About Chögyam Trungpa and His Collected Works:
Chögyam Trungpa (1939 - 1987), a Tibetan meditation master, teacher, and artist is widely known as one of the pioneers in bringing Buddhism to the West. He was born in eastern Tibet and was identified as the eleventh descendent in the line of Trungpa tulkus (incarnations of teachers). At age 18, this scholar was Supreme Abbot of the Surmang Monasteries. He fled to India when the Chinese invaded his homeland in 1959. In 1963, Chögyam Trungpa traveled to England where he attended Oxford University as a Spaulding Fellow, studying Western philosophy, religion, art, and language. He established the first Tibetan Buddhist center in Scotland in 1967.
In 1970, he was invited to teach in the United States; he settled down in Boulder, Colorado. Over the years, he established over 100 meditation centers in America, Canada, and Europe. Trungpa Rinpoche set up Shambhala International in 1973 to coordinate the activities of these centers. He also founded Naropa Institute (now Naropa University), an innovative college that combines contemplative studies with a liberal arts curriculum. A secular program for meditation called Shambhala Training was established in 1976. In 1986, Trungpa Rinpoche moved the center of his activities from Boulder to Halifax, Canada, where he died the following year.
Carolyn Rose Gimian, editor of The Essential Chögyam Trungpa (1999), is the compiler and editor of The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa. In each of these eight volumes, she provides an overview of the material.
About This Volume:
Volume Eight contains two complete books — Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior and Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala. These works outline Chögyam Trungpa's visionary teachings for an enlightened society. Here is a vibrant and varied approach to spirituality that embraces wisdom from around the world.
The warrior is one who is fearless and absolutely free of aggression. The goal is to respect and promote the goodness of human existence and to incarnate "authentic presence." The additional selected writings in this volume amplify many of the themes in the books with pieces on basic goodness, conquering fear, political consciousness, conquering comfort,and realizing an enlightened society. As editor Carolyn Rose Gimian concludes: "The Shambhala teachings are Trungpa Rinpoche's precious gift to this generation and the future of the world."
