Glimpses of Abhidharma
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Product Description
The Abhidharma is a collection of Buddhist scriptures that investigate the workings of the mind and the states of human consciousness. In this book, Ch?gyam Trungpa shows how an examination of the formation of the ego provides us with an opportunity to develop real intelligence. Trungpa also presents the practice of meditation as the means that enables us to see our psychological situation clearly and directly.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this book, Trungpa Rinpoche gives a detailed overview of the Abhidharma which deals with the five skandhas (form, feeling, perception, intellect and consciousness),how these relate to our individual psychological states of mind and how to free ourselves from them.
In a nutshell, the book is a guided tour of the mind and the ways in which we choose to remain in deluded ignorance and suffering. The structure of the text is around short presentations made by Trungpa followed by speculation and questioning by the audience.
A number of detailed and interesting topics come up during this extended conversation (emptiness, LSD, Zen, tantra, boredom, agression, desire and ego to name a few.) Trungpa often uses the notion of space to playfully alert us to the possibilities inherent in any situation and the clumsy, painful ways we usually choose to work with ourselves, others and our environment.
"We end up being haunted by our own desire and perceptions because we put so much onto them. Finally, our own creation becomes destructive to us"
Yet at the same time, Trungpa points out that these Buddhist teachings are not "self-help" instructions but simply hints or pointers in the right direction. Everything is up to you.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is studying Buddhism and/or Psychology. It is not an introductory text and I would suggest reading "Cutting through Spiritual Materialism" and/or "The Myth of Freedom" before reading this. However, it's definitely worth having a look at and I found it very helpful and illuminating as part of my Buddhist studies.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Absolutely Great!
9 Sep 2000
Format:Paperback
I read this book a long time ago. The Abhidharma consists of three "heaps". One is Psychology. Trungpa was at his very best when this book recorded some of his lectures. And it is "greatly" underrated. He covers pieces of the Abhidharma like a wizard. Each lecture is followed by a question and answer period. So it's really great. One question was what people who were really nuts could do for their pain. Trungpa replied that getting anchored in the body, at what he calls "the animal realm", will help greatly. Years after reading this, I was leading a Codependents Anonymous meeting. One lady had just been diagnosed as a manic-depressive (no, this is not "nuts"). When my turn came, I suggested that anybody who is zippering off into outer space would usually benifit by manual labor. Such as doing the laundry or washing the dishes. When her turn came again, she said that was exactly what she was going to do (crosstalk is not allowed). I learned this from Trungpa. He also was very much against labeling people this-or-that. In this book, when he was forced by the audience to speak about insanity, he did so in a way that made it sound like insane people were egomaniacs like the rest of us. But so much so that they "spin off". He describes the two forms in which he believed this happens. I have not looked at this book in 15 years. But it is very good. Perhaps Trungpa's most concise work ever. Please buy it and read it. It really strikes deep into the heart of Buddhist Psychology. Thank you.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A provocative interpretation of ego and psychology
19 Mar 2001
Format:Paperback
In Glimpses Of Abhidharma, Buddhist mediation master and scholar Chogyam Trungpa discusses the development of ego as it is explained in the "Abhidharma", a collection of Buddhist scriptures which investigates the workings of the mind and the states of human consciousness. A provocative interpretation of ego and psychology, Glimpses Of Abhidharma reveals the practice of mediation within the Buddhist tradition to be an effective means of enabling us to see our psychological situation clearly and directly. Glimpses Of Abhidharma is an imposing and highly recommended addition to Buddhist scholarship.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By no means Trungpa's best
6 Feb 2007
Format:Paperback
If you want to read a Trungpa book, I would suggest Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism or The Myth of Freedom. This book has a few good tidbits on the skandhas, but that's about it.
The question-and-answer sections at the end of each chapter did nothing for me, Trungpa's style is not up to his usual standard of clarity and straightforwardness, and I got the strong sense that I was being given an extremely dumbed-down, Cliff's-notes version of Abhidharma/Abhidhamma.
Worth borrowing, definitely, but not particularly worth buying.
The question-and-answer sections at the end of each chapter did nothing for me, Trungpa's style is not up to his usual standard of clarity and straightforwardness, and I got the strong sense that I was being given an extremely dumbed-down, Cliff's-notes version of Abhidharma/Abhidhamma.
Worth borrowing, definitely, but not particularly worth buying.
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