In
this modern spiritual classic, the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam
Trungpa highlights the commonest pitfall to which every aspirant on the
spiritual path falls prey: what he calls
spiritual
materialism.
The universal tendency, he shows, is to see spirituality as a process of
self-improvement—the impulse to develop and refine the ego when the ego is, by
nature, essentially empty. "The problem is that ego can convert anything
to its own use," he said, "even spirituality." His incisive,
compassionate teachings serve to wake us up from this trick we all play on
ourselves, and to offer us a far brighter reality: the true and joyous
liberation that inevitably involves letting go of the self rather than working
to improve it. It is a message that has resonated with students for nearly
thirty years, and remains fresh as ever today.
This
new edition includes a foreword by Chögyam Trungpa's son and lineage
holder, Sakyong Mipham.