108 Poems
Here is a unique contribution to the field of poetry: a new collection of works by America's foremost Buddhist meditation master, Chogyam Trungpa. These poems and songs--most of which were written since his arrival in the United States in 1970--combine a background in classical Tibetan poetry with Trungpa's intuitive insight into the spirit of America, a spirit that is powerfully evoked in his use of colloquial metaphor and contemporary imagery.
Most of the poems were originally written in English--clearly the result of the author's own perceptions of new forms and media offered to him by a different culture. Each poem has its own insight and power, which come from a skillful blend of traditional Asian subtlety and precision combined with a thoroughly modern vernacular. Several of the author's calligraphies accompany the collection.
First Thought Best Thought: 108 Poems, Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala Publications, 195 pages, $24.95

Trungpa was born in Eastern Tibet and recognized as an incarnation of the Trungpa line at an early date. He studied with, among others, one of the reincarnations of the Jamgyon Kongtrul who wrote the most famous commentary on the Seven Points. In 1959 he fled to India in the wake of the Communist takeover in Tibet, courageously leading many of his people to safety (this period is described in his book Born in Tibet.) He came to England in the mid-sixties to study at Oxford, learned English, started to teach, and started one of the first Tibetan Buddhist centers in the West. He later dropped his monastic vows, married, and moved to America where he continued his teaching. He founded the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, a large and highly respected Buddhist university, as well as the Shambhala organization. The influence of both his teaching and his books on American Buddhism was and still is enormous.

INTRODUCTION BY ALLEN GINSBERG xi
PREFACE xix
EDITOR'S PREFACE xxii

1. The Spontaneous Song of Entering into the Blessings and Profound Samaya of the Only Father Guru 1
2. Stray Dog 3
3. The Song of the Wanderer 4
4. Listen, listen 5
5. Whistling grasses of the Esk Valley 6
6. Song 8
7. In the north of the sky 9
8. Goodbye and Welcome 11
9. Meteoric iron mountain 12
10. The Zen teacher 13
11. American Good Intentions 14
12. First Thought 17
13. Samsara and Nirvana 19
14. Gain and Loss 21
15. Cynical Letter 23
16. Dignified Rocky Mountain 24
17. Philosopher Fool 25
18. Does love kill anybody? 27
19. A Letter to Marpa 29
20. Aphorisms 31
21. The Nameless Child 33
22. The Myth of Freedom 35
23. Haiku 37
24. The red flag flies 38
25. The sword of hatred 39
26. Silk Road 41
27. Tibetan Pilgrim 42
28. Trans World Air 43
29. A flower is always happy 44
30. True Tantra Groupie 45
31. Glorious Bhagavad-Ghetto 47
32. Tail of the Tiger 48
33. Naropa Institute, 1974 49
34. Pema Yumtso 55
35. To Britain's Health 57
36. Supplication to the Emperor 60
37. Literal Mathematics 62
38. One way 64
39. Shasta Road 65
40. Palm is 66
41. Burdensome 68
42. Ts�ndr� Namkha 69
43. Pema Semma 71
44. Dying Laughing 73
45. K�nga Garma 75
46. 1111 Pearl Street: Victory Chatter 79
47. Wait and Think 81
48. Missing the Point 83
49. RMDC, Route 1, Livermore 85
50. To Gesar of Ling 87
51. Love's Fool 88
52. Report from Loveland 90
53. 1018 Spruce Street (and K.A.) 92
54. 1135 10th Street (and G.M.) 95
55. 1111 Pearl Street (and D.S.) 97
56. 78 Fifth Avenue 98
57. The Alden (and Thomas Frederick) 101
58. Commentary on "The Alden (and Thomas Frederick)" 102
59. Aurora 7 (#2) 106
60. 1111 Pearl Street: Off Beat 108
61. Aurora 7 (and Nyingje Sheltri) 109
62. Pan-American Dharmadhatu III 112
63. Tibetan Lyrics 114
64. Asleep and Awake 115
65. Great Eastern Daughterlet 116
66. Whycocomagh? 117
67. Lion's Roar 119
68. Timely Rain 120
69. Pan-Dharmadollar 121
70. Meetings with Remarkable People 124
71. International Affairs: The Cosmic Joke of 1977 126
72. One sound 130
73. Dixville Notch: Purrington House (and C.F.) 131
74. Afterthought 135
75. Don't Confuse This for Trick-or-Treat 136
76. Eternal Guest 140
77. Swallowing the Sun and Moon without Leaving the World in Darkness: Good Lady of Wisdom 141
78. Saddharma Punsters 144
79. I Miss You So Much 147
80. The Doha of Confidence: Sad Song of the Four Remembrances 149
81. Eon Voyage 151
82. Memorial in Verse 152
83. To My Son 155
84. For Anne Waldman 156
85. Putting Up with the Trans-Canada 157
86. Buddhism in the Canadian Rockies 158
87. Praise to the Lady of the Big Heart 161
88. Not Deceiving the Earth (and M.S.N.) 162
89. Drunken elephant 164
90. Limp and Talk 165
91. How to Know No 167
92. International Affairs of 1979: Uneventful but Energy-Consuming 169
93. To the Noble Sangha 172
94. Fishing Wisely 173
95. Miscellaneous Doha 174
96. Expos�: Acknowledging Accusations in the Name of Devotion 175
97. Mixed Grill Dharma Served with Burgundy of Ground Mahamudra 1980 Vintage: The Elegant Feast of Timeless Accuracy 178
98. Growing Pains Are Over 181
99. Coming of Age of My Son 182
100. You Might Be Tired of the Seat That You Deserve 185
101. When I ride a horse 187
102. Timely Innuendo 188
103. A Heart Lost and Discovered 189
104. Command 190
105. Golden Sun 191
106. As skylarks hunt for their prey 192
107. Seasons' Greetings 193
108. The Meek: Powerfully Nonchalant and Dangerously Self-Satisfying 194