originated in India. Catalogues of Buddhist scriptures compiled in China reveal that the Vajrasamadhi Sutra was translated into Chinese in the fourth century but was considered lost by the early seventh. According to a legendary account preserved in a collection of biographies edited by the Chinese monk Zanning (919–1001), the scripture miraculously reappeared from the ocean with the help of the dragon king and made its way to Korea during Wonhyo’s lifetime. Buswell’s claim is that this Vajrasamadhi Sutra is not the fourth-century version but a new version written by a Korean Buddhist adept for a seventh-century audience who specialized in early forms of Son Buddhism.

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When reading Buswell’s translation of the scripture and its commentary, it is worth bearing in mind that seventh-century Chan bears only a little resemblance to the Buddhist tradition of the same name that we tend to associate with koans, which emerged centuries later. Far from being a group of eccentric monks and nuns who taught the wordless truth in seemingly unconventional ways, the early Chan masters specialized in the interpretation of scriptures such as the Lankavatara Sutra, Diamond Sutra, and Vimalakirti Sutra; this is what their contemporaries would have expected the best teachers of Buddhism to do. The most revered monks in China at the time were, indeed, translators and exegetes such as Xuanzang (600?–664), Kuiji (632–682), Daoxuan (596–667), and Zhiyan (602–668). Like these eminent monks, early Chan masters also focused on a set of scriptures, but they tended to read them as guides to the practice of “contemplating the mind” or, more simply, meditation. Buswell contends that the new Vajrasamadhi Sutra, which also focuses on the practice of contemplation, was probably written for this audience.

Unlike the author of the Vajrasamadhi Sutra, Wonhyo may not have been particularly interested in using his commentary to win over the early Chan and Son communities. Like any Buddhist commentary, the purpose of Wonhyo’s work was to provide the newly “recovered” scripture with a definitive interpretation of its meaning and invest it with significance; however, as Buswell points out, the historical circumstances under which the commentary was written make it abundantly clear that it also served a different political purpose.

Wonhyo lived in a kingdom known as Silla. Not long before he wrote the commentary, Silla had conquered its peninsular neighbors, Paekche and Koguryo, by forging a strategic alliance with Tang China (618–907). Silla drove the Chinese forces out to the northern edges of the Korean peninsula shortly thereafter. Rather than prolong the war, Silla eventually chose to restore peaceful relations with Tang China by agreeing to become a tributary state, but the Korean kingdom continued its efforts to present itself as a cultural equal of China. As a project that would be able to demonstrate Silla’s ability to participate in one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded cultural activities in East Asia (that is, scriptural exegesis), the successful completion of a commentary on a scripture recovered in Silla could not help but be entwined with, as Buswell puts it, the politically charged issue of Silla’s cultural self-sufficiency visà-vis China.

The task of demonstrating self-sufficiency this way couldn’t be entrusted to just anyone. It had to be someone of Wonhyo’s intellectual caliber and erudition. Although he had never traveled to China, Wonhyo was well versed in a wide variety of Buddhist literature—before he began the commentary on the Vajrasamadhi Sutra, Wonhyo had already written commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, Srimaladevisimhanada Sutra, Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Awakening of Faith in Mahayana, Lankavatara Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra, Brahma’s Net Sutra, Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, Mahayanasamgraha, Pure Land scriptures, Yogacara treatises, and more. As Buswell’s rich annotations make clear, Wonhyo used his knowledge of these texts to render the meaning of the Vajrasamadhi Sutra more explicit.

Particularly useful in preparing the commentary was a heuristic distinction that the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana makes between original and acquired enlightenment. As scholars of Buddhism have shown, making this distinction was necessary to address a problem inherent to the notion of original enlightenment, also known as tathagatagarbha, or the “embryo of buddhahood”: if sentient beings possess a mind that is intrinsically pure and luminous and defilements are nothing but illusions, then why is cultivation necessary? Wonhyo’s commentary delves deep into the complex arguments presented in tathagatagarbha and Yogacara literature to explain why cultivation or, more precisely, contemplation is necessary. As Buswell eloquently explains in the short introductory study placed at the beginning of his book, Wonhyo argues that the mind is simultaneously deluded and enlightened, but the aspiration to acquire enlightenment comes from original enlightenment. Buswell thus concludes that original enlightenment in Wonhyo’s work “is transformed from an abstract concept into a practical tool of meditative learning.” The goal of this meditative learning is to reach that point where all phenomena are perceived to have but the “single taste” of liberation or enlightenment. Wonhyo’s commentary suggests that this discovery can be made gradually with the help of six sequentially arranged contemplations.

Wonhyo’s commentary was not, however, meant to function explicitly as a meditation manual. Rather, it was meant to serve as a definitive and authoritative explanation of how enlightenment as a process works. What Wonhyo presents in his commentary, in other words, is not so much a practical guide as a theoretical map. And the map that Wonhyo draws is far from a straight path. It is a labyrinth. Like all other Buddhist commentaries from this period, Wonhyo’s commentary does not simply offer a clarification of passages and definitions of terms; it also superimposes what Buswell calls a “hermeneutic superstructure” over the text of the scripture. This verbose and turgid superstructure makes the commentary (and, naturally, Buswell’s translation) a challenge to read. But it is certainly a worthwhile challenge, especially for readers interested in Buddhist theories of contemplative practice and original enlightenment.

Wonhyo’s commentary was not meant to function explicitly as a meditation manual. Rather, it was meant to serve as a definitive and authoritative explanation of how enlightenment as a process works.

Regardless of how well versed the reader may be in Buddhist thought, a careful reading of the introductory study is therefore highly recommended. In addition to a general introduction to the doctrinal arguments presented in the Vajrasamadhi Sutra and its commentary, the study also provides one of the most informative and yet readable introductions to the Buddhist commentarial genre in East Asia. Despite the long history of the modern study of Buddhism, this genre has not received the attention that it deserves. Painfully aware of this, Buswell presents a compelling argument for the importance of studying commentaries, the mastery of which was considered a hallowed religious practice that only the most talented and hence revered members of the monastic community were expected to accomplish. Even today, only a few can claim to have the requisite knowledge and linguistic skills to properly study this genre. Needless to say, Buswell is one of them.

In sum, Buswell should be applauded for undertaking the important task of providing a complete translation of a Buddhist commentary. Not only can we use the translation to learn about the intellectual debates that preoccupied the most famous Buddhist thinkers from this period in East Asian Buddhist history, but we can also get a good sense of how exegesis works as a spiritual practice. This is an important form of Buddhist practice that, again, has been neglected by the English-speaking world for far too long. Buswell should also be applauded for his decision to offer a more literal translation of Wonhyo’s work. Although some, for instance, may want to fault him for using the translation “edge of reality” for the Sino-Korean term silche (presumed to be bhutakoti, or “ultimate state,” in Sanskrit), the translation does a great job of preserving the spatial metaphor that is embedded within the term, which refers to that point in the contemplative path where one leaves behind illusion. Literal translations like this also do a great job of preserving the seriousness and strangeness of the language of the commentary, a genre that was established on the foundation that even familiar words can prove to be the most challenging to understand and, hence, enlightening. ■

Related Interests

Buddha Nature

Buddhist Texts

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Enlightenment In Buddhism

Yoga And The Quest For True Self : Cope, Stephen

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Yoga And The Quest For True Self Paperback – 15 September 2000
by Stephen Cope (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 230 ratings


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"What a delight to find a book on spiritual practice that's as compelling to read as a good novel. This honest, intelligent, and beautifully written book is required reading for anyone interested in spiritual practice today."
-- Lilias Folan, host of the PBS series Lilias!

"A tour de force...a book grounded in yoga psychology that will be meaningful and useful to spiritual practitioners in many traditions."
--Sylvia Boorstein, author of It's Easier Than You Think and That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist

"A down-to-earth, wise, spiritually mature and compassionate teaching that integrates the best of yoga and our own Western humanity. Destined to be a classic."
--Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart
From the Back Cover
Millions of Americans know yoga as a superb form of exercise and as a potent source of calm in our stress-filled lives. Far fewer are aware of the full promise of yoga as a 4,000-year-old practical path of liberation--a path that fits the needs of modern Western seekers with startling precision. Now Stephen Cope, a Western-trained psychotherapist who has lived and taught for more than ten years at the largest yoga center in America, offers this marvelously lively and irreverent "pilgrim's progress" for today's world. He demystifies the philosophy, psychology, and practice of yoga, and shows how it applies to our most human dilemmas: from loss, disappointment, and addiction, to the eternal conflicts around sex and relationship. And he shows us that in yoga, "liberation" does not require us to leave our everyday lives for some transcendent spiritual plane--life itself is the path. Above all, Cope shows how yoga can heal the suffering of self-estrangement that pervades our society, leading us to a new sense of purpose and to a deeper, more satisfying life in the world.

About the Author
Stephen Cope is a psychotherapist who writes and teaches about the relationship between contemporary psychology and the Eastern contemplative traditions. He holds degrees from Amherst College and Boston College. He is currently Scholar-in-Residence at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts, the largest residential yoga center in the world. This is his first book.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ BANTAM DELL; 1st edition (15 September 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages


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Stephen Cope is a psychotherapist, senior Kripalu yoga teacher, and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. He is currently Senior Scholar in Residence at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts.

His homepage can be found at: www.stephencope.com



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Elizabeth
2.0 out of 5 stars Western ideas of yoga.Reviewed in Australia on 21 August 2019
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The author introduces Yoga to a Western audience. From one particular school of thought. He also interlaces modern psychological ideas throughout.
It wasn't what I was looking for, I wanted to read more first hand accounts, rather than the psychoanalysis of people.
It is well written, just not my cup of tea.


