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34th out of 409 books
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462 voters
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
In this modern spiritual classic, the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa highlights the commonest pitfall to which every aspirant on the spiritual path falls prey: what he calls spiritual materialism. The universal tendency, he shows, is to see spirituality as a process of self-improvement—the impulse to develop and refine the ego when the ego is, by nature, essent...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
October 22nd 2002
by Shambhala
(first published January 1st 1996)
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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...more
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...more
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...more
4 likes · like · see review
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, shuny...more
"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, shuny...more
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 othe...more
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 t...more
A phenomenal piece to the puzzle of Buddhist thought. Based off of the second turning of the wheel when basically the Buddha had been teaching for a while. He got all of his followers together and had one of his students explain that "form is emptiness and emptiness is form." He was basically saying that grasping on to anything - including the teachings of the Buddha - would cause suffering. This in itself caused suffering for many of the followers, but thus cut "through spiritual materialism"....more
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 th...more
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 th...more
3 likes · like · see review
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chogyam Trungpa is a classic volume based of a series of lectures given in 1970-71. The message presented is relatively simple; one cannot attain spiritual goals. It matters not what one calls it: Heaven, Salvation, Deliverance, Nirvana, Satori, Samadhi, Enlightenment or Cosmic Consciousness. Whether theistic or philosophical, the setting of and striving toward goals is a self-defeating proposition. "There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted...more
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?
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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 spiritua...more
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 spiritua...more
Trungpa's writing and thinking are a breath of fresh air in an often too-serious field. While I find his writing and personality to be as fun as Osho's, Trungpa consistently offers a simultaneous feeling of vitality and profundity (where Osho seems to evidence an adolescent form of "I've-got-enlightenment"). It took me a little time to begin to understand Trungpa's particular way of presenting nuance as well, but once I did, each subsequent book added more. After some time, you begin to see that...more
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This book is a re-read. First time I read it, I was seeking spiritual truth. Well, to be honest, it was very difficult, very layered. I read it to get something out of it, and was very disappointed. 2nd time through, I happened to be cleaning my book shelf up, and it fell out and open to a page on experiencing anger. I was just drawn in, and discovered to my delight that rereading this book was an entirely different experience. Straightforward, exact, precise, a joy to read, and a great pleasure...more
When I started reading this, I was struggling with the fact that every approach I took to spirituality or consciousness resulted in a temporary inflation of my ego, followed by a deflationary experience or two when I came back to reality. "Cutting through Spiritual Materialism" is about shortcutting right to the deflationary experience of truly living. It hurts to read, but one gets the sense it's a good hurt. On the downside, these traditional Buddhist teachings always seem to make the path app...more
In this book Chögyam Trungpa lays it all out there for you to look at. What you're doing, why you're doing it and what, in the end you're trying to achieve. He points out some things you may not be aware of on your spiritual journey and helps you to see some of the stumbling blocks you might run across. In our Western, materialistic world, we are rarely able to do something without trying to get something in return so the messages included here are particularly useful. The only problem with this...more
The subject matter here is at once profound and immediately applicable to anyone with a spiritual interest. This was an exhilarating read, unlike many of the others in its precise and straightforward style. Trungpa received a Western education at Oxford, and his writing/speaking reflects this -- there is none of the awkward phrasing that sometimes can be found in works by great spiritual teachers from other cultures. But what really made this book a gem for me, one that I will undoubtedly read a...more
Incredible book. Trungpa delivers a clear, powerful, and intuitive narrative on many classic Mahayana, Hinayana, and and Tantric Buddhist concepts as they apply to living in the Western World. The main theme is cutting through ego driven spirituality and losing one's self, thoughts, and irrational desires to a meditative state of being.
Trungpa tells many classic Buddhist stories and answers various questions regarding some of the most basic and advanced concepts of perception, suffering, and enl...more
Apr 28, 2010
Martin Roell
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in spirituality, anyone practising meditation
I cannot praise this book enough. I recommend it to anyone practising meditation or anyone on any spiritual path. It is suitable for the absolute beginner and the experienced practitioner. Beginners find starting points and guidelines, more experienced meditators will find all of the traps into which they have trodded and encouragement to go on. The descriptions of different meditation techniques and the pitfalls of them are among the most lucid that I have ever read. The language and style is b...more
I bought this book in 2004 and let it sit on my bookshelf in California, Austin, then Guatemala until finally reading it this spring. It's the kind of book I want to reread as soon as I finish.
Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa clearly explains how "walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality," and how to avoid these pitfalls on the path...more
Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa clearly explains how "walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality," and how to avoid these pitfalls on the path...more
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, st...more
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, st...more
Truly a must read for all Islamists, Christians, Buddhist, who think they have the answer. You are dancing with your ego and as Trungpa will demonstrate to the reader. The essence of the book is if you think your religious ness can save or influence others your ego is distorting your reality field to the detriment of that which you seek to save. If your ego is distorting your effort to influence others then your ego is really keeping you from ever attaining your goal.
This book draws from a series of lectures given by Chogyam Trungpa, the founder of the Shambhala tradition in the US, in Boulder, Colo., in the early 1970s. Reading this book provides you with confidence on your own spiritual journey. It makes you reflect and helps you examine your own experience. Trungpa captures the experience of being on the path so clearly and in such a way that you recognize, “Ahhh, that’s what I experienced!”
Lama Trungpa is one of the best in his class when it comes to rendering the essence of Tibetan Buddhism accessible to the western intellect. In a nutshell, spirituality is NOT a goal oriented pursuit, it is a way of being, an authentic approach living life, at the source.
~jj
~jj
1 like · like · see review
Wow. It took me a long time to read this book. I loved every word. It was difficult. It made me feel uncomfortable. Trungpa has such a way with words, he makes even the most complex concepts easy to understand. If I had read this book a year ago I would have had a hard time understanding it. I can't say that I have a better understanding of myself; that's not what this book is about. I do however see patterns in my thinking more clearly. Thankfully.
Nov 23, 2008
Kathy
marked it as to-read
I have spent years reading self-help books only to remain haunted by a sense of emptiness and dissatisfaction. Some time ago, I gave up on the self-improvement books, but did not know where to turn or how to cope with my unhappy ego. Finally, I began, after much trouble and confusion, to see that the ego is a hungry ghost that will never achieve fulfillment and that the excitement ego experiences when it is boosted is not the same thing as happiness.
I can't wait to read this book.
I can't wait to read this book.
Some really good parts which made me go, woah then put down the book to thin k about it for a while, where other parts did not interest me when he went into detail of what some hindu/buddhist/sanskrit words mean. I liked it any how.
One of those books that really needs to be read many times throughout the course of a life... it will reveal new things each time. Many books provide comfort or guidance, this one is like a mirror and what you see in it depends on how much you are willing to see... and what you see isn't often very pretty.
The most valuable reading experience of my life to date - how you can hand control of your spiritual life to your ego through the very process of seeking to transcend it. Highly recommended.
this is a foundation read if you are interested in beginning meditation or exploring buddhist theology. Although he was altogether human, his shortcomings make his writing all the more poignant
Very nice in explaining common pitfalls in spiritual practice. And, the book also hides some "tricks" that will elude and test your ego - at least that's what I felt. Quite useful read...
A little too advanced for me, particularly in the latter chapters. But initial chapters do a good job describing the types of traps you can fall into, particularly with your guru.
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Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Tibetan: ཆོས་ རྒྱམ་ དྲུང་པ་ Wylie: Chos rgyam Drung pa) was a Buddhist meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, and artist. He was the 11th descendent in the line of Trungpa tulkus of the Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also trained in the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the four schools, and was an adherent of the rimay or "non-sectarian" movement...more
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“We do not have to be ashamed of what we are. As sentient beings we have wonderful backgrounds. These backgrounds may not be particularly enlightened or peaceful or intelligent. Nevertheless, we have soil good enough to cultivate; we can plant anything in it.”
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18 people liked it
“Are the great spiritual teachings really advocating that we fight evil because we are on the side of light, the side of peace? Are they telling us to fight against that other 'undesirable' side, the bad and the black. That is a big question. If there is wisdom in the sacred teachings, there should not be any war. As long as a person is involved with warfare, trying to defend or attack, then his action is not sacred; it is mundane, dualistic, a battlefield situation.”
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13 people liked it
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Hard to come to terms with the relentle...more
Apr 29, 2009 06:36am