Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chögyam Trungpa (Book Review)

[BipolarGrowth]

 

Chögyam Trungpa has quickly become one of my favorite, if not my all-time favorite, spiritual authors. He was born in Tibet and brought up within the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition as a teacher since birth. He earned the equivalent of a Doctorate of Divinity at a young age. As he was nearing adulthood, he was forced to move from his home in Tibet due to the Chinese invasion. Eventually, he began to settle in the United States and other western countries as a spiritual teacher. Some have claimed that he has had one of the most potent influences on successfully bringing authentic Buddhist teachings to the West.  
 

In this book, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Chögyam Trungpa introduces us to a new way of interfacing with spiritual practice and living the good, virtuous life. Shambhala is meant to serve as a secular path into the truths usually found in mystical or religious contexts. Although secular, the Shambhala tradition is not without its magic and deep appreciation of the beauty of human potential in this life. A warrior in this tradition is a fully authentic spiritual practitioner who moves toward creating an enlightened society due to compassion flowing toward other sentient beings. 
 

It is easy to see a strong influence from the author’s training in Buddhism reflected into the structure of the Shambhala tradition. I personally find great value in viewing the spiritual process of growth and development from various perspectives, and Shambhala introduces us to new terminology which gives insight into a unique process and view which can also be seen as universally applicable. 
 

I encourage those of you looking for new spiritual books to read or philosophical models to interface with to check out this book and even more so this author.

 

And in keeping with the style of this forum, Buddhism will not make you Awake and is a complete waste of time 😉

If you might be someone who should restrain themselves from overusing psychedelics due to personal factors, Chögyam Trungpa is a great and accomplished teacher on how to waste your time incredibly effectively. 

[Someone here]

Welcome back Brandon. Missed you brother. Hope everything is fine in your personal life and mental health wise .

[BipolarGrowth]

@Someone here thanks for the warm welcome. Things are going quite well. Life always has its challenges, but nothing worth complaining about really. I hope you’re in an enjoyable season of life too. 

[Someone here]

On 24/11/2024 at 6:38 PM, BipolarGrowth said:

@Someone here thanks for the warm welcome. Things are going quite well. Life always has its challenges, but nothing worth complaining about really. I hope you’re in an enjoyable season of life too. 

You're welcome brother ♥. 

Pertaining to your post though ..I don't like Buddhism..Trust me most of these stereotype western Buddhist who are  trying to water down Buddhism to western people have not reached the ultimate level of spirituality.  Which is Not to say there is no benefit at all to be gleaned from them ..they can be useful and I find this particular teacher interesting. 

Anyways ..you seem captivated by Buddhism..I would suggest you look into hinduism as well . Ramana Maharshi was a hindu btw . And Robert Adams (which Is my personal guru ) was a devotee of him. You might find his collected works interesting. 

 

[BipolarGrowth]

On 11/26/2024 at 1:09 PM, Someone here said:

You're welcome brother ♥. 

Pertaining to your post though ..I don't like Buddhism..Trust me most of these stereotype western Buddhist who are  trying to water down Buddhism to western people have not reached the ultimate level of spirituality.  Which is Not to say there is no benefit at all to be gleaned from them ..they can be useful and I find this particular teacher interesting. 

Anyways ..you seem captivated by Buddhism..I would suggest you look into hinduism as well . Ramana Maharshi was a hindu btw . And Robert Adams (which Is my personal guru ) was a devotee of him. You might find his collected works interesting. 

 

It is fair to say I’m captivated by Buddhism. You are right in that there are plenty of western people trying to water down Buddhism. I’m not a fan of this myself. And I wouldn’t necessarily claim that any Buddhist sources I learn from have reached some ultimate level of spirituality in part due to this concept being hard to define, more difficult to verify, and even harder to be sure that it is actually understood by oneself free from lots of self deception. 
 

I’ve spent a good amount of time studying and practicing in types of Hinduism. Hinduism is more of a beginning foundation for my spiritual practice and understanding than Buddhism. I find the deeper understandings within Hinduism and Buddhism to be quite hard to distinguish. When I listen to the Ashtavakra Gita or Avadhuta Gita being read and compare it to the Vajrayana Buddhist teachings coming from more original sources such as Padmasambhava, it seems to me that a very similar truth is being pointed to. 
 

My introduction to eastern spirituality came initially through Hinduism as the ice cream of my sundae, and Buddhism now serves as the whipped cream and cherries on top of the sundae as I’ve only really begun learning authentic Buddhism in the past 2-3 years. I’ve eaten the ice cream again and again for some years, and I’ve naturally moved on to being interested in the whipped cream and cherries more lately. Of course it’s not a good meal if you don’t return to at least a few bites of the ice cream regularly to create the requisite variety for maximal enjoyment. Lol. I guess that’s a good fat American analogy for describing how I relate to the Hindu and Buddhist traditions.