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General Buddhism => General Buddhism => Topic started by: kurava on February 13, 2012, 04:15:51 AM
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Recently I chanced upon this interesting video on the great Mahasiddha , Chogyam Trungpa.
Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche -Trailer -Shambhala (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80jGSadccmY#ws)
Do share with us-
1) what you learn from his methods of spreading the dharma
2) what are the similarities/ differences between him and your own Lama ( if you have a Lama).
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What I learn from his method of spreading the dharma :
1) He will do anything even it might seem "unconventional", "crazy", " controversial" to the norm just to benefit the people around him.
2) He does not mind jeoperdising his reputation for the benefit of others.
3) He is spreading buddhism without the "hard core" teaching stuff, so his followers or students didn't even know he was teaching buddhism but just enjoyed being around him and learn from him.
4) He understood the cultures, life styles and the level of minds of the group he was with, he was able to use suitable methods to deliver buddhism/dharma in the most acceptable way to his followers, like art, table setting, painting, flower arrangement and even drugs etc...planting seeds for their future lives.
5) He always has a sense of "humour" which is important to the masses.
He is truely a Bodhisattva, as the lives of his followers whom he has touched upon, are still practising dharma now.....imagine where would they be without Chogyam Trungpa infusing dharma to them during the flower power period??
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What I learned is that teaching the Dharma isn't always about the pujas, ceremonies, meditation in the conventional sense. The real Lama always challenge your projections. In this world that is perhaps the most effective in reaching the optimum number of people.
With a Lama like that, people do not need to change their culture to get the Dharma. The Lama brings the Dharma to their environment.
Then the real transformation can occur. The type that matters most.
We need more Lama like that.
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1) What you learn from his methods of spreading the dharma?
Chogyam Trungpa is truly a great Mahasiddha as his methods are incredibly varied and skillful to the point of seemingly contradictory within themselves but in actual fact it is merely a switch of perception but with the same results. e.g. How he started exuding the "flower power" child persona moving into a more seemingly outward serious persona. It was all merely "adjusting" towards the delusions and perceptions of his students and the changing times!
2) What are the similarities/ differences between him and your own Lama (if you have a Lama)?
The Lama's or Guru's motivations are always to benefit the students and they will find any and every possible way or method to transform each and every student's mind. As each student is different from the other, many different methods need to be employed. Hence, whichever method/methods used there will always be similarities/differences between Chogyam Trungpa and my own Lama or any other Lama for that matter. We should be so lucky to have such a compassionate teacher to learn from and be guided by!
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Dear K,
TQ for bringing this extraordinary video here.
The similarities between CT and most mahasiddhas are so obvious. I would sum up my observation of Lamas who belong to the mahasiddha lineage.
1. fearlessness – the full extent of this term applies to activities considered taboo and unconventional. One cannot claim to have overcome all fears if one avoid things like sex, wrathful methods, or unconventional behaviour which can be utilized to benefit others if applied skillfully. None of the above is bad /evil if performed with the sincere motivation to benefit others. Proper behaviour according to social norms does not necessarily guarantee the person has a good heart nor lead to inner transformation.
2. Total awareness – the master may appear to be doing the same things as his students but they never lose control even when they appear drunk like his students. He still can benefit others I that state.
3. Consistency – their actions are always in accord with dharma and karma but skillfully applied in 4 ways – pacifying, increasing, controlling and wrathfulness. Consistency can only come from having realized the truth which does not fluctuate and create uncertainties.
4. Skillfulness – out of compassion ,they will try all methods and means to bring a student to awakening even if it means they have to endure suffering of reputation and rejection. They have no limitations in helping due to being free from worldly concerns.
5. Natural /real– what the mahasiddhas do which we label unconventional are actually things that we all want to do but dare not due to fear of being rejected. CT is just being who he is. We do not have this freedom due to us creating limitations based on what others or society dictates. We are all pretending and putting up a mask . He is showing us we are the fakes and holding back from experiencing untainted happiness. My Lama is always doing that and we are awakened by his example to become real like him.
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Dear Kurava,
Thank you for uploading this clip of Chogyam Trungpa. I learned the following things:
1. Teaching the dharma varies from person to person, place, time and culture. Basically the teacher will have to custom make the method of delivery so that the person will eventually practice the dharma and gain attainments.
2. The word "crazy" is used to describe the wisdom because it appears such to our fixated minds. Actually, the wisdom is beyond our capacity to grasp.
3. All these innovative ways of teaching arise from Chogyam Trungpa's compassion regardless of how controversial they looked and even at the expense of his reputation.