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Miss M Wilkinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulously enlightening book on the spiritual/psychological aspects of yogaReviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2019
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I don't normally leave reviews but I wanted to express just how much I've loved reading this book and what a vital tool I've found it on my yoga path. I've been practising yoga for several years to manage my physical and mental health, and because I never feel closer to myself or more at peace than when I'm in a posture or being with my breath. So I found the blending of a psychoanalytic and yogic perspective really exciting, and it answered a lot of questions about how best to use yoga as a tool for healing and to get closer to your true self. I found the section on developing one's equanimity practice to keep up with the insights gained in awareness practice particularly useful as I have found myself somewhat overwhelmed by the latter in recent times. So this book came at the right time for me and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who loves yoga or is looking for a way to manage their suffering. I found the first chapter a little slow but after that I couldn't put it down so if you find that too then stick with it, it's so worth it :)

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Nicola
5.0 out of 5 stars So much beauty in this bookReviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 September 2020
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This book expresses what I have experienced directly through my yoga practice but struggled to put into words. It offers a beautiful integration of psychology and spiritually and I'd recommend it to therapists, yoga teachers and anyone interested in embodied spirituality.

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TheHolisticTherapist
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book so much that I often go back ...Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 September 2016
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Absolute a must read for yoga teachers, students and practitioners. A blend of personal experience, psychology, yoga and a very in depth discussion of the spiritual path. I loved this book so much that I often go back to re-read certain passages of it. Bravo Stephen for writing such an honest account of the yoga path.

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Tm
5.0 out of 5 stars So far so goodReviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2020
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I buy too many books, but enjoyed this so far. Nice to hear from a mans perspective
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Mrs. D. A. Naven
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 May 2018
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An extremely thought provoking book. It is a 'must' read for everyone who takes Yoga seriously .

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==================================================

Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

by
Stephen Cope
4.14 · Rating details · 1,802 ratings · 166 reviews

Millions of Americans know yoga as a superb form of exercise and as a potent source of calm in our stress-filled lives. Far fewer are aware of the full promise of yoga as a 4,000-year-old practical path of liberation—a path that fits the needs of modern Western seekers with startling precision. Now Stephen Cope, a Western-trained psychotherapist who has lived and taught for more than ten years at the largest yoga center in America, offers this marvelously lively and irreverent "pilgrim's progress" for today's world. He demystifies the philosophy, psychology, and practice of yoga, and shows how it applies to our most human dilemmas: from loss, disappointment, and addiction, to the eternal conflicts around sex and relationship. And he shows us that in yoga, "liberation" does not require us to leave our everyday lives for some transcendent spiritual plane—life itself is the path. Above all, Cope shows how yoga can heal the suffering of self-estrangement that pervades our society, leading us to a new sense of purpose and to a deeper, more satisfying life in the world. (less)


Paperback, 384 pages
Published September 5th 2000 by Bantam (first published October 5th 1999)
Original Title
Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

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Apr 29, 2012Craig Shoemake rated it it was amazing
Shelves: indian-religion, yoga, indian-philosophy, meditation, kundalini-yoga, kripalu-yoga, yoga-and-psychotherapy
It is not often I use the “M word” to describe a book. No, I’m not talking about munchkin books or maleficient books. I’m talking about masterpieces. I am not certain if Stephen Cope’s bestseller is a masterpiece. Maybe it is, maybe not. Either way, it is pretty damn good.

This is one of those books that entertains and educates you in a visceral way right from the start. Large chunks are written in immediate narrative format–as in “he said,” “I said,” etc. It is Stephen Cope’s personal yoga story–a sort of “pilgrim’s progress,” if you will–as well as the yoga story of his many friends and acquaintances before and during his long and continuing stay at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

We meet a man, a practicing Boston psychotherapist, who for a variety of reasons was feeling unsettled and dissatisfied with his life and then, somewhat to his dismay, found himself joining a religious community to do…what? Much of the book is an answer to that and related questions: What did he want? Why? What was he trying to do at Kripalu? What was–is–the meaning of yoga? What is enlightenment? Is such a thing possible? Are there enlightened people in this world? And what happens when all the things we try to keep hidden are revealed for the world to see?

Stephen Cope furrows through all these questions and more. His sincerity, his intensity, his intelligence, make the book a gripping read. Its pages educate the reader even as Cope the protagonist is educated by his experiences in the ashram. Yoga philosophy is pondered over, its depths turned up, and its many connections to Western psychotherapy reflected upon, all in gratifyingly sober, lucid prose. This is no idealistic hippy’s tale, nor a wide-eyed New Age search for Reality. In point of fact, it is one man’s search for himself, even as he helps us understand that the discipline, the science, the art of yoga, is there to help us lay ourselves bare to ourselves.

“You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” This book is a testament to these words, but it goes beyond them for the “truth” as yoga reveals to Stephen Cope is an ever living, organic thing, the stuff of our lives, which we either enjoy and let go of or cling to and warp, eventually to destroy.

You will find yourself in this book. In one of the many personal portraits Cope draws, you will find your own symptoms and neuroses, your fears, dreams and failings. And when you do, you will know that yoga has something to offer you. There is so much teaching here, and it is given in such generous, gentle and wise ways. Most of all, I think the primacy of ourselves as bodily beings, as thinking, feeling, dreaming animals of earth, is borne out. The body really is our temple, and yoga is our puja, an act of adoration, discipline and feast. Cope nails it in what might be the defining statement of the book: “Because yoga asanas are not so much about exercise as they are about learning and unlearning, it is not the movement itself, but the quality of attention we bring to the movement that makes postures qualify as yoga” (230). If this is so–and I know it is–then any act, any breath, any thought done with full and alive attention, is yoga.

Bobby Fischer once said “Chess is life.” I would say “Yoga is life,” and Stephen Cope’s book has made this truth abundantly clear.

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Sep 10, 2010David Guy rated it liked it
I picked this book up on a whim because I have been doing yoga and reading up on it, and I was intrigued by the title. Cope is a therapist who went to Kripalu (a yoga center in Western Massachusetts) and basically never left. He writes very well, and tells a lot of stories. There was something about the book I found vaguely annoying, maybe all the upper middle class angst of many of the people he was talking about. There was also a lot more psychiatric jargon than I was interested in; I'm nore interested in spiritual practice than in therapy. That having been said, the book has stayed with me, and the basic concept of a false vs. true self seems quite true to me. One can't do justice to it in a few words, but basically the false self is one that we create out of concepts; the true self is the one that is living our daily physical life, and that we too often avoid by going off into our heads. He also mentioned something that R.D. Laing said at a conference of Buddhists and therapists that keeps coming back to me: Human beings are afraid of three things. Their own minds, other people, and death. (less)
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Dec 20, 2015Anne Palmer rated it it was amazing
As a yoga teacher, I figure I am supposed to read yoga books. However I find within three chapters of most books on the subject I am either distracted or bored, or I have already absorbed what I need from the author. That was not the case with this book, which I read daily and finished within two weeks. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self was recommended to me years ago, and I didn't even read it when my yoga studio 8 Limbs held a book group around it. But when a writer friend urged me to give it a chance, I finally relented, to my great advantage. Cope, a psychotherapist who has lived at Kripalu for several decades, uses a memoir framework to deliver some of the most personally valuable teachings about yoga I have received. I recommend this book to yoga practitioners of all levels. Be here now. Read it. Now. (less)
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May 13, 2015Sunshine rated it it was amazing
Shelves: njsunshinebookclub, to-buy
Absolutely transformational. Revolutionized the way I see yoga, myself, life, and relationships with people. There is so much to learn and so much more growth needed, but grateful for a read that deepened my spirituality and religious convictions and changed my perspective for the better.

And my notes from the book because it is a library book and I couldn't underline:

“Most of the branches of Vedanta hold one fundamental view in common: all individual souls are one with the ground of being, the Absolute. Because all beings are one with the great river of life, we are all, in effect, just a single soul. We are, in the classical dictum, ‘One without a second’” (page 42.)

“what we are seeking is already at the core of our nature. ‘We are that’ which we seek. We are already inherently perfect; we have already arrived; and we have the potential in each moment to wake up to our true nature. In the words of one extraordinary teacher whom we’ll meet later on in the book, ‘everything is already OK’” (page 42).

“When we begin to see clearly who we really are, according to this view, we feel a natural friendliness toward all beings. Beneath the surface of our separation, we feel the hidden,unseen threads that link us. We know that we’re exactly alike inside. We’re the same being. As author John Welch says, ‘We are each like a well that has its source in a common underground stream which supplies all. The deeper down I go, the closer I come to the source which puts me in contact with all other life’” (page 43).

“All mystical paths have taught that the union with God, or with the Absolute, subtly transforms the self. Each time we penetrate into samadhi, we have a small death-rebirth experience. Samadhi the world as we know it—its boundaries and categories. The deeper into union I penetrate, the less I am ‘I,’ and the more I am ‘we.’ For this reason, the merger with the One is known to create psychological upheaval and world-shattering shifts in perception” (page 43).

“This love is so overwhelming that you will lose consciousness of the conventional world. You will not be able to entertain the slightest feeling of personal ownership, not even toward the body, which is the most precious and jealously guarded possession of most persons. There will no longer be any instinctive notion that the body or the mind constitutes your being” (page 44).

“The word yoga itself means, literally, to be ‘yoked’—or to be in union. Eventually, repeated penetrations into mystic union transform the physical structure of the body, the personality, and the mind” (page 44).

“In Christianity, don’t you have this understanding: God is both—what do you say—immanent and transcendent? God is both here, within, right now, and is also everywhere? At the same time? It is the same God, the same Reality. Just our language has trouble capturing it. This is the wonderful thing about yoga. You find God right here, right now. In the body. You become a fully alive human being. You become jivan mukta—awake this lifetime. As a human being. Not in, what did you say? Transcendent realm with the angels. No. Not at all. You see, you are an angel” (page 48).

