Chogyam Trungpa-meditation master, scholar, and artist- was identified at the age of only thirteen months as a major tulku or reincarnation of an enlightened teacher. As the eleventh in the teaching lineage known as the Trungpa tulkus, he underwent a period of intensive training, in meditation, philosophy, and fine arts, receiving full ordination as a monk in 1958 at the age of eighteen. The following year, the Chinese Communists invaded Tibet, and the young Trungpa spent many harrowing months trekking over the Himalayas, narrowly escaping, capture.
Trungpa's account of his experiences as a young monk, his duties as the abbot and spiritual head of a great monastery, and his moving relationships with his teachers offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the life of a Tibetan lama. The memoir concludes with his daring escape from Tibet to India. In an epilogue, he describes his emigration to the West, where he encountered many people eager to learn about the ancient wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism.
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche founded the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado; Shambhala Training; and Vajradhatu, an international association of meditation centers. Among, his many books are Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior; Cutting through Spiritual Materialism, and Meditation in Action. Trungpa Rinpoche passed away in I987 at the age of forty-seven.
Born in Tibet, Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 280 pp, $23.95
Chogyam Trungpa was born in Eastern Tibet and recognized as an incarnation of the Trungpa line at an early date. He studied with, among others, one of the reincarnations of the Jamgyon Kongtrul who wrote the most famous commentary on the Seven Points. In 1959 he fled to India in the wake of the Communist takeover in Tibet, courageously leading many of his people to safety (this period is described in his book Born in Tibet.)
He came to England in the mid-sixties to study at Oxford, learned English, started to teach, and started one of the first Tibetan Buddhist centers in the West. He later dropped his monastic vows, married, and moved to America where he continued his teaching. He founded the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, a large and highly respected Buddhist university, as well as the Shambhala organization. The influence of both his teaching and his books on American Buddhism was and still is enormous.
CONTENTS: Born in Tibet
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FOREWORD TO THE 1995 EDITION
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5
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FOREWORD TO THE 1977 EDITION
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7
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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15
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How to Pronounce Tibetan Names and Words
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21
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1.
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Found and Enthroned
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23
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2.
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The Founding of Surmang
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31
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3.
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Dudtsi-til and Namgyal-tse
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36
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4.
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My Childhood at Dudtsi-til
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42
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5.
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In the Steps of the Tenth Trungpa
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59
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6.
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I Go to My Guru
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69
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7.
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Death, Duties and a Vision
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78
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8.
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A Many-sided Training
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91
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9.
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The Dalai Lama's Visit
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100
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10.
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Khampas in Revolt
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113
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11.
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Lonely Vocation
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123
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12.
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Into Hiding
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143
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13.
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Must We Escape?
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166
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14.
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It Must Be India
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174
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15.
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Refugees on the Move
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185
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16.
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Travelling the Hard Way
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196
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17.
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Days of Crisis
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208
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18.
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Touch and Go!
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219
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19.
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Across the Himalaya
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230
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Song of the Wanderer in Powo Valley
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250
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Epilogue
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251
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APPENDIX I
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The Administration of the Ka-Gyu Monasteries of East Tibet
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267
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Monastic Finances
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APPENDIX II
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270
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GLOSSARY
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272
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INDEX
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279
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