4. Chogyam Trungpa has a great sense of humour and is very eloquent in his speech.
My guru has the above qualities as well except that my guru still holds on to his monk vows.
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I've read Chogyam Trungpa's books but did not know of his movie. I'm going to look for the movie this weekend.
This teacher has received so much criticisms due to his unconventional ways. He was unconventional not as a spiritual teacher alone but also as a person, as a lay person living in a normal lay community, as a husband, as a friend, as a member of the society.
When I read his books, what I found myself doing was to consciously tell myself to look beyond the unconventional aspects, what I hold to be the norm or not. There's a variation of what is the norm in every culture at different times in history. So what really is the norm to define a person to be "socially acceptable" or not. I looked beyond because I was interested to know what is this so called "crazy wisdom" and really is there such a thing.
At the end of the day, what Chogyam Trungpa left behind were people who became better people. He left behind institutions which teaches people to become better people. OK.. that has got to be some WISDOM at work in all the CRAZINESS to have such an accomplishment.
The fixated view of what is right and wrong we see in others can limit our opportunity to learn from people around us and most of all our spiritual teachers.
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Chugyam Trungpa is unconventional in every way and he manages to attract a lot of people to follow him and learn from him.
He breaks all barriers of the traditional teachings of buddhism and he teaches in a way where his audience can understand and able to absorb the dharma. He is a genius! His point is always to get the message across to his students, no matter what ways he uses. He may seem to behave crazily but in the end the dharma prevails.
I love the book "Dragon Thunder" written by his wife Diane Mukpo where she describes her life with Trungpa Rinpoche. It gave me a glimpse of what his craziness represent and I am amazed by him.
The movie was done recently ans has interviews with his students. His students still continued his work despite Trungpa Rinpoche has left years ago. They are so loyal to their guru. This shows how much he has touched the lives of his students with his teaching methods that they are so committed.
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There are many ways to teach the dharma and one of the ways is the unconventional method which some may think it is contradictory. If Chogyam Trungpa were to use the traditional methods, he may not be able to reach out to so many. But his methods brought benefits to his followers as he customized the teachings to suit the people, culture and lifestyle of that time. He did not care about the controversies or what others think or said about him. In fact, his students accepted his method and through that they became better people.
With a pure motivation to benefit others, Gurus or Lamas will use different methods, may it be “crazy”, “peaceful” or “wrathful” to tame and transform each and every student’s mind.
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Thank you for this video clip on Chogyam Trungpa.
I find that his methods, though very controversial , all come from a Bodhimind and they are all skillful methods that worked. The results speak for themselves. Many of his students, children of the Hippie era, are now great Dharma teachers and speak of him with so much respect and love.
My own Lama is also a great teacher who, with great love and compassion and patience, uses unconventional and skillful methods that are tailored to the individual needs of his students. Unfortunately, we, his students are not so passionately committed to our Lama and to the Dharma as Chogyam Trungpa's students were. They would leave their careers and their mundane concerns, without a second thought, and just follow him. We, on the other hand, cling to our mundane pursuits as though they are the very essence of this life.
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The whole idea of crazy wisdom is such a profound yet simple catch phrase which really describes the "bizarre" yet purposeful methods of a Mahasiddha.
I was told that Chogyam Trungpa once told his assistance he wanted to visit a naval warship. His assistants were a little taken aback but of course did what was instructed. They even asked him why and how. And he just said tell them the "Prince of Bhutan" is visiting.
And lo and behold, a visit filled with fanfare and militia regalia was prepared for Chogyam Trungpa and his entourage. What happened soon after was that very warship was sent to the Falklands and it sank with all its men. In his clairvoyance and compassion Chogyam Trungpa had managed to bless the ship and all on board knowing their fate.
The accuracy of the story could differ as I only heard it relayed to me by another. So do excuse any inaccuracy if any and feel free to correct with details etc. :)
I guess it is important to note that we should never question our teacher's motives or intent and just do as we are told. Something as "mundane" as a visit could have much larger "reasons" behind it and a whole deeper understanding of which we may not begin to comprehend.
I just thought this would be interesting to share here as we "discuss" about Chogyam Trungpa.
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The fact of the matter is Chogyam Trungpa was perceived to be amazing by many, but psychotic and insane by many more. Chogyam Trungpa is perhaps one of the most controversial lamas of our era. He used many bizarre, weird, and spectacular ways to reach out to his students. He was a lama with no personal agenda, and used any means to change his students. He did not care about his own image, as long as he could benefit his students. And even though now we see Chogyam Trungpa as one of the most ingenious lamas ever, during his time, many people did not want to follow him, and even thought he was a disgrace to the tibetan lama lineage. To the extent where he was labelled as an alcoholic and a pedophile. And even still he managed to change so many people with his influence, during and even after his lifetime.