“‘Deep eternity,’ in Emily Dickinson’s phrase, is right here, right now. It is the subtle interior anatomy of the body—and the subtly interior anatomy of this entire world of form.
‘The goal of human life,’ says Ramakrishna,’ is to meet God face to face.’ But the magic is this: if we look deeply into the face of all created things, we will find God. Therefore, savor the world, the body. Open it, explore it, look into it” (page 55).

“When we pay close attention to the world of the many, we inevitably discover the One” (page 58).

“Gitanand was telling the story of a dialogue between a Vedic master and a Western student. ‘The student, confounded by the radically different worldview embodied by his teacher, asks, “Do we live in the same world?” Replies the teacher, ‘Yes, we do. It’s just that you see yourself in the world, and I see the whole world in myself.’ Yogis insist on seeing the world from the inside out” (page 70).

“We can experience the entire reality of the universe directly through a full exploration of the phenomena of our own bodies, feelings, minds. There is nothing that is ‘out there’ that is not also ‘in here’” (page 70).

“‘Disappointment,’ he said, ‘is a much more fertile ground for spiritual practice than dreams’” (page 89).

#1 of page 90-92
“In order for us to fully inhabit our bodies, we need certain kinds of responses from our environment. These include empathic holding, nurturing, mirroring, challenge, optimal frustration, and optimal disillusionment. Problems begin to happen in our developing sense of self when, as infants and children, our real emerging needs and capacities are not met with adequate mirroring, nurturing and sustaining responses. In the post industrial West, the problems of the disembodied sense of self are pandemic. The reasons for this are simple: Because of the breakdown of the extended family in the latter half of this century, we depend upon the depleted resources of small nuclear families, where hard working parents may already feel stretched and needy themselves. This nuclear family upon which we place most of our hopes is all too often an impoverished emotional environment for children. Overburdened parents feel fragmented, insecure, and in some cases terrified by the needs they feel they should be meeting but cannot. They’re hungry to get their own unsatisfied needs met” (page 91).

“The false self is born when the environment does not welcome the self to be as it is” (page 93).

“There is no telling precisely at what chronological age the self will come to one of these crossroads. One thing is certain: these times of meltdown are precious. A delicate window is opened into the very terrain explored and mastered by yogis and buddhas and seers of all kinds. In these times, the soul has a heightened potential to discover the real. There is a palpable longing for the mother, for matter, for the earth, and along with this an openness to the father, to the spirit, to consciousness.
In his commentary on the Yogasutras, Bhagwan S. Rajneesh identifies this meltdown of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ in adulthood as the entry point into yoga” (page 97).

“May we be protected together.
May we be nourished together.
May we work together with great vigor.
May our study be enlightening.
May there be no hatred between us.
Om peace, peace, peace.

Lead us from the unreal to the real.
Lead us from darkness to light.
Lead us from death to immortality” (page 100-101).

“‘Just being in my body makes me happy. I don’t have to do anything, or prove anything. What freedom!’ For the first time in her adult life, Amy had tasted the possibility of a life not lived in the head—or in the abstraction of the edo-ideal—but in the very real world of current direct kinesthetic experience” (page 106).

“The body likes living in reality. Stepping down onto the solid ground of reality always feels better than living in delusion. It may be painful, but there is life in it, energy in it, and, like the ground, it holds us up in a way that delusion does not. ‘Only reality is wholly safe’” (page 112).

“The genius of yogic practice is that it cultivates the capacity to experience a close-range, moment-by-moment inspection of reality. In fact, yoga teaches that living fully in the moment is the only doorway into the hidden realities of the Self” (page 113).

Amrit Desai:
“If you want to experience the joyous ecstasy that life offers, there is one commitment that is absolutely fundamental: the commitment to live in the moment. With that commitment as your guiding focus, whatever you do in your daily life is part of your transformational process. Your commitment to living in the moment becomes your vehicle for spiritual growth.

Living in the moment, however, is the most dangerous situation anybody ever faces in life, because everything you have ever avoided is revealed to you when you live in the moment. You get to face all the denied contents of your subconscious as the reappear again and again through the events of your life” (page 113-114)

“the goal of the reality project is not to disengage from the phenomenal world, but to turn to embrace it more deeply—to discover its hidden depths. And in order to do that paradoxically, we do not reject the vicissitudes of the embodied life. We no not reject suffering. Rather, we turn and go through the doorway of suffering. We turn to embrace our neuroses, our conflicts, our difficult bodies and minds, and we let them be the bridge to a fuller life. Our task is not to free ourselves from the world, but to fully embrace the world—to embrace the real” (page 115).

“Through the practice of yoga, the physical structure is said to be ‘baked,’ or refined, creating a form strong enough to tolerate and hold the powerful energies of the fully alive human being without being roiled or destroyed by them. Without the creation of this hard wiring, as Viveka saw, it was simply not possible to tolerate the subtle levels of awareness into which the quest would take him. Like Viveka, without the development of a compassionate and equananimous body and mind, we literally cannot bear what the seer reveals to us” (page 124).

“‘Laymen often think that the best way to deal with any difficult situation is not to deal with it—to forget it. But you and I have the experience that the only way you can forget is to remember” (page 130).

“do we uncover conflict or do we build up the self?...Both of these pillars of the reality project have to be developed in the context of relationship. We cannot become real in isolation” (page 139).

“My grandparents were most important self-objects for me, allowing me to relax into the stable, calm, nonanxious, powerful, and protective environment that they created with their care. Within the vast and safe container of their nurturing, I was allowed to discover my true self” (page 142).

“The truth is, however, that all the yoga postures in the world cannot create the opening of the heart. In their original context, yogic practices were completely submerged in a web of relationship” (page 142-143).”

“that which is damaged in relationship must also be healed within relationship, and character can only truly be transformed through relationship—not through solitary practice” (page 144).

“Ramakrishna always used the language of the mother and child in explaining his relationship with God. As he once put it, ‘One must have the yearning for God of a child when his mother is away’” (page 145).

“about the importance of other human beings in the ongoing creation of th self. He understood that only other human beings can initiate us into the Real. One of his most useful proverbs was this: ‘Company is more powerful than willpower’” (page 166).

“When we carry a heavy load of repressed, hidden, and unitegrated experience, we are constantly seeking out relationships that will help us hold this experience, to reveal it in the actual dramas of our lives, and, hopefully, eventually bring it to a more successful conclusion—to heal it” (page 182).

“Reality must be, in a sense, triangulated. It takes two sets of eyes, not just one, to accurately locate the third point in space. The ‘third’ becomes a powerful still point, constructed out of the interaction of two minds and hearts” (page 183).

“‘Sometimes, rest is the highest spiritual practice’” (page 241).

“Real healing happens in relaxation, and unless we’re relaxing, we are not healing” (page 242).

“What begins as an experientially grounded practice—one that asks us to take nothing at all on faith, indeed, asks only that we pay attention to the body—brings us finally and inexorably back to God. The physical is revealed to be spiritual. The spiritual is revealed to be physical” (page 268).

“You thought that union was a way you could decide to go.
But the soul follows things rejected and almost forgotten.
Your true guide drinks from an undammed stream” -Rumi (page 273).

people to look into:
Marion Woodman: student of Carl Jung
Sylvia Boorstein: psychologist and senior American teacher of Buddhism
Jacquelyn Small: pioneer in the synthesis of spirituality and addictions work
Tom Yeomans: poet, psychologist, and leader in field of spiritual psychotherapy

“‘This is so much that wisdom of Jung,’ continued Marion (Woodman). ‘If we allow ourselves to be ravished the by the irrational, we are compelled to face our own evil. Trust takes on a new dimension. In knowing our own darkness, we know what another’s darkness can release. We learn to forgive and to love. Then, we don’t know from moment to moment what will happen next. As your Pashupats clearly understood—this is God’s country, not ours’” (page 289).

“After long searches here and there, in temples and in churches, in earths and in heavens, at last you come back, completing the circle from where you started, to your own soul and find that He, for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded in the clouds, is nearest of the near, is your own Self, the reality of you life, body, and soul” -Swami Vivekenanda (page 290).

“In order to hear the teaching, we must slow down, cultivate awareness, and tune in. Most of all, we have to drop our hopes and dreams and preconceived notions of how it should be. We must look at how it is. We must look with a mind that lets go. Then we will see” (page 292).

“And the worst part is that at the same time that we’re leaning in toward the magic powers [of another], we will miss the real, more subtle, ordinary magic of transformation in our lives” (page 295).
“As I sat with myself…” (page 295). emphasis added, with not by

“Whatever transformation was happening was surely going to be by grace, not effort. Through letting go, rather than hot pursuit” (page 295).

“When all is said and done, most of the stages of spiritual practice are stages of grief work” (page 296). (less)
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Oct 11, 2016Saiisha rated it it was amazing
Shelves: self-help, spiritual, reviewed
I loved this book! I didn't quite know what to expect when I picked it up, but yoga has been dear to me all my life, and of course, the quest for the true self is central to yoga philosophy, so I had to read it. It's a well-written, well-researched book, but with none of the pedantic clinginess to theory - which is difficult to avoid when the author's trying to deal with a 4,000 year old philosophy, that has evolved and morphed over all those years.

But Stephen Cope brings a delightful fresh eye to yoga by bringing the reader along on his journey as a student of yoga. It's a satisfying journey to be part of, from the moment he decides to step into Kripalu Yoga Center, to how he integrates the different teachings into an understanding of his own in the end. I was surprised that he included the stories about the falling apart of Kripalu amidst the scandals of its leader, and then how the community came together to rebuild it again. I also appreciated the appendix about the metaphysics of yoga.

It was a valuable read. I took lots of notes. And I'll probably revisit it from time to time.

