The Big Picture

Many of Rinpoche�s students thought of him as a second Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava�the �lotus-born��overcame cultural, political, and spiritual obstacles to bring the tantric teachings to Tibet from India in the ninth century. Likewise, Trungpa Rinpoche had to conquer religious and cultural opposition to Buddhism�the secret teachings, in particular�to establish his sangha in North America in the twentieth century

The Medium Picture

As we grow older, we have the choiceless opportunity to reflect on our lives as a whole and to see both the habitual patterns of our behavior and the crucial defining experiences that altered them and made huge differences in our lives This collaborative memoir recounts a number of those experiences that changed the course of Jim Lowrey's life and perhaps the course of his entire generation. It is a brief, subjective history of some of Ch�gyam Trungpa Rinpoche�s students, activities, and teachings from 1968 through 1973. Trungpa Rinpoche, who died in 1987, was also known as Vajracarya, Vidyadhara, Dorje Drad�l, Druk Sakyong, Ch�kyi Gyatso, Dharma Sagara, CTR, VACT, the Mukpo, the Boss, and other appellations.
In this book, referred to as Rinpoche, his title as an esteemed Tibetan teacher, meaning �precious jewel,� which was what his North American students called him. Earlier, in the United Kingdom, his students usually called him Trungpa. This is a book of memories. The initial idea was to catch them before they disappeared, but they disappear and re-arise constantly. And each version is slightly altered.


Taming Untameable Beings: Early Stories of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche with the Pygmies and Other Hippies, Jim Lowrey, James Lowrey Publications, Paperback, 262 pages, 2015, $19.95

Jim Lowrey is a Trungpa student, who, with the rest of his Pygmy hippie family went to Trungpa Rinpoche�s first public talk in Colorado in 1970 and connected with him immediately. As part of the early baby boom generation, Jim is emblematic of the sixties generation of war protesters, college dropouts, and hippies, who matured as the American born-again organic, locally grown, free-run middle class.

Taming Untameable Beings: Early Stories of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche with the Pygmies & Other Hippies
Chapter 1 Signs of Change	1
Chapter 2 The Times They Are A-Changin'	3
Chapter 3 Tiger's Nest	13
Chapter 4 Spiritual Awakening	19
Chapter 5 Suffering is the Nature of Samsara	28
Chapter 6 The Pygmy Farm	34
Chapter 7 Death Comes Without Warning	45
Chapter 8 Tibetan Buddhism and American Karma	51
Chapter 9 Life on the Farm	55
Chapter 10 Another Mountain Comes to Boulder	63
Chapter 11 Meeting of Minds	68
Chapter 12 Seeds of Dharma	85
Chapter 13 OoooooooooooOM	89
Chapter 14 Mishap Lineage	95
Chapter 15 Sangha	101
Chapter 16 Mandala	106
Chapter 17 No Territory to Defend	113
Chapter 18 Tent Culture	122
Chapter 19 The Bardo	126
Chapter 20 More Bardos	133
Chapter 21 The New World	138
Chapter 22 Death is Not Cultural	147
Chapter 23 Fortress of Activity	152
Chapter 24 Burning Self-deception	159
Chapter 25 Permission to Cry	166
Chapter 26 Relationships	170
Chapter 27 Not Afraid to Be a Fool	178
Chapter 28 Contagious Energy	184
Chapter 29 A Steppingstone	190
Chapter 30 Preciousness of Life	196
Chapter 31 Dropping In	204
Chapter 32 Sitting on Ice	210
Chapter 33 Taming Untameable Beings	217
Chapter 34 Denouement	229
Epilogue: The Day My Car Died	232
Dedication	234
Acknowledgements	235
Appendix I: Sources of Chapter Opening Quotes	237
Appendix II: Glossary	240
Bibliography	245