Because he was a lama with no personal agenda, he did whatever was necessary to benefit the people around him, even if it meant ridiculing himself. Many, many people did not accept him. However his impact and influence now is seen as something great. Anyhow he now has many works that are still benefiting people, this is the impact that he had, and he had to go to great measures to get it. No matter what he did, no matter how badly people perceived him, he now still have life long students which are still practicing after his death. How amazing!
"As the third Jamgön Kongtrül explained in a teaching given to students of Chögyam Trungpa, "You shouldn't imitate or judge the behavior of your teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, unless you can imitate his mind."
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Chogyam Trungpa indeed is a Mahasiddha.
His action throughout his life shows how much compassionate he is.
He learn and blend himself with the students lifestyle to insert the dharma teaching to them and give so much impact to their lives.
Only people with great wisdom and great determination able to do that.
Chogyam Trungpa's method was said to unconventional because of his action such as gave up his monastic vows and married a 16 years old British girl and have 2 children. Even his 2 children is not an ordinary kids where there are actual a high incarnation.
His ways of teaching look like against the odd but that is his skill of course with great wisdom to transfer the great teaching to all the students.
We also can see how his guru devotion when his guru coming to visit, Chogyam Trugpa follow through all the preparation. Make sure everything is in order.
Chogyam Trungpa success in bring dharma to the west can be obviously seen from his students that still stay on even after he enter the clear lightened his teaching was widely spread.
There are so much similarity between him and my Lama. They are from the same enlightened mind and are the great master.
Their method might look crazy but that is how it has to be in order to get the people at this age to understand. Time change and method change too.
We are fortunate to be able to learn directly from them and must have gain great merit in our previous lives to be able to meet such a great Lama in this life and in such condition.
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In his book called "Crazy Wisdom" (2001), Chogyam Trungpa refers to crazy wisdom as "the action of truth". It is completely ruthless because you want the complete truth, you want to be completely, wholely wholesome. This is the style of Padmasambhava. Chogyam Trungpa explains crazy wisdom by discussing the eight aspects of Padmasambhava. It is a process of cutting through one's expectations, of psychological penetration. In the process, there is also the sudden discovery of intelligence. Chogyam Trungpa says that ordinary human beings can "wake themselves up ... through an accident of life of one kind or another."
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I had watched this documentary recently. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (CTR) was one of the greatest Mahasiddhas / Buddhist masters that had ever appeared in our lifetime. CTR was one of the pioneers to bring Vajrayana Buddhism to the West. Due to his kindness, Vajrayana Buddhism has since flourished and become very well established in the Western World.
CTR was very famous for his crazy wisdom methods of teaching Dharma in the West. CTR was very skillful and adopted many unconventional methods to benefit the Western minds. CTR went all the way by returning his robes and then later became a lay Dharma teacher. He immersed himself totally in the study and understanding of the Western way of life. He even married a young 16-year British girl! That shows how compassionate and devoted CTR was to ensure Dharma can penetrate the Western World.
One of CTR’s methods was getting his students to play the role of Shambala Warriors in the enlightened society. CTR had prepared and trained his students in changing their ordinary views to pure views. This would become useful later when the students practise the Highest Yoga Tantra meditations.
CTR’s unconventional methods helped the students to destroy their egoistic minds and see through the deceptive appearance of samsara.
CTR appeared to be a very controversial lama because his methods were ‘crazy’ and beyond the accepted norm. But on hindsight, these critics realized they were wrong because CTR’s motivation in helping others was pure and those were CTR’s skillful means to benefit the sentient beings.
CTR displayed the characteristics of a true bodhisattva where the concern was only to benefit others. An example was that his wife Diane related in his biography that CTR even went to the extent of jeopardizing his marriage by allowing his student to sleep with her! Also CTR seemed to have affairs with many of his female students! But all these events had deeper meanings that ordinary people like us could not comprehend.
During CTR’s funeral when his body was cremated, there were many signs like rainbows in the sky indicating CTR had gained full enlightenment. CTR was Buddha Heruka/Vajrayagini. This had proven that all of CTR’s actions previously were enlightened deeds performed to benefit others.
A lama’s intention is to ultimately bring his students to liberation and enlightenment. This is clearly seen in CTR’s case as well as my lama’s case. There were countless bodhisattva acts that Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche had performed which could not be fully shared here. We know that CTR's incarnation had already returned to benefit others continuing his bodhisattva way of life...
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Hey,
I watched this movie before.