If you're interested in spirituality, philosophy, yoga, etc., join my Old Souls Book Club (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...) for other recommendations and thought-provoking conversations! (less)
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May 19, 2012Dianne Lange rated it really liked it
This classic goes on my to reread, reread, and reread shelf. So many lessons in living, spirituality, psychology. Cope says it best: "Such a simple lesson. Such a dfficult lesson. It doesn't matter what you call it: Yoga. Buddhism. Christianity. Relaxation. Consciousness. As Ajahn Chah says, 'Teach the essence of freedom from grasping and call it what you like.' " (less)
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Dec 24, 2009Clif Brittain rated it liked it
I wrote a totally brilliant review of this book that will reveal all the secrets of yoga. However, I was on a public terminal and the session timed out, losing the entire review. You lose.
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Jul 13, 2012Kris Anderson rated it it was amazing
This was the book that first introduced me to Vipassanna meditation which I eventually took part of in the sub-tropical alps of south central Mexico.
I'll call it the beginning to a new me. (less)
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Dec 21, 2015Harriette rated it it was amazing
This book changed my life.
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Jul 04, 2014Byron Stripling rated it it was amazing
This was one of those life changing books for me! I don't do Yoga on a regular basis but still the thoughts and observations the author makes have really touched me personally. Rather than continue trying to describe the book - I'd encourage you to read it and leave you with this quote from the book.
From page 129...
"We can 'put away' the lunatic, raging aunts and the sex -obsessed alcoholic uncles of our psychic life. We can lock them up in the basement of our consciousness. But the more energy we expend in securing the basement door, the more dramatic their appearance will be when they get out. To paraphrase Carl Jung, that which we hold unaware in our unconscious will eventually come to us as fate."

The book is full of these kinds of gems. (less)
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Jul 06, 2015Sian Lile-Pastore rated it really liked it
Y'know what? This book is great, almost five stars. It combines personal stories, psychotherapy, yoga and yoga philosophy and also quotes both Moonstruck and Fame. I'm all in. (less)
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Jun 03, 2016Deadra rated it it was amazing
In preparation for my upcoming yoga teacher certification class. Loved the book and can't wait to start in class learning. (less)
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Jun 29, 2019Greg Williams rated it really liked it
Shelves: inspiration-spirituality, health
Insightful and interesting deep-dive into yoga practice, inner wisdom and its connection with traditional/historical Indian spirituality.

That said, I have a long-standing aversion to yoga, stemming I think, from always feeling lanky and awkward since I was a little kid. When I try to cross my legs (not comfortable) and try to lean forward, nothing much happens and I stay upright while looking in awe at the weird contortionists all around me who seem to be able to lay their foreheads on the mat. Crazy.

So I read this to get a better understanding of yoga, and I did get that. Perhaps a bit more than I was ready to chew, as it seemed to get down into the weeds as it went on, and then into the root structure of the weeds, and at one point felt like a textbook glossary of terms I didn’t care about. But for some - perhaps even me in a decade or so - it may help better define very specific conditions related to the effective practice of yoga.

I’m a believer in simplicity and I do think any practice can get mired down in unimportant details. Including every religion I’ve ever studied.

So I’m going to ascribe 4 stars because I think this is an important, wise discussion of this topic that I so resist. I do understand the transformative nature of yoga because I’ve read so much about the immense value people get from it. I’m trying, not by bit. Mostly because I want to invest in my future and be a fit and flexible elder man some day. I’ll get there - some day. (less)
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Apr 18, 2020Jeanne rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: psychology, read-2020, religion-and-mindfulness
Stephen Cope, a psychotherapist and scholar-in-residence at Kripalu, argued that we are not who we believe ourselves to be – our true self remains hidden behind the identities, values, and goals that we have mistakenly accepted as real. Fear and shame prevent us from being true to ourselves. Rather than listening to our true voice, rather than accepting our rejected parts, we run and hide. This alienated from the self – and from God – results in suffering.

But:

What we are seeking is already at the core of our nature. “We are that” which we seek. We are already inherently perfect; we have already arrived; and we have the potential in each moment to wake up to our true nature. (p. 42)

What instead? We can listen to ourselves, accept and trust our body, our breath and live each moment fully. We do not choose against any part of whom we are, but choose and accept all. We need to learn to listen to and trust our inner demons – and learn that these rejected parts of ourselves are not demons at all.

How? Yoga and meditation provide opportunities to slow down, cultivate awareness, and tune in to the True Self. They allow us to drop our hopes, dreams, and preconceived notions of how life should be, of who we should be. Rather than believe false stories about who and what we, we must search with an open mind. Only then can we really see.

I love yoga for multiple reasons, but I tend to think that this is a path rather than the path. Nonetheless, Cope outlines a useful path.
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Feb 22, 2021A.M.G. ☮Hippie/Fantasia☮ rated it liked it
Recommends it for: Those looking to study the spiritual aspects of yoga (specifically Kripalu yoga)
Shelves: spirituality, nonfiction
Rating: 3.5 / 5 (rated down for now until a re-read)

I'll admit, part of the reason that I'm finally putting this down now is because I've just discovered Wicca and it is much more compatible with my faith in its open-ended manner rather than the direct and exact views expressed by Cope in his work. Nearly a year ago, when I first picked up this work, it was the beginning of the pandemic and perhaps I felt that I needed some structure and preciseness in my life; now, I feel the need for just the opposite.

That's not to say that my rating should reflect Cope's writing or that I don't agree with some of the things that he says--I do. In fact, the first half or so of the book are full of underlines and circlings of mine for the things that really did speak to me in reading this author's work.

However, at one point he just sort of lost me, and so far I haven't managed to convince myself back into reading this, and forcing myself isn't doing any good, so for now I'm going to set it aside and leave it at that. This is definitely something that I plan to take another look at in the future, as it really is well-written and has some good insights, but right now it isn't what I need, and that's a good enough reason to set it aside. (less)
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May 09, 2018Alex Boon rated it liked it
Very strange book. Took me a long time to get through it and spent much of that trying to figure out whether I liked it or not. The author certainly has my respect and there were several things in there that have gone in my personal quotes book. If you start out reading it and want to scream "cuuuuult" and run for the hills, stick with it. It does get better and includes a good discussion of the broken and outdated "guru" model. Parts of it are meandering and difficult to get through, I think it could be 25% shorter without much loss but overall I recommend it if you have an interest in the more traditional yoga model and yoga communities. The most interesting and important thing I took away from the book is the importance of developing awareness and equanimity side by side. (less)
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Mar 15, 2021Gina rated it liked it
There were parts of it that I found really annoying, which ultimately means that yogic philosophy is not for me, though that can be many different things. Regardless, for most of the part where Cope is charting his path, it was just affirming my love for and revelry in attachment.

(My main interest in yoga is being more bendy, and that is primarily carnally motivated, so there is that.)

The section where he goes over three different practitioners and the ways in which yoga helped them were the ones I cared about most. I realize there are other paths toward healing, but it is good that there are different things that can work for other people. I also think the appendix is very valuable.

I guess after what happened with Gurudev at Kripalu that there are still people who were listening to Oshi (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)... I think there is a problem with gurus in general that makes total sense, and I believe they are missing some lessons with that. (less)
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Jun 27, 2020Meriam lahlou rated it really liked it
This is not a book you can read in one setting but I did enjoy it. I got a little lost with all the deities' references because I didn't buy some of the beliefs. However, I loved the tales of individual experiences and I could relate to those. It also made me do a lot of deep thinking and introspection. I even had some cool moments of surrender and small revelations during my yoga practices. (less)
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Apr 11, 2009Rochelle rated it did not like it
Shelves: spirituality
When I started to read this book I was skeptical. Many people try very hard to either "psychologize" spirituality, or "spiritualize" psychology. It is normal I guess in our "have it all, popular culture." I feared that, in his enthusiasm for a newly minted perspective, Cope was doing just that. Although his framework is decidedly East-coast, psychotherapist, white upper-class, gay male, with all of the historically and socially privileged angst this package carries (who else can afford to take a year or two off without having to continue to generate a source of income, and dedicate that year to healing a broken heart and partake in some soul searching?), his genuine desire to understand the quest and the object of his quest are genuine enough that the reader is willing to go along for the ride. It is not hard to see that, eventually, Kripalu, this oft-recreated Eden, will prove to be as flawed as the one of Biblical fable, as vulnerable people look to someone other than themselves to take responsibility for their lives, resulting in emotional and spiritual damage to some and financial woes to the ashram--Paradise regained, lost, re-designed. He writes about this with some compassion and discretion, but eventually decides that the growth he has experienced was worth what turned into a very deep personal commitment. Seeker, be warned. He does just that, making sure to explain what the characteristics of a healthy spiritual program is and is not. When all is said and done, the reader is rewarded with a very readable, highly personal exploration of Yoga as it relates to individual growth, as well as some rudimentary understanding of the psychoanalytical process, but please be reminded that this is one man's memoir and experience. As with most things of this nature, it is impossible to generalize about the outcome of similar spiritual journeys. This caveat notwithstanding, the title does deliver what it promises, and I would probably read another book from this author. As a bonus, there is an easy-to-understand appendix on yoga terms and some background on this ancient and richly complex practice. (less)
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Apr 19, 2021Megan S rated it it was ok
Shelves: meditation-spirituality
I tried. I got 4/5ths of the way. The first part of this book was really distasteful to me. Having been dogmatically religious myself and having now let go of religion, I felt so uncomfortable reading his early experiences with the guru and the spiritual community the author joined. When he talks about the mystical feelings he got just from touching the guru, his description was identical to how myself and members of my church community described feeling the spirit of god, being prayed for, or “slain in the spirit.” Very disconcerting that he never fully challenged the unhealthy atmosphere at this centre. Yes he does touch on the fact the guru should not be worshipped, but these statements fall flat after his vivid descriptions. Clearly he was fully converted and unable to reasonably assess the community, which was frustrating to read as it was much more clear from the readers point of view that the community was unhealthy.
There were some interesting parts here, but little yogic teaching which is why I wanted to read the book. Some of his psychoanalytic musings were fascinating and enlightening. Some were absolutely toxic, especially once mixed with religious ideas. When he said that a child may have deserved its own abandonment due to actions in a past life (with the attitude of, who knows? Maybe?) I couldn’t read much more. What a horrific thought. Such ideas only come from deep saturation in completely unreasonable religious doctrines and are extremely psychologically damaging. As damaging as the Puritanism that he disparages on and off throughout the book.
This book had interesting parts, and a few distressing parts, but it was not what I was looking for when I desired to learn more about yoga. Would not recommend it. (less)
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Sep 01, 2019Edith rated it it was amazing
Surprisingly amazing. Read for a yoga book club and not something I'd have sought out myself. This is partly a narrative about the author's ten-year stay at the Kripalu commune; partly a commentary on yoga philosophy; partly the author (an experienced psychotherapist)'s observations on the psychological dimensions of communal living, yoga, and guru-student relationships; and partly directly applicable practical advice.

