Shambhala - Volume 5 of The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa

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Introduction to Volume Five
© 2004
by Carolyn R. Gimian
(PDF 204 KB)

This volume focuses on the lineages of great teachers who have transmitted the Tibetan Buddhist teachings and on the practice of devotion to the spiritual teacher. It also contains inspirational commentaries by Chögyam Trungpa on the lives of famous masters such as Padmasambhava, Naropa, Milarepa, Marpa, and Tilopa. This volume includes:

Crazy Wisdom (1991)

Chögyam Trungpa describes “crazy wisdom” as an innocent state of mind that has the quality of early morning—fresh, sparkling, and completely awake. In Crazy Wisdom, he examines the life of Padmasambhava—the revered Indian teacher who brought Buddhism to Tibet—to illustrate the principle of crazy wisdom. From this profound point of view, spiritual practice does not provide comfortable answers to pain or confusion. On the contrary, painful emotions can be appreciated as a challenging opportunity for new discovery. In particular, Trungpa Rinpoche discusses meditation as a practical way to uncover one's own innate wisdom.

Illusion’s Game: The Life and Teaching of Naropa (1994)

In this work, Chögyam Trungpa reveals how the spiritual path is a raw and rugged “unlearning” process that draws us away from the comfort of conventional expectations and conceptual attitudes toward a naked encounter with reality. The tantric paradigm for this process is the story of the Indian master Naropa (1016–1100), who is among the enlightened teachers of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Naropa was the leading scholar at Nalanda, the Buddhist monastic university, when he embarked upon the lonely and arduous path to enlightenment. After a series of daunting trials, he was prepared to receive the direct transmission of the awakened state of mind from his guru, Tilopa. Teachings that he received, including those known as the six doctrines of Naropa, have been passed down in the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism for a millennium. Trungpa Rinpoche’s commentary shows the relevance of Naropa’s extraordinary journey for today’s practitioners who seek to follow the spiritual path.

Chögyam Trungpa performing the abhisheka of Vajrayogini, an advanced vajrayana empowerment, Boulder, Colorado, ca. 1979. Photograph by Paul Kloppenburg. Used by permission.
Excerpts from The Life of Marpa the Translator: Seeing Accomplishes All (1982)

Marpa the Translator, an eleventh-century farmer, scholar, and teacher, is one of the most renowned saints in Tibetan Buddhist history. In the West, Marpa is best known through his teacher, the Indian yogin Naropa, and through his closest disciple, Milarepa. Volume Five of the Collected Works includes Chögyam Trungpa’s preface and colophon to The Life of Marpa the Translator, a book on Marpa translated by the Nalanda Translation Committee under Trungpa Rinpoche’s direction.

Excerpts from The Rain of Wisdom: The Essence of the Ocean of True Meaning (1980)

The tradition of composing spontaneous songs that express spiritual understanding has existed in Tibet for centuries. The Rain of Wisdom includes over one hundred of these profound songs from some of the greatest teachers of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Excerpts from The Rain of Wisdom found in Volume Five of the Collected Works include the songs of Chögyam Trungpa, as well as Trungpa’s foreword and colophon.

The Sadhana of Mahamudra: Selections from a Tantric Liturgy (1968)

The Sadhana of Mahamudra joins together the ultimate teachings from two great Tibetan spiritual lineages: the dzogchen (maha ati) teachings of the Nyingma and the mahamudra teachings of the Kagyu. Included here in Volume Five is an excerpt from this tantric text, which Chögyam Trungpa received as terma in Bhutan in 1968.

Selected Writings

“Joining Energy and Space” (2001) is an article based on teachings about the significance of The Sadhana of Mahamudra.

“HUM: An Approach to Mantra” (1972) offers a general discussion of the basic vajrayana practice of mantra, which uses the repetition of sacred syllables to invoke the wisdom and energy of egolessness in the form of various herukas, or nontheistic deities. The essay includes a specific discussion of the mantra HUM, which is the seed, or root, syllable for all of the herukas.

“Explanation of the Vajra Guru Mantra” is a previously unpublished article that presents general guidelines for understanding the practice of mantra. However, the main body of this piece is an explanation of the Vajra Guru Mantra and its association with invoking the power and presence of Padmasambhava.

The foreword to The Torch of Certainty (1977) offers a few remarks from Chögyam Tungpa on a classic Tibetan text on ngöndro (preliminary practices) composed by Jamgön Kongtrül the Great and translated by Judith Hanson.

“The Practice of the Four Foundations” (1977) is an interview with Chögyam Trungpa on the ngöndro practices, or the four foundations, which are the entrance into the formal practice of vajrayana.

“The Practicing Lineage” (1997) and “The Mishap Lineage” (1997) discuss the origins of Chögyam Trungpa’s own spiritual lineage, the line of the Trungpas.

“Teachings on the Tulku Principle” (1992) is a brief article on the history and meaning of reincarnation and the Tibetan practice of realized teachers taking rebirth in successive incarnations.

Three articles on Milarepa express the richness of Chögyam Trungpa’s insights into the teachings of the most famous and beloved yogi of Tibet:

“Milarepa: A Warrior’s Life” is a previously unpublished article that presents the basic events in Milarepa’s life story, with commentary on their significance.
“Milarepa: A Synopsis,” also a previously unpublished article, vividly presenting a series of scenes from Milarepa’s life, was likely to have been an early treatment prepared by Trungpa Rinpoche for a movie on the life of Milarepa, which he began filming in the early 1970s.
“The Art of Milarepa” (1972) is an article that has less to do with Milarepa’s artistic expression—his songs—than with his art of life: his extraordinary spiritual journey, the obstacles he encountered, and his final attainment.



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