What created an impact on me most is the fact that Chogyam Trungpa gave back his vows and disrobed to be like the people he was trying to spread dharma to. The importance of dharma to him at that point was critical because the holy teachings would dissipate with the invasion of China in Tibet. I was very touched by his urgency and passion to transmit the dharma to others and will use whatever method to do so even if it means his reputation is at stake.
Similarities
The real guru can be very difficult to be with because the real guru will bring out all the ugly side in us and it would be difficult to accept and transform. I have heard some students has left during the time when they were all forced to wear a suit when the head of Sakya, the Karmapa came to visit the centre. It was something these students were not used to because they were hippies. This is the perfect example of not able to let go and surrender to the guru and this is what this movie is about. To let go of our comfort zone and attachments completely trust the guru.
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Dear everyone,
Thank you for sharing.
Chogyam Trungpa no doubt is one of the most outstanding Mahasiddhas of his time. However, as some noted, during that time some students could not take his style of training and left.Some criticized him and said he's a fake. His methods, even to the open-minded Westerners ,were highly controversial.
Would you take him or some one like him as your guru?
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In 1969, Trungpa Rinpoche went into solitary meditation in Bhutan and became a lay person immediately after his return to Scotland. In the 70s, in America, people were fascinated with the East and looked to Hindu and Buddhist philosophies for answers. Trungpa Rinpoche described this as a spiritual supermarket and spent the rest of his life teaching his special brand of dharma which was to counter what he called "spiritual materialism" and to develop "basic sanity". He defines "developing basic sanity" as a process of working on ourselves in which the path itself rather than the attainment of a goal becomes the working basis". There is no goal or rather the path is the goal. He was teaching Buddhism in a revolutionary and contemporary manner which appealed to his Western students.
If I had met Trungpa Rinpoche in my 20s, I would have followed him but I might not have understood his profound teachings. That's why some of his students left him. I think they could not transcend spiritual materialsm. Now I understand his teachings because I've matured and following a master like him would not be a problem. Yes, if Trungpa Rinpoche was alive, I would take him as my guru.
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He really was not an ordinary person. I have watched the documentary "crazy wisdom" before, it was a very good documentary as it gave an understanding to us what a mahasiddha is.
From the movie I saw he was a monk and he was still wearing monk clothes when he went to the University to the UK. He later found it was easier if he disrobed and 'be one of them' in order to teach Dharma to the western people. His mission at that time was to introduce Buddhism to the western people. His way of teaching westerners were very unconventional, he smoked, he drank, had women, drug, etc. But by doing what people at that time did, he managed to introduce and teach Buddhist Wisdom to the westerners. The center he has worldwide is over 200, this shows his way was really effective at that time.
He way of spreading Buddhism completely changes one's view on how a monk should be. It breaks our perception and makes us see deeper. What I found is, it is not about how a monk look or behave, his results show everything. It is the substance and quality of the monk that is more important.
My Guru is not very conventional either. He is very direct and humorous, he jokes a lot when he gives talk, this is one of his ways to make us understand the profound Dharma, explaining it in the way we like, in the context we understand.
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I love Crazy Wisdom, I've watched it twice and I'm going to watch it for the 3rd time one of these days. Another biographical movie that is worth watching is title Brilliant Moon, the life of Dilgo Rinpoche. This is another movie (some parts animated) about a great Lama.
From Crazy Wisdom, after watching the movie twice, I find that CTR method of bringing the Dharma to his students is fantastic and flawless! I mean, he's on a new land, where Buddhism is some what foreign... and yet, he managed to teach the Dharma using methods to suit his student at that time and place. I thought the most amazing part regarding this is when one of his old students said that they didn't even noticed that all the things they were doing, the instructions that they received were all Dharma... That they only figured it out much later. From that point, here I can see many similarities between my Guru and CTR, I know my Guru used so many methods to get across the Dharma to us... Sometimes several methods for one person just to get one point across! It really is amazing how hard our Guru work and care for us.
Another thing I like about the movie is how much Guru Devotion CTR's students have for their Lama. I found that really special... How some of them just drop everything to serve their Lama and didn't see that as 'giving up' their 'life'; how they didn't need 10, 20 years of nurturing and with just a few years their guru devotion is so strong that they continued their Guru's work even when CTR is not there physically... I beleive, that is true love, respect and faith for their Guru, to in their best behaviour whether or not their Guru is watching or not.
There are so many other things that I like about the movie, but these are the 2 things that strike me the the most. I'm really thankful for having the fortune of viewing such a blessed movie of CTR life... and his students really inspire me to be a better Dharma student.
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Dear K,
If i am a westerner living in that era, and not having much success or not having found basic happiness/purpose in life, I would take CT as my Guru.I would have the right mental disposition to explore and receive CT's crazy wisdom.I believe a lot of his disciples come from such a background.
