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Was Chogyam Trungpa a Bodhisattva?
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An important figure in Western Buddhism? Obviously.
A bodhisattva? Obviously not.
Anyone who has read and internalised Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism will know that the idea of claims and counterclaims of attainment,or denial of attainment or indeed of attainment per se, are alien to his whole view.
There is good reason for anyone following the Sutric path to reject Trungpa, but to accuse him of failing to be something he never claimed to be, and indeed that he saw as invalid, is disingenuous.
I personally believe that trungpa used his education and bits and pieces of the ancient scriptures to form his own following in order to satiate his base desires.
The reason i am so rough with words on this subject is that I am aware of the hardship, piety and morality of many ancient monks, whose words are ignored these days in favor of people like trungpa. The legacy of a lifetime of chastity, meditation, hunger and relentless seeking is cast aside for someone using the teachings for personal gain... this is something I will fight against until the day I die.
Sometimes the easy way isnt the right way. Look hard. Think hard.
His basic method was rife with encouragement for supporters to create conceptual hierarchies that benefited him almost exclusively... not just incorrectness but willful ignorance and violence to the basic tenets of the buddha.
Perhaps also a net positive, if the practice leaves most practitioners better people.
I also disagree with his subsequent lineage of teachers.
In my perception (which it might comfort you to call an opinion); trungpa and ilk 'teachings' are like a cacaphony of mindless screaming, in comparison to the symphony of intricate knowledge that is the remnants of ancient masters who did not touch drink, did not sexually violate people, did not worship money and intoxicants.
Take a moment. Picture a monk living 80 years without sex, eating little, suffering hardships, constantly working to expand knowledge. This monk worked tirelessly pass this message of the utterly profound, to us.
And then, all of his work is dashed for countless people by a self absorbed drunk sexual predator with nothing but a farcical surface knowledge of the things he speaks of, which he uses to control, to decieve, and to serve his own desires.
Who is your teacher? Why does this teacher advocate divisive speech? Do you have a teacher?
It's a different discussion relating to should a person in a student/mentor relationship have sex? In colleges this is not uncommon. Personally I think Trungpa's teachings are wonderful. Isn't that nice that we can have diversity?
Flag's flyin'
I just take this issue personally because a I deal with drunks, sexual predators, manipulators every day. I know them when I see them. They can be clever if it gets them what they want.
$$
Below is what you are doing to the Dharma of other sanghas.
Sorry you don't like diversity in teachings. Let me know if there is anything I can do to ease that burden.
Sure I may be close minded.
But then again, if getting drunk and making snappy but essentially vapid comments with buddhist undertones is teaching, we should all start getting blasted on coke and whiskey every day, then write a bunch of books and get rich and ejaculate on or into students for the benefit of their 'enlightenment.'
He predated on people's confusion. Plain and simple.
I'm sorry to be so rough, but no one stands up to him or his ilk..and he seems to think that he's the only one that can make provocative statements..I would have had had plenty for him, Like for one, how about donating all the money you spend on booze and cocaine to a homeless or animal shelter.
If you want to know basic enlightenment, help others. Help animals. You'd be so much better off learning from the gratitude of those to whom you show compassion.
I promise this will be the last time I chime in on this subject. I just want to express that some of us have issues with not only his behavior, but also his basic knowledge of wisdom and buddhism.
I disagree. I believe that he worked very diligently to decieve and to pass off warped fragments of scripture as his own. He did so for money, sex, and chemicals. He has no view beyond what will garner him satiation for his base desires. Complete and utter spiritual bankruptcy.
Though he proclaimed to be against labels, spiritual materialism and such things, he clearly asserted himself as a teacher and organized a following. So yes he failed at what he claimed he wasn't in to, but actually was.
I fail to understand the pull. Any one of us here could easily write any of those books. I'd much rather read a book by you citta or Jeffery, because you are actually human beings, and Im sure I could benefit from your experiences, struggles to me good moral people...this is fundamentally what the experience of life and spirituality is all about.
Trungpa? Not so much. Think he missed that memo.