Trungpa Rinpoche and Social Activism
Building Communities By Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
In the 1970s and 80s, Chogyam Trungpa identified a path to enlightenment on which comforting practices (such as prayer and some forms of psychotherapy) are seen as unhelpful. In his book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism (Boston and London: Shambhala, 1987), the teacher also observes that spiritual development does not require acts of altruism, or being conventionally kind. Nevertheless, his lessons on communication and compassion, and his description of the Bodhisattva Path, could be seen as setting a foundation for positive social action.
Chogyam (Trungpa Rinpoche) was careful to point out that Buddhist teachings do not contradict theistic disciplines, and that external forms (such as culture and images) are real and can be beautiful. While he considered eternalism (belief in an essence that does not perish) and nihilism (the idea that everything grows out of mystery) to be in error, he found much of interest in faith traditions, and many commonalities. For example, most religions have a concept of original sin or the "fall", which is linked to the development of human ego. The Buddhist approach to ego is, Chogyam said, not to condemn ego-psychology but to purely acknowledge it, "see it as it is".
Communication and Compassion
The master's hard spiritual road aspires to cut through to the basic openness which is the "fundamental state of mind before creation of ego". At a certain stage along this Mahayana path, the seeker's openness encourages engagement with the wider world. Through meditation one has acquired confidence in his or her own inherent richness. Thus, Chogyam said, "you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy. They recharge your energy". And the "process of communication [is] beautiful, if we see it in terms of simplicity and precision".
From this spiritual place the "Bodhisattva" experiences compassion as "clarity which contains fundamental warmth...environmental generosity without direction".
The Bodhisattva Path to Action
Chogyam's description portrays the Bodhisattva as active and outward-looking. He or she is filled with a joyous interest in everyday situations and is committed to helping others reach an "awakened state of mind".
The Bodhisattva cannot destroy other people, but he or she may behave in unconventional ways in the exercise of "ruthless compassion". Asked to comment on Christ chasing the money lenders out of the temple, Chogyam said: "I would not say that was aggressive action; that was truthful action which is very beautiful. It occurred because he saw the precision of the situation without watching himself or trying to be heroic".
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism and Societal Healing
In an article for The Engaged Zen Foundation, Kobutsu Malone links Chogyam's criticism of spiritual materialism (building ego while appearing to follow a spiritual path) with Western culture's appetite for conquest and domination. He advocates a study of history so that one can focus not on personal development and personal enlightenment, but on "the much wider picture of how we can exist in a state of interbeing with all our sisters and brothers and all our fellow sentient beings".
Chogyam did not advocate withdrawing from society and was opposed to doctrines that encourage fatalism. Enlightenment, he said, "does not mean dying. Otherwise, enlightenment would be a kind of suicide, which is ridiculous'".
In this light, the Tibetan master's path (more fully described in Chogyam Trungpa and the Hard Road) can be seen as a solid basis for building communities and reaching out to the rest of the world. As Malone concludes, "our intrinsic, true nature reveals us as individuals and as a community of people actively walking together on the path of a truly awakened state of mind".
Path to the world
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