We are now in the 21st Century and the days of spiritual materialism and gratification has passed due to globalisation breaking down barriers in time and space to communication and knowledge seeking.
Mahasiddhas like CT are the rarest of holy masters. We need them to leave behind a legacy of what is ' sane' and 'real' when one is attained. Otherwise we will miss the forest for the trees and what we practice will be false dharma leading to imagined or fake enlightened behaviour.
My background and disposition does not match what i mentioned in the beginning and it will be a challenge for me to have such a Guru. But i will not let a rare jewel pass me by despite my own personal resistance. Its worth it.The oppportunity to learn from a real Guru will not come again in countless lifetimes.Yes, i will have a Guru like that. Thank Buddha i hv found one just like that and with perfect skills suitable for our present times.
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Chogyam Trungpa's methods of spreading the dharma, is an unconventional way to reach out to people from different culture. From a country with limited knowledge of Buddha Dharma at that time, Chogyam Trungpa absorbed into the culture of the Americans and spread dharma through a very unique way that appealed to them.
His ways appeared to be controversial but it was to reach out to people. In the beginning the critics used to criticize his ways but later they realized that his motivation was pure to benefit people and he was only using the method that is most suitable at that time. Not many can go beyond the limits to bring Dharma to others.
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1) what you learn from his methods of spreading the dharma
Chogyam Trungpa used an unconventional way to reach out to people who have culture, knowledge and back ground different in order to bring the great benefit to them. Hence once their mind are open then it easy to learn and absorb Dharma. That why many actions he did seem to be crazy base on people acceptance and expectation but he did not concern about his reputation.
2) what are the similarities/ differences between him and your own Lama ( if you have a Lama).
Similary as my teacher also use unconventional way to reach out to people who have everything different from him in order to break through their mind then they can learn and accept Dharma later for their own benefit. He is very modern and his teaching is straight forward and it easy to penertrate student minds with his great compassion to bring benefit to whoever he has come across.
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Aurore, the Karmapa is the head of the Kagyu Lineage. Just a note.
It is hard to imagine during his time just by asking his disciples to wear suits can be so difficult but waking pot is ok. He live his life mirroring the society/environment that he is teaching Dharma. Everything he does is Dharma. Just by being drunk during an entire Dharma talk is Dharma. He doesn't care how people look at him. Just how he can be of benefit. A true Boddhisattva.
If a guru similar to him were to be near us, we should all appreciate and embrace him as a real guru. Do not have any preconception of what a Guru should be like. Such Guru will be very similar to us from the outside but all his actions is to benefit us.
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The one thing I could not understand is that towards the end of Chugyam Trungpa's life, he has been drinking excessively and affected his health a lot. Is this a way he is manifesting for his life to be taken away or be shortened?Is it because of the negative karma of his students that caused him to manifest this heavy drinking? Or any other reasons?
I would not have understood because to me he could have stopped his drinking and benefit more people because he could live longer.
No doubt he is a very skillful guru who has successfully spread the Buddha Dharma across the West.
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Recently I chanced upon this interesting video on the great Mahasiddha , Chogyam Trungpa.
Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche -Trailer -Shambhala ([url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80jGSadccmY#ws[/url])
Do share with us-
1) what you learn from his methods of spreading the dharma
2) what are the similarities/ differences between him and your own Lama ( if you have a Lama).
Kurava, great video, thanks for sharing. I plan to purchase the full version for my collection of Buddhist movies. I find tremendous similarities between Trungpa Rinpoche and my lama. They are unconventional, unpredictable, ineffable and really, I find that both embody the term Crazy Wisdom. It looks crazy but its complete wisdom. Haha. Cliche I know, but that is really the case.
Truth be told, when I first met my Lama many years ago, I was utterly taken aback by his behaviour. It was nothing like what I expected of a holy monk, and his manner of interspersing jokes into his teachings, down to earth manner and unpredictability had me reeling. I didnt quite know what to think, and I left wondering what that was all about.
Having then had many more encounters with my Lama, and having researched about other unconventional buddhist masters (funnily enough, Trungpa Rinpoche was one of them), I realised that such behaviour was mahasiddha-like, and rather than being something to be a cause of worry, it was a tremendous thing. Over time, I realised that whatever my Lama did, it was with complete good motivation to benefit someone, something or similar. Trungpa Rinpoche is just the same, albeit a tad more controversial.
So - womanizing, sleeping around, drinking, practicing dorje shugden, starting an army, doing drugs, flower arranging, calligraphy.... which is more controversial, strange, bad, 'evil', ...? Something to chew upon...
