What do you think?
Rate this book
Work, Sex, and Money: Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness
Each day we deal with the challenges of ordinary life: a series of mundane experiences that could be summarized by the title of this book, Work, Sex, Money. We all hope that these aspects of our life will be a source of fulfillment and pleasure, and they often are. Yet they are also always sources of problems for which we seek practical advice and solutions. The best prescription, according to Chögyam Trungpa, is a dose of reality and also a dose of respect for ourselves and our world. His profound teachings on work, sex, and money celebrate the sacredness of life and our ability to cope with its twists and turns with dignity, humor, and even joy.
He begins by breaking down the barrier between the spiritual and the mundane, showing that work, sex, and money are just as much a part of our spiritual life as they are a part of our everyday existence. He then discusses these subjects in relation to ego and self-image, karma, mindfulness, and meditation. “Work” includes general principles of mindfulness and awareness in how we conduct everyday life as well as discussion of ethics in business and the workplace. “Sex” is about relationships and communication as a whole. “Money” looks at how we view the economics of livelihood and money as “green energy” that affects our lives. The result is an inclusive vision of life, one that encompasses the biggest issues and the smallest details of every day.
There are, in fact, few definitive answers in these pages. There is, however, authentic wisdom providing us with tools we need to work with the toughest stuff in our lives.
Audible Audio
First published February 8, 2011
113 people are currently reading
764 people want to read
About the author
Chögyam Trungpa
166 books814 followersVidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Tibetan: ཆོས་ རྒྱམ་ དྲུང་པ་ Wylie: Chos rgyam Drung pa; also known as Dorje Dradul of Mukpo, Surmang Trungpa, after his monastery, or Chökyi Gyatso, of which Chögyam is an abbreviation) was a Buddhist meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, and artist. He was the 11th descendent in the line of Trungpa tulkus of the Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also trained in the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the four schools, and was an adherent of the rimay or "non-sectarian" movement within Tibetan Buddhism, which aspired to bring together and make available all the valuable teachings of the different schools, free of sectarian rivalry.
Trungpa was a significant figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, founding Naropa University and establishing the Shambhala Training method, a presentation of the Buddhadharma largely devoid of ethnic trappings. In 1963, he moved to England to study comparative religion, philosophy, and fine arts at Oxford University. During this time, he also studied Japanese flower arranging and received an instructors degree from the Sogetsu school of ikebana. In 1967, he moved to Scotland, where he founded the Samye Ling meditation centre.
Shortly thereafter, a variety of experiences—including a car accident that left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body—led him to give up his monastic vows and work as a lay teacher. In 1969, he published Meditation in Action , the first of fourteen books on the spiritual path published during his lifetime. The following year he married Diana Pybus and moved to the United States, where he established his first North American meditation centre, Tail of the Tiger (now known as Karmê-Chöling) in Barnet, Vermont.
In 1986, he moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, where hundreds of his students had settled. That Autumn, after years of heavy alcohol use, he had a cardiac arrest, and he died of heart failure the following Spring. His legacy is carried on by his son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, under the banner of Shambhala International and the Nalanda Translation Committee.
Trungpa was a significant figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, founding Naropa University and establishing the Shambhala Training method, a presentation of the Buddhadharma largely devoid of ethnic trappings. In 1963, he moved to England to study comparative religion, philosophy, and fine arts at Oxford University. During this time, he also studied Japanese flower arranging and received an instructors degree from the Sogetsu school of ikebana. In 1967, he moved to Scotland, where he founded the Samye Ling meditation centre.
Shortly thereafter, a variety of experiences—including a car accident that left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body—led him to give up his monastic vows and work as a lay teacher. In 1969, he published Meditation in Action , the first of fourteen books on the spiritual path published during his lifetime. The following year he married Diana Pybus and moved to the United States, where he established his first North American meditation centre, Tail of the Tiger (now known as Karmê-Chöling) in Barnet, Vermont.
In 1986, he moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, where hundreds of his students had settled. That Autumn, after years of heavy alcohol use, he had a cardiac arrest, and he died of heart failure the following Spring. His legacy is carried on by his son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, under the banner of Shambhala International and the Nalanda Translation Committee.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 2, 2014
It has taken me a while to read this book, but at last I finished it today. The book is dense - every sentence needs to be savoured. This is why it has taken me a while to read. More than the other books I have read of Trungpa Rinpoche, this one gave me a sense of knowing this great teacher. It is an intimate insight into his teaching and I felt as if I were in the audience. The explanation of his approach to ego as our great hindrance is the clearest I have read (or the first time I have been clear enough to understand it!)
The topics covered in this book: work, sex and money, are so down-to-earth and the reality of life, that this book is a 'must read' for all Buddhists practising in ordinary life.
The topics covered in this book: work, sex and money, are so down-to-earth and the reality of life, that this book is a 'must read' for all Buddhists practising in ordinary life.
April 12, 2013
A disclaimer: CTR is my fearless leader, in a sense, so my giving this book a single star crowds me with conflictatory impulses. My goal in choosing this book was to get a better grasp on what challenges an ordinary house-holder faces daily and how she still can identify herself as a Shambhalian. For whatever reason, these lectures read ploddingly; lacking CTR's usual brilliance instead they struck me as dull, lacking insightfulness, incoherent ... and I recalled the many stories one hears about CTR in his latter days--infirmed, inchoate, incomprehensible and receeding, concerned with shiny cufflinks and gin. We all know the CTR's understanding of sex was very personal and very male. Had this book been written by a woman it might have been called: Relationships, Food, Family.
My expectations were not met and I wish I had my $16 back.
My expectations were not met and I wish I had my $16 back.