A rarity among yoga authors, Cope doesn't mindlessly accept wacky ideas that have no support, and yet doesn't shy away from esoteric concepts either. He talks about how it is important to bring equal amounts of skepticism, common sense, and openness to these topics, and to my mind he did exactly that in writing this book. He has a sense of humor about the weird stuff, too.

My favorite parts were his discussions about breath control as an unconscious defense mechanism. (Hard to summarize; worth reading if you're into yoga.) (less)
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Sep 03, 2015Missy rated it it was amazing
I bought this book well before I even planned to visit Kripalu. When I purchased it I didn't even realize the author was a teacher at Kripalu. I started this book about 2 weeks after my visit to Kripalu and I have to say that that made the read for me richer and deeper than if I had read it without ever having visited Kripalu. Stephen's descriptions took me back to my time at the Stockbridge Bowl and the Berkshires. I felt like I was breathing the mountain air in once again. Thank you Stephen for allowing me to relive my R&R Retreat while at the same time getting to read a first hand experience back to the days of Amrit Desai and the downfall and rebuilding of Kripalu. Plus all of the rich history before it was a yoga center. I'm sorry I'm finished with the book. I want to go back to Kripalu again! (less)
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Jan 07, 2016Amy rated it it was ok
This book had many things going for it: a well-qualified and knowledgeable author, cool merging of Western psychology and Eastern/yogic philosophy, stories for human interest, a scandal to keep it from being too utopia, and a fantastic appendix that gives an accessible summary of thousands of years of yoga philosophy. I also found it off-putting: Cope often assumed his readers had certain experiences or feelings, and I didn't relate at all. Perhaps his social circles/clientele skew in certain ways that don't include me. Or maybe because I'm already converted to yoga there were fewer epiphanies to be had from his account. (less)
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Jul 08, 2018Alison rated it it was amazing
Very insightful and honest renderings of experiences and literature. I stayed at Kripalu a year or so before the Gurudev was exposed, and the place freaked me out with its zombie-ness. So I was very pleased to read the historical context for that time, what happened, what followed, how the community repaired. I think Meditations on the Mat was a better fit for the inspirational effects I was expecting from this book. I do love Cope's writing, so loving and earnest and well-read, so it wasn't time wasted. (less)
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May 14, 2017Justin Green rated it it was amazing
This was a great i.e. entertaining and interesting read, plus the author's personal journey, background and experience are so invaluable in the way he manages to synthesize eastern and western mindsets, philosophies and practices for a 21st century western audience i.e. dudes like me. Very grateful and thoroughly recommend this book. (less)
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Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism - Wikipedia

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism - Wikipedia

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

Author Chögyam Trungpa
Country United States
Language English
Genre Tibetan Buddhism
Publisher Shambhala Publications

Publication date 1973 (1st ed.)

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chögyam Trungpa is a book addressing many common pitfalls of self-deception in seeking spirituality, which the author coins as Spiritual materialism. It is the transcript of two series of lectures given by Trungpa Rinpoche in 1970–71.[1]

In Psychology Today Michael J. Formica writes,

As soon as we cast something into a role, as soon as we put a label on it, as soon as we name it and give it life by virtue of our investment (read: ego), we take away all its power and it is nothing more than an event – it is no longer a spiritual revelation, but simply a material experience. That is spiritual materialism at its peak.[2]

References[edit]

^ Book Corner - Shambhala Archived 2011-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
^ Cutting through Spiritual Materialism | Psychology Today

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Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism Paperback – Illustrated, August 1, 2002

by Chögyam Trungpa (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars    583 ratings

256 pages

==

This modern spiritual classic highlights a trick we play on ourselves and offers a brighter reality: liberation by letting go of the self rather than working to improve it
 
The Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa calls attention to the commonest pitfall to which every aspirant on the spiritual path falls prey: what he calls spiritual materialism. "The problem is that ego can convert anything to its own use," he says, "even spirituality." The universal tendency 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.

Trungpa's incisive, compassionate teachings serve to wake us up from these false comforts. Featuring a new foreward by his son and lineage holder, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism has resonated with students for nearly thirty years—and remains as fresh as ever today.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The usefulness of this book lies in Trungpa's uncanny ability to cut right to the heart of the matter and presents his understanding of Buddhism and the way of life it teaches in a manner that is applicable to his students' living situation."— Journal of the American Academy of Religion

From the Inside Flap

Examines the self-deceptions, distortions, and sidetracks that imperil the spiritual journey as well as awareness and fearlessness of the true path

.

From the Back Cover

Examines the self-deceptions, distortions, and sidetracks that imperil the spiritual journey as well as awareness and fearlessness of the true path.

About the Author

Chögyam Trungpa (1940–1987)—meditation master, teacher, and artist—founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America; the Shambhala Training program; and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books including Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, and The Myth of Freedom.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Shambhala; Revised ed. edition (August 1, 2002)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages

Read reviews that mention

spiritual materialism spiritual path chogyam trungpa reading this book must read cutting through spiritual tibetan buddhism pema chodron myth of freedom ever read crazy wisdom meditation practice new age spiritual teacher buddhist practice highly recommend spiritual classic spiritual practice recommend it to anyone essential for anyone

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Top reviews from the United States

Bird Maxine Trungma

5.0 out of 5 stars Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism: A Book That Teaches You How Not to Cheat Yourself or Get Cheated

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2016

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Spiritual materialism means making use of spirituality to gratify the desires of ego. On the grossest level, it can be like in the old song, "So Long It's Been Good to Know You," where the preacher talks to his flock about the coming of the end of this world, and then takes up a big collection and disappears with it. It can be traveling around the world, collecting the statues and icons of all the different spiritual traditions, and then displaying them in one's home to show off to the neighbors how culturally sophisticated and religiously open-minded we are. Or it can be even more subtle in the sense that we do not gain any overt benefit from our spiritual practice at all, but we merely collect spiritual credentials in order to demonstrate to ourselves, "See, I am a good person" or "See, I am a wise person." "I have helped so many people! I am always on the giving end of things, and I am proud to realize it!" .

The problem with spiritual materialism is that we cheat ourselves with it; we try to profit from it, but we lose as a result. Maybe we feel wonderful about having earned an important sounding credential within our church; we have now become one of those people who walk around with a VIP button on their lapel. Maybe there is nothing wrong with the button, but if we mistake it for genuine spiritual accomplishment and stop working on our own hearts and minds as a result, then we have truly done ourselves a disservice.

Although spiritual materialism is rampant nowadays, Chogyam Trungpa made its dangers very clear in his original teachings, many of which are contained in this book. I would say that Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is a must read for everyone who may be considering embarking upon a spiritual journey, or even for those people who have already begun and wish to stop, catch their breath, and take a second look at where they are going.

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66 people found this helpful

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Nigeru Mono

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and transformative

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2017

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This is, by all measures, the most magical and powerful book on spirituality in general and Buddhism in particular, I have ever read. This is nothing like the usual New Age "positive thinking" garbage, which otherwise tends to pollute the spiritual book department. This is living, breathing wisdom in book form.

It manages to strike the head of the nail of a cancerous issue in modern Western spirituality: The desire to wear your spiritual "achievements" as a crown and a proof of your superiority. Trungpa disassembles this notion, in a very direct and easy-to-understand way, and leaves you naked and (hopefully) with a little less ego. Back in the human realm.

This is not a book for the faint-hearted. It is a book for people who would like to expand their understanding of the human condition and the traps and dead-ends of spiritual communities.

46 people found this helpful

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michael

5.0 out of 5 stars Significant

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2018

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In a nutshell, worth reading over and over. I keep coming back to it. I also decided to buy the Audible version to listen to while commuting. I won't attempt to explain in detail why it supersedes many other books of this genre. I will say it is very direct and relevant. I am older in age, but I believe the original audience was relatively young. In this and other respects I believe you will find it unbiased and universally applicable. But it is especially for those who feel drawn to a life path characterized by an exceptionally deep wish to help all living beings.

24 people found this helpful

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Sokuzan

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best introductions to the Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist path

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2017

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This is a collection of talks given in the early 1970s at Karme Choling in Barnet, VT. by my root teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I first read this book in 1973. Now, my students at Sokukoji Buddhist Monastery are still studying this book as a group every Tuesday evening. Probably, one of the best introductions in the west to training the mind and to understanding the Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist path.