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Just watched this video and I totally love it!
It is called "Crazy" for a reason. To me, he is "crazy" because he dares to break out from the box or limitation of people onto himself.
In this degeneration age (Kali yuga), materialism, enjoyment, desire is the main driving force. If we expect people to have string guru devotion and meditate in the cave, most of the people cannot do it (I for one cannot). That's why an unconventional method must be used, hence "crazy".
The part I remembered the most is Rinpoche asked his students to bring weeds for their retreat. Doing this is a lot of risk because people may think what kind of guru he is. At the same time, it closes the distance between him and the students, then he throw them into the fire, chanting "We are burning self deception..."
How cool is that?!!
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The title wouldn't be called Crazy Wisdom for no reasons...some of the things which Chogyam Trungpa did which i am not really comfortable with but who am i to say anything to this Highly Attained Being. He totally blew me away with some of the method he uses, it's totally cutting edge. First he realizes the situation of that era particularly in the United States and adapt or put himself into the same thought of mind of what most of the people searching for during that time. He became one of them, he's like a scientist who will inject himself with the medicine which he just developed.
I guessed with these method he befriended a lot friends who eventually became His student till now. It is so amazing that to know how devoted the students are even their Guru had entered a clear light quite long already.
As a Buddhist we do not just go to our chapel on a certain day of the week and pretend to be Holy. We shall practice Dharma 24 hours a day if we can. It's not about the 1-2 hours prayers you did, it is about the rest of the 22 hours.
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It is not easy to accept Chogyam Trungpa's methods if we are determined to hang on to our perceptions of how different things and people are supposed to be. Supposed to be by what or whose standards?
One of the most important lessons I have had to learn as I embrace Buddhism is to keep an open mind and to let go of my ideas of how everything is supposed to be. A Teacher like Chogyam Trungpa wastes no time challenging my mind and makes me confront my own bias and discriminating thoughts.
You have to go beyond Chohyam Trungpa's initial "layers" and if you are still open to him methods, only then do you see his results. The genius is, when you start from the end i.e when you begin your examination by looking at his results and then you track back, there was such clear purpose to his "madness".
How compassionate the Guru is to do whatever is necessary to reach the dark depths of our minds.
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I watched it twice. Its hilarious, wild, shocking, poignant and mind blowing. It is amazing how one can catalyze the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism from a seemingly backward country to the West, change and adapt the method to the people of the era to bring spirituality to them.
I read the book The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant afew years ago. It was written by Chogyam Trungpa's butler John Riley Perks. I was shocked by the obstacles the group had to go through; back stabbing by Akong Rinpoche, the accident that left Chogyam Trungpa semi paralysed, lack of financial support, criticism and the list just goes on. Despite all that, the few loyal students (as seen in the video) perservered.
And today. 20 years after his death, Naropa University that was founded by Chogyam Trungpa, the first of its kind as a Buddhist-inspired university in North America that integrates ancient traditions of wisdom into the curriculum of modern education is accredited by The US government. A testament that crazy wisdom is not so crazy after all!
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The one thing I could not understand is that towards the end of Chugyam Trungpa's life, he has been drinking excessively and affected his health a lot. Is this a way he is manifesting for his life to be taken away or be shortened?Is it because of the negative karma of his students that caused him to manifest this heavy drinking? Or any other reasons?
I would not have understood because to me he could have stopped his drinking and benefit more people because he could live longer.
No doubt he is a very skillful guru who has successfully spread the Buddha Dharma across the West.
Dear Galen,
There are many reasons why Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche would drink a lot and allow the alcohol to affect his health. An attained practitioner like him has full control of his life. He can use anything as an excuse to cause his fatality or just dissolve his winds and go into clear light anytime anywhere without any prior symptoms.
The following are possible reasons for Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to manifest his illness:
1) To create opportunities for his students to generate merits when they take care of him.
2) To train his students on being alert to other's needs.
3) To purify his student's negative body karma.
4) To teach his students on impermanence.
5) To absorb the student's collective negative karma with his illness and eventual death so that the dharma can grow further and wider.
Benefiting others is not just in this current lifetime and in this form of existence. The attained teacher can continue to benefit his students in future lifetimes and in other existences as well. So dying is neither good nor bad.
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Here's a little writeup on Chongyam Trungpa that I found on the net somewhere.
CHOGYAM TRUNGPA BIOGRAPHY
by Charles Carreon
Few could begin their first written work, their autobiography, with these words:
"My birthplace was a small settlement on a high plateau of north eastern Tibet. Above it, the celebrated mountain Pago-punsum rises perpendicularly to more than eighteen thousand feet, and is often called the 'the pillar of the sky'. It looks like a tall spire; its mighty crest towers under perpetual snows, glittering in the sunshine."
