Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism (Shambhala Library)

<p class="MsoNormal">In this modern spiritual classic, the Tibetan meditation master Ch&ouml;gyam Trungpa highlights a common pitfall to which every aspirant on the spiritual path falls prey: what he calls spiritual materialism. The universal human tendency, he shows, is to see spirituality as a process of self-improvement&#8212;the impulse to develop and refine the ego when the ego is, by nature, essentially empty. “The problem,” Trungpa says, “is that ego can convert anything to its own use, even spirituality.” His incisive, compassionate teachings serve to wake us up from this trick we all play on ourselves, and to offer us a far brighter reality: the true and joyous liberation that inevitably involves letting go of the self rather than working to improve it. It is a message that has resonated with students for over thirty years and remains fresh as ever today. <p class="MsoNormal">This edition includes a foreward by Ch&ouml;gyam Trungpas son and lineage holder Sakyong Mipham.

 

In this beloved classic, Tibetan meditation master Chogyam Trungpa presents an overview of the spiritual path and warns of common mistakes along that path. He then offers a description of the true spiritual path and a broad outline of the Buddhist approach to spirituality.

On numerous lists of the Most Influential Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism presents the universal truths of the Buddhist path so clearly and succinctly that it has become a favorite even for people of other faiths.

Chögyam Trungpa (1940–1987) was a meditation master, teacher, and artist who founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books.