Book Study - Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism - Trungpa Rinpoche

CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM By Chogyam Trungpa

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.(reference: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism).  Please RSVP below.

Schedule

An exploration of CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM by Chögyam Trungpa, a 1973 classic from the meditation/dharma master who helped popularize Tibetan Buddhism in the West. We offer a lively and in-depth discussion group, in HYBRID format (simultaneously in-person at PMC and online) chapter by chapter, exploring common misperceptions involved in anyone’s spiritual journey. We meet from 6:45 - 8:30pm, generally every other Monday. We will skip Presidents' Day, so there will be a longer gap between the February 5th and the Feb. 26th meetings.  All sessions are online via zoom, the link is below. Updated Time and dates for the coming months.

Content:

• February 5th  - Session 7, Chapter 6 : The Hard Way
• February 26th -  Session 8, Chapter 7: The Open Way
• March 11th    -  Session 9, Chapter 8: Sense of Humor
• March 25th  - Session 10, Chapter 9: The Development of Ego
• April 8th       - Session 11, Chapter 10: The Six Realms
• April 22nd:    - Session 12, Chapter 11: The Four Noble Truths
• May 6th:      - Session 13, Chapter 12: The Bodhisattva Path
• May 20th:      - Session 14, Chapter 13: Shunyata
• June 3rd:    - Session 15, Chapter 14: Prajna and Compassion
• June 17th:   - Session 16, Chapter 15: Tantra
• For further information and questions, please contact PMC Book Group Coordinator, Linda Drake at ljbdrake@gmail.com We look forward to seeing you via zoom or at PMC if you are local..