Such were the origins of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was born in February, 1939 in Eastern Tibet, and died forty-eight years later, leaving a legacy as the most influential and controversial teacher of Buddhism in the United States during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Oxford-educated and well-known for the quality of his wit, this high lama wore civilian clothes, and was often photographed in suit and tie during the early seventies. Comfortable swigging hard liquor with anarchist poets, he sped to the head of the guru crew when, in the late seventies, he founded the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and in one incredible summer, made Ram Dass feel like an idiot poseur, and cut the long renunciate braid off the head of the renowned sacred songster, Bhagavan Dass, as Dass lay insensate on the floor after a night of dissipation. Or so the stories went.
In the late seventies, Trungpa's milieu was the focus of the lead story in Harper's magazine called "Toward Spiritual Obedience," which featured a cover picture of a pure white megaphone, held in the hand and resting in the lap of a berobed person whose head had been cropped out of the frame. The story told how Trungpa, at a Halloween party he held at Naropa, was miffed that the poet W.S. Merwin and his wife wouldn't consent to appear naked along with him at a party. Trungpa ordered them seized and stripped naked so the party could begin. Merwin and many in the academic establishment didn't take it well. But for a generation of hippies who had lived through the Summer of Love, Woodstock, and Altamont, that kind of hellraising was just alright. For people who were sorry they missed the opportunity to be on the bus with Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, tripping on an endless supply of LSD, someone who wouldn't get naked probably should be helped out of their clothes.
Trungpa's books of teachings didn't disappoint, either. The first one, Meditation in Action, didn't mark off much new territory, but with chapter titles like "The Manure of Experience and the Field of Bodhi," there was some suggestion that his teachings were taking an original turn. The next book, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, was slightly less provocative than a molotov cocktail heaved into a yoga class. The lights sere kept burning in ashrams and college dorm rooms way past midnight, as people who had been earnestly practicing breath retention and focussing on the third eye of wisdom began to wonder if they might be missing the boat if a bona fide Tibetan lama said things like this:
"It is important to see that the main point of any spiritual practice is to step out of the bureaucracy of ego. This means stepping out of ego's constant desire for a higher, more spiritual, more transcendental version of knowledge, religion, virtue, judgment, comfort or whatever it is that the particular ego is seeking. One must step out of spiritual materialism."
First of all, what the hell was he doing using a word like "bureaucracy?" That wasn't the sort of word a guru used, because it makes you feel uptight, like you're in a government building to fill out forms and get a license. Next, it poses a problem, and it doesn't sound like an easy one to resolve. If "ego" is going to subvert even spiritual efforts, then where can we take refuge? This isn't what gurus do. They don't sow doubt and uncertainty. They package the problem and a solution together. Trungpa seemed to be declaring a holiday from mysticism to give us all a change to dry out from the long spiritual bender that young people had been on every since Leary and Alpert got kicked out of Harvard and bathtub acid started irrigating every careless brain cell in the 16 - 25 age group.
I think Trungpa showed up on the American scene and was both charmed and dismayed by the unreasoning optimism of the early seventies. You don't know it, but we were everywhere, hitchhiking, doing and distributing psychoactive drugs, screwing on the beach and in the fields, surfing, smuggling, dancing, making music, and believing, believing, believing that heaven was just down the road, around the corner, and right here and now. Trungpa probably saw us as ignorant victims of Eastern religion toxicity, high on the unreleased byproducts of boundless hope fed by chemical realization, sexual exhilaration, meditative exercises and nature worship. "Stop everything!" he seemed to shout. "Stop it now before you dance right off that cliff!"
People hated him, said he was evil, cited his drinking and womanizing as evidence of depravity, and for all the people it deterred from seeking him out as a teacher they might as well have given him a ticker tape parade. He was taking bread out of the mouths of child-gurus like the precocious Maharaj-ji, and stealing disciples from kind old men like Swami Muktananda. Supposedly he called the Berkeley-to-Tennessee guru Steve Gaskin, a "demonic hippy." Who knew the truth? It was all believable. On the spiritual scene, he was like a wrathful deity, appearing everywhere, making anyone feel like an asshole if they flinched. Naturally, legions bowed.
His next book, The Myth of Freedom, was exquisitely designed, a small, square book in a five-by-five format, illustrated with Tibetan line drawings by the amazing Glenn Eddy, the only guy who could make a one-eyed dakini with a shriveled tit and one triangular tooth look cool. Supposedly a former heroin addict, Eddy was one of Trungpa's incredibly cool students, to whom were soon added luminaries like Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman. Even as Trungpa stories evermore circled around his drinking and screwing, it seemed his students affected more and more the trappings of legitimacy.