23 people found this helpful

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gnostic student

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, Deep

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2018

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Of all the Buddhist discourses I have read, those of Chogyam Trungpa strike me as cutting deeper and having a fresher quality of fearlessness. I say fearless because I have a sense that the author often borders on irreverence, but this turns out to be the right way to approach these topics. It seems like the sense of reverence I get from many other authors has an aspect of caution to it, like they have to be careful not to speak too clearly or too specifically for fear that they may say the wrong thing or explain incorrectly. Probably this is a false kind of reverence that is rooted in lack of understanding.

6 people found this helpful

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Michael

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for serious practitioners!

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2018

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A must read for anyone on the spiritual path. Though Trungpa's writing can go all over the place and sometimes not follow any kind of linear path or thinking, the subject matter is very important for any serious practitioner to study. The last thing to go before complete enlightenment is the ego! Sometimes we create an ego from spiritual practice rather than dissolving it!

8 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

1.0 out of 5 stars Following this book would kill my passion for life

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

Perhaps this book works well for those who have inflated ego's, think highly of themselves, and use achievement as a means of escape from life. As a person whose tendencies are to think less of themselves and lay in bed all day, this book feels like poison. "Identify with the lowest of the low", "Disappointment" is the highest ideal, etc.

Perhaps you can see more clearly than myself, but I do not feel healthy after reading this book. Can't recommend it.

2 people found this helpful

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rally_squirrel_west

5.0 out of 5 stars On the Way

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2017

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This book is best understood in reading it in a group setting or with the guidance of someone who has spent time along the Way. With this, or perhaps strong individual capacity it can be a be a quite helpful text that deserves many revisits to continue assimmulation of the material, which attempts to describe the non-conceptual experience of liberation, a daunting task; more for the reader than the writer.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

originalisa

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritually absorbing, begs to be read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2015

Verified Purchase

Absorbing and deeply interesting. The problem is that too many people, most in fact, cannot get beyond ego, the mind created concept of who they believe they are. Once this is understood and they are able to find the stillness of the present moment (often achieved through meditation) and live in the now, they can overcome many of life's ills such as many types of depression and loneliness. . .

I know, I did it and haven't looked back.

18 people found this helpful

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Surjit Dhami

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2020

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Fantastic book one of the best I read. I don’t agree with all his thoughts and conclusions but I agree with 90% of them. The best parts of the book at the early chapters. He is able to explain the subject better than any I read. For any yogi, religious, spiritual learner this is a must if you want to g far on your journey. Otherwise you will trip over your shoelaces.

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JB-) aka Jonathon Blakeley

5.0 out of 5 stars Sheer Genius

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2019

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Fabulous book, the best description of the ego I have ever read. Packed with sublime wisdom.

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Sergiu

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Steve Jobs' favourite books. I had to reread it a few ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2015

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One of Steve Jobs' favourite books. I had to reread it a few times and refer back to it as I go. I wouldn't recommend to read it as a first book or introduction to spirituality. I think if you've already read one or two spirituality related books, you'd be able to understand it better. Very easy to read. Have't touched it in a while, hope I'll find some time to reread it soon.

9 people found this helpful

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Eduardo

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Materialism

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2020

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Great work on the pitfalls of an egocentric handling of spirituality

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Oct 26, 2019Fergus rated it really liked it

The only way we’re going to cut through our spiritual materialism is by cutting right through our souls - to their other, hidden side.

How would you define Spiritual Materialism? Probably as nothing more and nothing less than a day when everything seems to be going right for you. You’re having things YOUR way.

The way you’re USED to having them.

Our hope springs eternal. Even when it’s too unbearably much for our neighbours!

I first read this powerful gem of a book 35 years ago. Want to know a secret? It doesn’t work. At least it didn’t for me.

At first.

The late Head of the Montréal Zen Centre, Albert Low, put it to me like this: if you meditate, either as a practice or as an everyday way of thinking about things and people, and let these things or people penetrate your meditation and the deeper levels of your mind - well, you’re BOUND to feel a sympathetic bond or connection with these things or people.

And a feeling of peace?

Warm sympathy. High empathy. Isn’t that what ALL true deep thought should produce?

But, Low tells us, if you continue, eventually your subconscious will be TEEMING with images of the people or things you know.

You’ll be like a traffic cop holding up your gloved hand against oncoming traffic at Times Square, whistling and gesticulating wildly.

High anxiety!

This is what Trungpa called Mahamudra - a startling holistic mandala made up of your, and the world’s, projections upon it.

A nightmarish glimpse of Tantra.

And the magic carpet ride of Mahamudra can open up a veritable Pandora’s Box.

Yikes.

Saint Teresa of Avila knew that period in our spiritual life well.

In her books she masterfully charts the changing phases of spirituality - right through to its conclusion in common, everyday, lasting Peace and the Simple Experience of Real and Ordinary Life - as Natural as Breathing!

Isn’t that what we ALL want?

It’s what we just can’t seem to get, or most of the time can’t even bother trying to get.

Why? Cause we have to turn life into something Solid and Lapidary.

We need to hang on to it, TOO much.

So Trungpa says through meditation we WILL eventually loosen our grip, cut through our materialistic fantasies and find rest. But on the way we have to survive Mahamudra.

Like James Joyce tried to do.

Joyce, author of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, was a High Empath. His autobiographical Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells us that.

Stephen Dedalus, who’s the hero, reveals more and more of his - and by extension, Joyce’s - own abnormally (and thus Proustian) acute sensitivity.

Well, at the end of that book Stephen applies the fix Trungpa was referring to, in Thomistic aesthetic meditation. And it works. He finally seems to have Arrived in life.

His fix?

Ordinary Logic.

That skewers High Empathy.

For a while.

Joyce nicknamed the next phase by its symptom: the panicky feeling, usually in your dreams (or for Joyce, in his baroquely complex final writings) - of “Here Comes Everybody.”

That’s reality bouncing back, with a Vengeance.

Mahamudra.

Ever feel like that?

Like the nightmarish mind of Joyce, in his last work, Finnegans Wake.

And the words Here Comes Everybody are only using the initials of H.C. Earwicker, one of the many faces of the legendary Finn, or mythical progenitor of Ireland - and the main character of that hieroglyphically difficult novel.

So here you are, in a nutshell:

The reasons why so many of us, including James Joyce - and Dostoevsky’s Prince Myshkin, for all that - are spiritually or competitively materialistic...

Is because the everyday world so incessantly disappoints - and is unlikely to ever change - and so we need escape. In our lapidary dreams.

Which never works for long.

Mahamudra is not our destination. Whether we’re a writer or a monk, it’s a tantric means to an end. And it’s booby-trapped.

It is a methodology for killing our irrational EGOS - by exploding them.

So we end up terminating the ego and its mahamudric nightmares with a simple, nondual, kitchen-sink Faith - if you can kill that ego.

That faith sees THROUGH ourselves and yields a wonderful, practical Peace of Mind - and ends in the experience of the Living Suchness of Life.

Far from all those Joycean Storms of Life.

It’s the termination of all our own manic (but necessary) Stages on Life’s Way, in the sanity of Shared Space -

The Infinite Space beyond ourselves, in ordinary, real love. (less)

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Mar 30, 2010Andrea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: eastern-and-eastern-influenced

I'd flipped through this many times before and read parts over the years, and it seems like there's always something new that stands out. This time, it's a reminder of what I love most about the Buddhist approach to the awakened state: that it's something that always exists, not something we need to try to create. Over the last year or so, I've seen (and been part of) so much striving and so much reaching, working, studying intensely, and taking Oh So Seriously the spiritual life ~ an approach that, of course, only confuses matters. When in reality, the awakened state is an act of just being. Just being sane. Just letting be.

I see it happen with my yoga students and peers all the time: they practice yoga for some period of time, then start getting really excited about the spiritual side of yoga, and then start doing all this reading and doing all these other practices and making all these rules that they believe they must follow in order to "stay on this spiritual path." And it's like as soon as they start adding all this other stuff, they lose the spiritual high that they got in the first place, so instead of going back to the simple method, they add more stuff and more stuff and they must meditate and practice every single day and avoid certain foods and beat themselves up if they have certain thoughts or emotions and it's all So Serious and Heavy and a Big Deal, when in reality, it's self-defeating.

This book is a great reminder of the quite simple experience of just now. Of not identifying with our spiritual highs and then seeking to always be in that exact moment (adding on all these things to do and these rules of living in order to always "stay high"), but of allowing and understanding moments as moments and continuing to observe and be in the flow no matter the moment.

Also, the talks were given in 1970-71, so some of the audience questions have a great hippie vibe. I particularly love the one about what happens if the monkey (mind) takes LSD? The answer, of course, is that it already has. (less)

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Apr 22, 2017Roy Lotz rated it liked it

Shelves: asia, religion-mysticism-theology

We do not consider how we are going to vomit; we just vomit.

Chögyam Trungpa was a charismatic and controversial figure in the Western popularization of Buddhism. As a teenager in Tibet, Trungpa fled the Chinese in an escape that involved swimming across a river under gunfire, climbing the Himalayas, and running so short of food that he had to eat his leather belt and bag. Eventually he emigrated to the United States, where he founded several schools, and pioneered a secular interpretation of Buddhism, Shambhala Training. You may be surprised to learn that Trungpa, far from being an ascetic monk, also had notorious penchants for bedding his female students and for going on drunken debauches.

My interest in Trungpa was sparked by reading a book on meditation by his disciple, Pema Chödrön, which I thought was excellent. Spiritual Materialism, Trungpa’s most famous book, contains two series of lectures Trungpa gave, in 1970-71, about the pitfalls of the spiritual path and how to overcome them. As such, this series of lectures is largely theoretical rather than practical—how to think about the spiritual path rather than what to do once you’re on it—even if there are practical ramifications.

‘Spiritual materialism’ is Trungpa’s term for the ways that the ego co-opts spirituality for its own benefit. ‘Ego’ is our sense of self. In Buddhist thought, this sense of self is illusory; the self is a process, not a thing. Ego is the mind’s attempt to create an illusion of solidity where none exists. Put another way, ‘ego’ is the mind’s attempt to reject impermanence.

