This weekly course will be based on both the early teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche in “Cutting through Spiritual Materialism”, “Myth of Freedom”, etc., as well as “basic” cornerstone teachings and practices of mahamudra.
The eight weekly Monday classes will begin on January 22 and end on March 11.
Here is an outline of the 8 classes as they are presently envisioned:
Class 1: Introduction to the course and topic and the baselines that we will be using,
covering:
• Original Buddhism and the life of the Buddha
• Trungpa Rinpoche’s “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism” (based on the 1970
and 1971 seminars in Boulder, Colorado, and the life of Trungpa Rinpoche
• Key moments of the Buddha and of Trungpa Rinpoche
Class 2: Development of Ego: the basic ground and the three kinds of ignorance; the
development of the five skandhas & their relation to meditation
Class 3: Battle of Ego: styles of psychological imprisonment (1. gods, 2. semi-gods,
3. humans, 4. animals, 5. hungry ghosts, 6. hell beings) based on the teachings on the
six realms; sources: “Cutting Through” and “Myth of Freedom”; & their relation to
meditation
Class 4: The Four Noble Truths & the Hard Way (= no savior and meeting of two minds)
Class 5: Spiritual Materialism and its three lords/barbarians (as presented in Trungpa
Rinpoche’s writings and in the Sadhana of Mahamudra) & and their relation to
meditation
Class 6: The guru (outer, inner, and secret) and the four ways of working with kleshas:
1. abandoning, 2. remedying, 3. transforming, and 4. self-liberation & sense of humor
Class 7: Five ways of vipashyana: 1. Stillness of mind, 2. Movement of mind; 3.
Appearances; 4. Body and mind; 5. Stillness and Movement; source: Wangchuk
Dorje’s “Pointing out the Dharmakaya” & their relation to meditation
Class 8: Four aspects of Mahamudra: 1. Everything is mind; 2. mind is empty;
3. spontaneous presence; 4. self-liberation; source: Wangchuk Dorje’s “Pointing out
the Dharmakaya” & their relation to meditation
Readings related to Class 1:
1. The first teaching of the Buddha: Dharmacakrapravartana: Turning the Wheel of the Dharma.
See PDF file inside under Curriculum.
It presents the Buddhist “Middle Way” and the fundamental Buddhist teachings of the four
noble truths; the first noble truth of suffering or unsatisfactoriness is being presented “in
brief” as being the five groups (skandhas): 1. Material form, 2. Sensation, 3. Ideation, 4. Formations, 5. Consciousness; the second noble truth of the origin of suffering or unsatisfactoriness is being presented “here” as being thirst or craving (tṛṣṇā), in contrast to
the later basic teachings of the Buddha on the “Dependent Origination” (pratītyasamutpāda),
which presents two causes: ignorance (avidyā) and craving (tṛṣṇā).
2. The life of Trungpa Rinpoche as presented on OCEAN and in Chögyam Trungpa Digital
Library:
• https://www.chronicleproject.com/biography/
• https://www.chronicleproject.com/chogyam-trungpa-the-early-years/
• https://library.chogyamtrungpa.com/about-chogyam-trungpa/
3. Last, it would be good, if you want to, to ask yourself and contemplate the following
topic/question: What is the most important Buddhist feature for you? Can you say it in a
nutshell? Ask yourself this question once a day.