As a cultural hand-grenade, The Myth of Freedom landed in a populated area in the middle of spiritual rush hour. The casualties were enormous, more even that the ashram conflagration ignited by Cutting Through. People could not stop reading the book, or flagellating themselves and each other with its provoking statements. Again Trungpa showed his command of the connotations of language. Using "myth" in the pejorative sense, to mean a false belief, he turned his back on Jungians and Campbellians who had seized on myths as doors to the archetypal unconscious. Saying that "freedom" was a myth, he challenged Americans to examine their most prized political possession. And that was before you even opened the cover.
When you did, the book's force was overwhelming. Starting with discourses on suffering that were as cosmopolitan as a quip by Oscar Wilde, as trenchant as an essay by Orwell, Trungpa proceeded to skewer every sacred cow, both secular and sacred that appeared in his broad-sweeping path. His observations were as irritating as an infestation of ants taking up residence inside your suit of armor. You found yourself wanting to strip off vital protection just to end the torture. The Myth lampooned spiritual striving as a pathetic game of self deception, and activated our own self-doubt to demonstrate for us our tendency to hide our ignorance about what end is up, who we are, and what the hell to do about it.
From then on, the game was pretty much his. Nobody ever threatened Trungpa Rinpoche's pre-eminence as a presenter of Buddhist thought during his lifetime. His crew and vast numbers of others presumed him to be a MahaSiddha of the highest order. His drunkenness and sexual infantilism were accepted as the price of perfection. He lived in paradox as comfortable as a pig in mud or as Guru Rinpoche in the midst of the flames, embracing his beautiful consort.
Trungpa Rinpoche chose a successor who harvested extraordinary opprobrium when he infected several of his students with the lethal AIDS virus due to a mistaken belief that he could do nothing wrong. Whatever Trungpa got right, his successor seems to have missed, leaving an object lesson for all -- do not imitate the deeds of your betters, or be prepared to pay a price.
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The one thing I could not understand is that towards the end of Chugyam Trungpa's life, he has been drinking excessively and affected his health a lot. Is this a way he is manifesting for his life to be taken away or be shortened?Is it because of the negative karma of his students that caused him to manifest this heavy drinking? Or any other reasons?
I would not have understood because to me he could have stopped his drinking and benefit more people because he could live longer.
No doubt he is a very skillful guru who has successfully spread the Buddha Dharma across the West.
Yes I agree with what Klein said... that there are many reason why but one huge reason is for sure is that all these High Lamas does not do anything randomly and they definitely have control. And if their death would be of more benefit to others then they would manifest the situation. And look at how big and strong they have grown. His center now under the wings of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche his Sun continues to flourish, Shambala is renowned world wide and still growing strong... their publication Shambala Sun is also well established. Amazing that even after He is gone his legacy continues to grow.
So yeah I guess for highly attained masters such as Chogyam Trungpa it is definitely for the bigger and better good for his students in various different levels.
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The one thing I could not understand is that towards the end of Chugyam Trungpa's life, he has been drinking excessively and affected his health a lot. Is this a way he is manifesting for his life to be taken away or be shortened?Is it because of the negative karma of his students that caused him to manifest this heavy drinking? Or any other reasons?
I would not have understood because to me he could have stopped his drinking and benefit more people because he could live longer.
No doubt he is a very skillful guru who has successfully spread the Buddha Dharma across the West.
Yes I agree with what Klein said... that there are many reason why but one huge reason is for sure is that all these High Lamas does not do anything randomly and they definitely have control. And if their death would be of more benefit to others then they would manifest the situation. And look at how big and strong they have grown. His center now under the wings of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche his Sun continues to flourish, Shambala is renowned world wide and still growing strong... their publication Shambala Sun is also well established. Amazing that even after He is gone his legacy continues to grow.
So yeah I guess for highly attained masters such as Chogyam Trungpa it is definitely for the bigger and better good for his students in various different levels.
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Trungpa's fluid grasp of English allowed him to frame the teachings in a fresh but authentic way, making them accessible to the western mind and cultural mindset. His life, art and teaching all were expressed by his "crazy wisdom" mastery that set him apart from the few teachers who first came to the west as well as the many who have followed. His unconventional lifestyle, he drank sometimes heavily and had many relationships with women, and his innovative presentation of the teachings, the introduction of the Shambhala Path, a secular spiritual sister path to Buddhism and the development of the Dharma Art form to name just two, are examples of his consistent "crazy wisdom" approach.