The Essential Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa was one of the most influential figures in the development of Buddhism in America. The first Tibetan lama to teach in English, he coined such phrases as "cutting through spiritual materialism", "crazy wisdom", and—his pupil Allen Ginsberg’s favorite—"first thought best thought." Trungpa wrote more than two dozen books on Buddhism and the Shambhala path of warriorship, with over one million copies in print. The Essential Chogyam Trungpa blends excerpts from bestsellers like Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism. Meditation in Action, and other titles into a concise overview of Trungpa’s teachings. Forty selections from fourteen different books articulate the secular path of the Shambhala warrior as well as the Buddhist path of meditation and awakening. This "new classic" vividly demonstrates Trungpa’s great appreciation of Western culture which, combined with his deep understanding of the Tibetan tradition, makes these teachings uniquely accessible to contemporary readers. It will appeal to beginning students of meditation as well as seasoned readers of Eastern religion. Chogyam Trungpa—meditation master, scholar, poet, and artist—was founder of the Naropa Institute and the author of many books on Buddhism and meditation.