SHAMBHALA:SACRED PA/AUD

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: The principles that are discussed in this book are really easy to understand, and very practical. Trungpa uses examples from everyday life quite often, even such trivial acts as putting on your shoes to demonstrate a point such as lha, nyen and lu. It also shows how you can make great change by changing simple habits and making a difference in the world by starting with the home. Really life changing, and I think that I can make great changes in my personal life by reading and applying the concepts of this book in everyday conduct. Give it a try, it just might work for you!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: The principles that are discussed in this book are really easy to understand, and very practical. Trungpa uses examples from everyday life quite often, even such trivial acts as putting on your shoes to demonstrate a point such as lha, nyen and lu. It also shows how you can make great change by changing simple habits and making a difference in the world by starting with the home. Really life changing, and I think that I can make great changes in my personal life by reading and applying the concepts of this book in everyday conduct. Give it a try, it just might work for you!

Rating:
Summary: The Innovations of an Inspired Nomad
Review: The Shambhala teaching as developed by the late visionary and adventurer Chogyam Trungpa, in my view, has three qualities to commend.

_Shambhala_, when practiced earnestly and with attention (as you would when learning any new skill), really does empty people of their neuroses, leaving good-hearted people to freely do their thing in the company of friends. Good work if you can get it.

It's accessible. Compare Trungpa Rinpoche's prose in _Shambhala_ to, say, Tarthang Tulku's in _Time, Space, and Knowledge_ (a vision born, in a sense, as Shambhala's twin). Trungpa Rinpoche here sacrifices some precision for improved directness and accessibility, trusting his readers to work out the complexities and nuances on their own, or among friends. In other words, _Shambhala_'s surface transparency does not give you license to be lazy in your inquiry. It just gives you a tidy laboratory in which to begin.

Lastly, you can go somewhere with this stuff, because the set of skills and vocabulary Trungpa Rinpoche introduces to you is relevant to the muggle world and the magical one. You're free to see how _Time, Space, and Knowledge_ and _Shambhala_ mutually illumine one another, and to compare the curiously mirrored circumstances under which each body of knowledge arose and continues to arise. Check out how Tenzin Wangyal's practice of the Five Warrior Syllables (do a google search) may support your aims as a warrior in sitting meditation, or in your aikido training, or whatever inquiry you've led yourself into. Why not? You're still learning, you're still golden. Ever read Guenther's _Matrix of Mystery_?

Final notes: Some reviewers below have mentioned Trungpa Rinpoche's wild, self-destructive behavior as a source of concern. (He wasn't too concerned about it, but I think we ought to be.) Get the facts; he was, in fact, an alcoholic, and a spiritual genius, and a great teacher. The chapter "How do you Make Yourself a Body Without Organs?" in Deleuze and Guattari's _A Thousand Plateaus_ can give you some insight into what Trungpa Rinpoche was working at.

Have fun!

Rating:
Summary: Not all soldiers are warriors....
Review: The term "warrior" is thrown about pretty loosely these days. Not all soldiers are warriors. A modern soldier is a technician trained to obey orders and complete his mission at all costs. He is conditioned to see no humanity in the enemy. A soldier is taught to value pride and glory. A warrior, in contrast, obeys an inner code of conduct above all orders. A warrior sees the common humanity in all mankind- especially in an opponent. A warrior has renounced ego, so pride and glory are irrelevent.
This gem of a book gives the road map of the warrior's path. It is a path that you will probably only recognise if you have already traveled on it. It is more of a confirmation of lessons hard won in the battle of life. No book will magically show you the sacredness, the fundamental goodness, of the cosmos. Only experience, and deep meditation on that experience will do that. To be a warrior is to achieve synchronisation with all that is. Once you have reached this state you are incapable of acting with dishonor. To do so would be contrary to Nature. Moreover, once you have achieved this synchronization of body, mind, and cosmos your will and nature seem to be One. This is when "magic" happens.
So what is a warrior? A warrior is a person without ego, a person without fear, a person who is one with all of creation- and who acts accordingly to redeem the world about him.
What is an example of such a person in today's world? Those Tibetan fighters who resisted the Chinese so well and so long were Warriors. Then the Dalai Lama told them to lay down their weapons and fight no more. These warriors would not disobey their true monarch. Nor could they submit to dehumanising rule by communist invaders. To do so would have destroyed their honor. So they voluntarily gave up their lives on their beloved mountains with their weapons by their sides. They did not disobey, nor did they submit to slavery. For eternity shall their names resound in the halls of Shambhala....

Rating:
Summary: The very basics and overview of an overwhelming topic
Review: This book gives a introductory into a topic that can not be comprehended by books alone. It shows you how to take joy in whatever the situation, as well as the vastness of our minds. Although this book doesn't actually show you how to discover and invoke magic, it does start you on the path to discovering it yourself. I am finding it easier to go to bed, to wake up, and to leave stress at the place I recieved it. Colors have more of a burning sensation in my mind rather than just a natural ability that I haven't given a thought to since birth. It incorporates the real world into the world of Shambhala. Another great thing is through the meditation techniquies given in the text, I can sleep for six hours and feel like ten. I definatly recommend this book for the beginning Shambhala warrior, the person who feels they are drowning in their own world, or the average person who wants an enlightening experience.

Rating:
Summary: R U "one who is brave"?
Review: this is a well written modern guide book by a buddhist master. he goes well beyond the old sectarian views of religion and brings the reader into the picture in clear focus. he challenges us to be all we can be and to understand more deeply than before the wonders and joys of being fully human. this is a wonderful research and development tool for the independent thinker. the author challenges us to do good and trust our innermost instincts and intuitions. and he provides many tools and ideas to help us be successful spiritual warriors. [warrior = "one who is brave."] this is timeless wisdom all wrapped up in the universal laws of harmony. anyone who reads and takes this book to heart may well walk a little taller, see a little clearer, listen more, talk less, feel joy.

Rating:
Summary: Most Valuable Book
Review: This was the most inspritional book I have ever read. I give as a gift to everybody I haven't already givin it too. BUY this book and if you don't like i will buy it from you!

Rating:
Summary: Find and open to the goodness you already have in your life.
Review: When I saw the title of the book, I thought it was going to be pretty hokie. First, I picked it up in the library, and after one cursory reading, I had found some simple stuff that affected me tons. It affected me because it was so simple to implement right here and now. No funky sanskrit here. Highly practical. Although I had been meditating for many years and also had some experience practicing the way of mindfulness, the techniques in this book opened me right up!

Rating:
Summary: WHAT A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Review: Words are to shallow to describe the richness and the beauty of this book. The look at the world around us and the attributes we hold on to are well explained. The paths before us and our direction is described in an awesome way!