In this practical guide to enlightened living, Chogyam Trungpa offers an inspiring vision for our time, based on the figure of the sacred warrior. In ancient times, the warrior learned to master the challenges of life, both on and off the battlefield. He acquired a sense of personal freedom and power -- not through violence or aggression, but through gentleness, courage, and self-knowledge. The Japanese samurai, the warrior kings of Tibet, the knights of medieval Europe, and the warriors of the Native American tribes are a few examples of this universal tradition of wisdom.

With this book the warrior's path is opened to contemporary men and women in search of self-mastery and greater fulfillment. Interpreting the warrior's journey in modern terms, Trungpa discusses such skills as synchronizing mind and body, overcoming habitual behaviors, relaxing within discipline, facing the world with openness and fearlessness, and finding the sacred dimension of everyday life. Above all, Trungpa shows that in discovering the basic goodness of human life, the warrior learns to radiate that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others.

The Shambhala teachings, named for a legendary Himalayan kingdom where prosperity and happiness reign, thus point to the potential for enlightened conduct that exists within every human being. "The basic wisdom of Shambhala," writes Trungpa. "is that in this world, as it is, we can find a good and meaningful human life that will also serve others. That is our true richness."


Shambhala, Sacred Path of the Warrior, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shambhala Publications, 202 pages, $16.95

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 universit