This attempt takes many forms. We modify our environment, manipulating the material world and bringing it under our control, in order to create a perfectly comfortable world that never challenges or disappoints us. We create intellectual systems—positivism, nationalism, Buddhism—that rationalize and explain the world, that define our place in the world and dictate to us rules of action. We also attempt to analyze ourselves: we use literature, psychology, drugs, prayer, and meditation to achieve a sense of self-consciousness, an awareness of who we are. All of these are the ego’s attempts to solidify both itself and its world, to see the universe as a series of defined shapes rather than an endless flux.

This project of solidification can even use spiritual techniques in its own benefit. The goal of meditation is the dissolution of the ego and the absence of struggle. And yet many who embark on the spiritual path see meditation as a battle with the ego, an attempt to break certain habits, to overcome certain mentalities, to free themselves from illusions. If spirituality is seen in such a way—as 'you' against 'something else'—then you will hit a wall; and this wall will only get stronger the harder you push against it. Only when you give up trying to destroy this wall, when you stop struggling, does the wall disappear; for the wall was the product of your own ‘dualistic’ thinking—once again, 'you' against 'something else'—and ceases to exist when you stop trying to destroy it:

“There is no need to struggle to be free; the absence of struggle is in itself freedom. This egoless state is the attainment of buddhahood.”

It is no use, therefore, to practice acts of extreme asceticism, forceful acts of self-denial. It is no use to try to overcome your own negative qualities—to strive to be good, kind, caring, loving. It is no use to accumulate vast amounts of religious knowledge; nor is it beneficial to accumulate religious titles or honorifics. True spirituality is not a battle, not a quality, not an ultimate analysis, and it is not an accomplishment. All of those things belong to a person, whereas enlightenment contains no sense of me and not-me.

This is my best attempt to summarize the core message of this book. (And please excuse the ponderous style; I've been reading Hegel.) Yet I’m not exactly sure how to go about analyzing or evaluating it. Indeed, such criticism seems totally antithetical to the ethos of this book. But I’ll try, nevertheless.

There is an obvious contradiction between Trungpa’s stance on intellectual analysis—as the ego’s vain attempt to solidify its world through intellectual work—and the analysis that he himself undertakes in this book. If all analysis is vain, what makes his any different? To this, I think he would respond that analysis is fine if we take the right attitude towards it—namely, as long as we keep in mind that our analysis is not identical with the reality it attempts to describe, that we can never describe reality perfectly, and that there’s always a chance we are wrong. More succinctly, I think he’d say analysis is fine as long as we don’t take it too seriously. By his own admission, there is no ‘final analysis’ of the human condition; and enlightenment is characterized by the absence of any need to analyze.

Still, there does seem to be the idea in Trungpa’s system that, in attaining this ego-less state, we are experiencing the ‘truth’ of reality, whereas before we were mired in the 'illusions' of the ego. In this, you might say that the system is esoteric: true knowledge is the purview of only the truly enlightened. True knowledge, in other words, is not transmissible through speech, but is the result of privileged state which only a few achieve. Bodhisattvas become authorities through their enlightened states, beings who must be listened to because of their special, higher perspectives. Again, I think Trungpa would respond that even the ideas of ‘knowledge’ and 'truth' are dualistic (they involves the sense of ‘me’ knowing 'something else'), and thus this idea is not applicable to the enlightened.

Putting all this aside, it’s worth asking whether this ego-less state is even desirable. Could we have science, technology, literature, or love without a sense of self? An ego-less world might involve less suffering; but isn’t there something to be said for suffering? Trungpa describes the ego as a monkey creating various worlds—creating for itself its own heaven and hell, a world of animal desire and human intellect—and moving through these self-created worlds in a vain search for perfect happiness, only to have each of its own worlds collapse in turn. And yet, even if I accepted Trungpa’s premise that this struggle is vain, I still think it’s an open question whether perfect tranquility is preferable to vain struggle.

All reservations notwithstanding, I still thought that this book was an enlightening read. While I may be skeptical about the prospect of enlightenment and ego-death, I do think that meditation, as a method of slowing down, of savoring one’s own mental life, and of learning to accept the world around you, is an extremely useful technique. And as a technique, its end is an experience—or perhaps, better yet, an attitude—and the theory that goes along with meditation does not constitute its substance; rather, theory is just a pedagogical tool to help guide less experienced practitioners. It is in this light, I think, that these lectures should be read. (less)

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Feb 01, 2018Gabrielle rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition

Shelves: buddhism, non-fiction, philosophy, own-a-copy, used-bookstore-finds, mandatory-reading, read-in-2018, reviewed

"Ego is able to convert everything to its own use, even spirituality."

Spiritual materialism can be defined as a self-delusion that some people have, when what they believe to be spiritual development is in fact strengthening their ego. It's a very common trapping for students of Buddhism (but not exclusively; it actually occurs in all spiritual disciplines), and by publishing the notes from his talks, Chogyam Trungpa wished to help his students understand how they could avoid falling into it.

Shallow spirituality can seem paradoxical, but it's more common than we might imagine. Many people are drawn to the esthetics of Eastern traditions (it is beautiful and exotic) and because they feel glamorous integrating parts of that in their lives (it does make one sound special and worldly, doesn't it?), but in those cases there's rarely any depth or honesty to the practice. Sometimes the delusion is more subtle, like believing that following a teacher absolves the student of any kind of responsibility and power, that once there's been an enlightenment experience one doesn't need to work on themselves anymore, or simply the arrogance that having encountered insight makes one better than other people.

Trungpa was a Tibetan monk, and while he loved the tradition he was initiated in, he also understood that some aspects of it could be distracting traps, especially for Western students (who live in a society where physical materialism is incredibly sophisticated), and he wanted to give them a strong understanding of the core of Buddhism - which really isn't about pretty flags, bells and other shiny things. He had an immense respect for Japanese Zen, and it shows in those lectures, and he emphasizes a lot of elements of Zen philosophy.

Since this book deals with pitfalls of the spiritual path and how to avoid them, it is much more a theoretical book than a practical manual. This book feels to me like the warning leaflet that comes with a new medication: watch out for these side-effects, if you experience them, call your doctor! I'll be honest: I think everyone studying Buddhism (though maybe newbies would find it a bit tough), regardless of tradition or school, should read this - and then re-read it occasionally. It is one of those books that will only get better as it is revisited, and I'm pretty sure I'll catch things on my next read that went 6 feet over my head on this one. I also think it is a necessary and thought-provoking read, because figuring out one's motivation to be on this path is important if one is to avoid self-delusion and lose the plot completely. (less)

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May 16, 2013Jenifer R. rated it it was amazing

The spiritual path is lonely. There is nothing to fall back on.
"It could be a terrifying experience to have no one to relate to, nothing to relate with."

Yep.

I love this book. I first read it in the context of a reading group, and the collective feeling of discomfort in our discussions was palatable. As it moves along, the book becomes a little more complex. Trungpa goes further into Buddhism, to its psychology and understanding of mind, to the four noble truths, techniques of meditation, shunyata (nothingness), Buddhist ontology and epistemology (a philosophical turn), to compassion and even a brief bit on the tantra. This book is rich, and introduces a great deal. Any ideas of spirituality as something out there to attain, or as some kind of "self improvement" will be quickly struck down. This is definitely not a book for the new-agey, feel-good crowd.
But on second thought, maybe it is.

"Disappointment is the best chariot to use on the path of the dharma."

This book is a record of a series of talks Trungpa gave to students in the early 70's. At the end of each of his talks, there is a Q&A with students, which produces some interesting questions and illuminating answers. Occasionally, readers are reminded of the times. At one point, a student asks Trungpa what would happen if the monkey - the metaphor he uses in explaining the 5 skandhas and the development of ego - took lsd. Overall though, the student dialogues bring a greater clarity to the topics at hand.

It's hard not to walk away from an initial reading feeling paranoid and deeply questioning one's motives in spiritual practice. I would say that looking into oneself is a good thing, but too much self awareness can be paralyzing and counterproductive. The use of the word "cutting" in the title is apt for this reason. It could be thought of as an example of Trungpa's ruthless compassion or "crazy wisdom." Reading this book is certainly a jarring experience - the reader is severed from the comfort of previous ideas and hopes. Pre-conceptions and motives are exposed. This is not done to be cruel, though - it is a matter of being open and aware, and of using humor and wisdom in relating to the world as it is.

Once again, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Buddhism, meditation, or matters of spirituality - it is an excellent and refreshing introduction that begs multiple readings. It's certainly one of my favorites.


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Feb 23, 2010Maggie rated it it was amazing

I find that most of my pursuits are spiritual in their ends, but that they are contingent upon material winnings. I took an aura photograph and saw a chakra reader recently, most of my friends having gone and received a "lower" chakra and being a color like orange or red or indigo at best. I got a "white color" aura photo and was told that I have a "crown chakra" (the highest, most enlightened of them all). It seemed fishy to me because I feel just as full of anxieties and self-doubt as any other person, I know just about as much of the truth of the Universe as anybody else. ("Well, maybe more than most people my age," I tell myself). I catch myself, and that is where I feel I am taking a bit of a left turn-- always telling myself that I am more "not of the flesh" than others, even though I use material means to achieve my spiritual goals, and then I re-use these spiritual experiences as if they were gathered like money or something tangible, rather than being mindful, and open, and in-the-present.

This book is a good read for those of us who have hit the spiritual high our whole lives, often using not fraudulent, but just very accumulative, sometimes spiritually arrogant, methods of getting us there.

I just hope I don't read this and unconsciously use it to reinforce my already run-amuck self-deception about how experience can be turned like water into the gold of spiritual gain. (less)

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Jul 14, 2010Evan rated it really liked it

Shelves: philosophy, asia, 2010-reads, _lfpl-library, ebook-special-coll, religion

This is my 100th read of the year! Obviously, boasting about this is a form of spiritual materialism. Sigh.

In a nutshell, spiritual materialism is that which accumulates within ourselves that obscures our ability to see things as they really are and hampers our ability to live within that context, without all the baggage of expectation and stress and judgment and egocentricity and so on.

This is a good, clear, non-jargon-heavy (if repetitive) explanation of the concepts of Zen and how to begin the process of putting them into practice, or, more precisely, how to start on the path of living in the now instead of in the past, the future or in a false and unfulfilling realm marked by our myriad confusions. A lot of this I have already found useful in helping me see things with a more open, forgiving, less possessive perspective.

Now, do I actually buy into *all* of this stuff? Maybe not -- or maybe that's just my ego defenses talking.

I suppose a world of people working hard communally to provide for the basic good and nourishment of the self and one's neighbors while living without tremendous ambition in the now and engaging in frequent meditation has a certain appeal, given how we've fucked over ourselves and everything else. But, I mean, if we took Buddhism to its ultimate extreme, how could language even develop? We can't label things or conceptualize? Hmmm. And I wonder how in a world entirely imbued by Buddhism could the better things of our industrialized society have even developed. Would there be wine, casual sex, electric guitar music and so on? I don't think so, and I kind of like those things, not just because they are possessions or opiates, but because they are beautiful. I'm skeptical that the human mind and body has evolved just to jettison a lot of its intellectual capabilities and other drives as Buddhism seems to want us to do. I just can't help but think that a Zen Buddhist world would be a really, really boring one. (less)

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Dec 09, 2013Whitney rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction, spirituality, psychology

This book is the most plain English explanation of the path of spirituality from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective I have ever read. It does not contradict what is taught by theistic religions and it describes all religions to be different methods of attaining the same goal. It has nothing to do with spirits or afterlife. It has everything to do with our subjective reality of the present moment. This book shows a path to a state of mind that allows you to flow like water through space and time rather than violently thrashing and splashing against the current as many of us currently are.

The first talk is all about the common pitfalls of trying to attain realization. These delusions are especially prevalent in the West, where the interest in these teachings is fairly new and we are deeply entrenched in a materialist worldview.

Spiritual materialism is when you have the thought, "I'm working on myself" or "I'm bettering myself". It is when, instead of gaining any insight into the universe as it is, this act of spirituality becomes just another thing you add to the collection of your identity. The goal of spiritual progression is to understand and see the eternal sameness of all things; to give up the notion of duality. Spiritual materialism is ego-reinforcing and becomes itself another form of duality.

In the second half of the book, he broadly describes the path of Bodhisattva. I would say this is a very good book for anyone who has been interested in or practicing mindfulness or Vipassana for a little while and finds themselves thinking, "Well.. what now?" Discovering Vipassana is like the first little glimpse into what's possible through this practice. Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is like the intermediate step; the next step being to find a spiritual friend who can teach you how to meditate. That was one thing the book was explicit about. You can't do it by yourself. At best, you will be able to catch momentary glimpses, but you have to learn how to meditate from someone who is very experienced. (less)

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Mar 25, 2021Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: phil-indic-buddhism, philosophy, zz1973, aa-asialit, aa-unitedstateslit, aa-indialit, philosophy-indic

210325: very insightful. idea of ‘spiritual materialism’ resonates, as i often think of how many buddhist philosophy texts read as if accomplishing something. i have read a lot in the same way i used to study anything: my mind would gradually absorb, understand, grasp. i follow the argument for finding ‘spiritual friend’ (guru) useful but my appreciation of buddhist thought remains philosophical and i do not have interest in Tibetan version...

'spiritual materialism' is the tendency to 'reify' (make concrete) as if spiritual awareness, in this case buddhist, could be a 'thing' that you can 'achieve'. this text is actually more about pitfalls to avoid in the process of enlightenment, starting with mistaken attitude of ego, self-deception, over-reliance on guru etc, than the usual discourses on buddhist thought i have read. i could imagine being at one of these lectures, being with other inquisitive searchers, and moved to ask informed questions, as this is not introductory but requires some familiarity...

there are lists and descriptions of actual buddhist practices/cosmology, from the usual five skandhas, four noble truths (there is suffering, there is cause for suffering, there is cure for suffering, this is the cure), to the Tibetan, six paramitas (discipline, energy, generosity, meditation, patience, knowledge), six realms (gods, jealous gods, human, animal, hell, hungry ghosts), there are interesting q and a sections at the end of each chapter, which were delivered as lectures at buddhist centre in 1973, and have not dated. i recognized many of the themes, as it builds the arguments from first the need to overcome/avoid the urge of ‘ego’ to enter everything including spirituality, through need to ‘surrender’ to guru/what is, to brief on mahayana interpretation and ‘form is emptiness, emptiness is form’, ending with details of necessary ‘tantra’ beyond ‘shunyata’...

more
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
What the Buddha Thought
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy
Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis
Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
Ethics Embodied: Rethinking Selfhood Through Continental, Japanese, and Feminist Philosophies
Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age (less)

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Aug 02, 2008Chris Lemig rated it it was amazing

When I first began to delve into Buddhism I though, "Ah ha! Here it is! The TRUTH!!!" At first I thought that I would now just be able to read a few words and: "Wham, bam, thank you , Stan," I'm enlightened. I thought that the truth was supposed to be simple, profound and sublime. If we had to talk about it too much then it couldn't be the TRUTH. Well, I was wrong.

Yes, the truth is simple but the way to it is ever unfolding. It takes time, skill and effort to get to it. We must read about it, study it, discuss it, practice it and apply it. Over and over and over again. This is what I have gotten out of Chogyam Trungpa's book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.

The first part of the book deals with the fact that "ego can convert anything to its own use, even spirituality." Trungpa Rinpoche explains how this fundamental pitfall along the spiritual path can be avoided by being ever mindful of the trappings of the ego: discursive thoughts, negative emotions, desires and judgements. Paradoxically, we must also embrace our inner strength and cultivate a great confidence that we will be able to see this path to the end. As Trungpa says, "You must allow yourself to trust yourself, to trust in your own intelligence. We are tremendous people, we have tremendous things in us. We simply have to let ourselves be."

The second half of the book dives deep into Buddhist thought and philosophy (which, of course, he shows to be "non-philosophy". Aaarrghhh!!!!) He clearly elucidates the topics of developement of the ego, the six realms of existence (an important aspect of the Buddhist understanding of reality), the Four Noble Truths, and the concept of emptiness. All of the chapters, each of which was transcibed from a lecture series he gave in the early 70's, is followed by a question and answer section which clarify the topics even further.

Great book. Amazing teacher. I recommend this one to anyone who has at least a beginning understanding of Buddhism. (less)

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Aug 14, 2008Melmcbride rated it really liked it

This is one of the most important books I've read in my life. I highly recommend it to anyone considering Buddhism. Trungpa asks important questions about the motivation for faith in a materialist culture. For example, are you drawn to Buddhism because it's got a nice aesthetic or because you are ready to commit to some very difficult spritual practice? (less)

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Oct 06, 2012Steve rated it it was ok

This book could have been so much more than it was. I was really excited by the summaries on Amazon from people who had read this book, and so I ordered the book right away when I discovered it. Unfortunately, the structure of the presentation leaves so much to be desired that I almost gave up about halfway through the book.

Based on the reviews I had seen and the title of the book, I was expecting a book with a straightforward premise that it is trying to argue regarding the pitfalls of spiritual approaches that connect the idea of self-improvement with spiritual growth. Instead, this book is a series of lectures given in 1970-1971, so my hopes for a tight argument pretty much had to go out the window.

Even worse, most of the argumentation was presented initially through metaphor. I got lost somewhere in the middle when the monkey decided to live in a house with no exits, all the while ramming himself into the walls that he made real. All the talk of monkey realms, human realms, realms of passion, etc., really detracted from my desire and ability to pay any attention to the lecturer.

I realize that these metaphors probably come from Buddhist traditions that were developed centuries ago, and that in those days metaphor was a powerful teaching tool that compensated for a lack of specialized vocabulary to describe spiritual and psychological phenomena in an straightforward manner. On the other hand, the lecturer could have made his argument much clearer had he just presented the main idea of his argument in each lecture, which he then backed up with metaphors to describe the process he is discussing. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy many parts of the book, but it would be better described as a metaphorical meandering through our dualistic existence, which results from ego, with the goal of arriving at a non-dualistic existence. (less)

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Nov 12, 2008Charlie rated it liked it

Shelves: spirituality

It was not until I moved to Boulder Colorado, Trungpa's last home after his Tibetan exile that understood why he was so insitent on teaching Americans about how shallow we are in our various approachs to the embodying the wisdom of the East. This text is designed as a sort of feedback mechanism for all the smarmy, new age, old school, rightous Americans who might be confusing the soil of India with Nirvana or the black robed Zen Roshi with the definative expression of kindness. Hard reading for the honestly inclined. Materialism in this text is not described so much as a thing but more often an attitude, such as, she GOT enlightened. (less)

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Oct 18, 2011Chris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: spiritual, buddhist-thinking

The concept of Spiritual materialism is very powerful. Not sure I fully understand it yet. After reading the book I immediately wanted to go back and reread it, because I know I will get a lot more out of it. Seldom do I read a book twice and then it is usually because I have forgotten I've already read it.
This may be a volume I pick up and add to my library so that I can high light passages in it. If I understand it right, Spiritual materialism applies not just to Buddhism, but to all spiritual practices. It is were the Ego gets bound up in the rewards of the practice and then gets in the way of making real advancement.

Recommend this book to spiritual seekers. (less)