November 2, 2015
It took me a long time to finish this book for some reason... not a terrible book though...
May 5, 2024
Возможно, самое хрустальное и плотное наставление по азам шаматхи-випашьяны.
Пранам.
Пранам.
August 1, 2024
üritamas aru saada, mis see päris elu on. meeldis väga nagu kõik Trungpa raamatud.
September 13, 2012
GREAT book!
June 29, 2013
one of the best dharma books i ever read
March 2, 2023
I will probably end up reading everything Chogyam Trungpa wrote in this lifetime.
At the beginning of my meditation practice, I somehow found his books. At one point in the mid-late 90s, whenever I went into a thrift store in the small town in Upstate, SC where I lived, I would find books on Buddhism. And if memory serves me, it was there I found Shambhala: The Way of The Warrior and Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, two of his most well known titles. His books have had a great influence on my practice and the way I live.
Work, Sex, Money is the first one of his that I have picked up in a very long time, and I think it is a collection of previous talks and books that have been repurposed to center around how to conduct yourself in daily life. Everything he writes points to how to conduct yourself, but this one is explicit. What draws me to his writings is that he makes some very complex teachings accessible and simple. Also, he is very good at translating an ancient way of life from Tibet into modern life in the West. Back in the 70s, he said that Buddhism would be the future of psychology. Words never became more true.
He's a controversial figure and at the time he was alive and teaching in England and the US, he said himself that he was part of the crazy wisdom lineage. Indeed. There are some crazy stories. Some true, some overblown about what he did. Going back to his writings after many years I see that he had hopes of bringing forth some kind of utopian existence. I also see an undercurrent of what might have been PTSD or the remnants of the extremely traumatic experience of fleeing his country during the Chinese invasion of Tibet after WWII. It's a miracle he survived.
He and a band of about 300 Tibetan monks in his order crossed the Himalayas to Nepal in winter. The Chinese army pursued them. People got picked off by the soldiers. People died from the cold and from starvation. And yet, everyone maintained the practice and ritual everyday, which was rigorous. When they arrived in Nepal, Chogyam Trungpa was one of the 30 or so people left. How could that not leave a mark on your psyche? Even as you are evolving into higher states of meditation and preparing to be the leader of your order? So, he did some very outlandish things, even outrageous things. He drank himself to death at the age of 47 after founding several meditation centers, mental asylums and a university in the US. All of them the first of their kind. His influence in the field of psychology is immense.
Pema Chodron is one of his students who is continuing his lineage. Everyone loves her. If you haven't read anything by her, it's time to get started. You can pick up Chogyam Trungpa later.
Over the years I get drawn into his writings and then step away. His teachings have helped me so much and are part of the cornerstone of what I teach in meditation classes to undergraduates. Back in the beginnings of my practice, I would hear people say that he was one of their teachers, but they weren't even remotely old enough to have known him in real life. At this point, I think he might be one of my teachers too, and it's a special well of knowledge and wisdom that I don't necessarily need to draw from every day but has certainly shaped the way I live every day.
At the beginning of my meditation practice, I somehow found his books. At one point in the mid-late 90s, whenever I went into a thrift store in the small town in Upstate, SC where I lived, I would find books on Buddhism. And if memory serves me, it was there I found Shambhala: The Way of The Warrior and Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, two of his most well known titles. His books have had a great influence on my practice and the way I live.
Work, Sex, Money is the first one of his that I have picked up in a very long time, and I think it is a collection of previous talks and books that have been repurposed to center around how to conduct yourself in daily life. Everything he writes points to how to conduct yourself, but this one is explicit. What draws me to his writings is that he makes some very complex teachings accessible and simple. Also, he is very good at translating an ancient way of life from Tibet into modern life in the West. Back in the 70s, he said that Buddhism would be the future of psychology. Words never became more true.
He's a controversial figure and at the time he was alive and teaching in England and the US, he said himself that he was part of the crazy wisdom lineage. Indeed. There are some crazy stories. Some true, some overblown about what he did. Going back to his writings after many years I see that he had hopes of bringing forth some kind of utopian existence. I also see an undercurrent of what might have been PTSD or the remnants of the extremely traumatic experience of fleeing his country during the Chinese invasion of Tibet after WWII. It's a miracle he survived.
He and a band of about 300 Tibetan monks in his order crossed the Himalayas to Nepal in winter. The Chinese army pursued them. People got picked off by the soldiers. People died from the cold and from starvation. And yet, everyone maintained the practice and ritual everyday, which was rigorous. When they arrived in Nepal, Chogyam Trungpa was one of the 30 or so people left. How could that not leave a mark on your psyche? Even as you are evolving into higher states of meditation and preparing to be the leader of your order? So, he did some very outlandish things, even outrageous things. He drank himself to death at the age of 47 after founding several meditation centers, mental asylums and a university in the US. All of them the first of their kind. His influence in the field of psychology is immense.
Pema Chodron is one of his students who is continuing his lineage. Everyone loves her. If you haven't read anything by her, it's time to get started. You can pick up Chogyam Trungpa later.
Over the years I get drawn into his writings and then step away. His teachings have helped me so much and are part of the cornerstone of what I teach in meditation classes to undergraduates. Back in the beginnings of my practice, I would hear people say that he was one of their teachers, but they weren't even remotely old enough to have known him in real life. At this point, I think he might be one of my teachers too, and it's a special well of knowledge and wisdom that I don't necessarily need to draw from every day but has certainly shaped the way I live every day.
November 16, 2020
Trungpa was a con man who formed a cult, in some ways similar to Donald Trump. Contrary to the descriptions of his sexual relations with students provided by other reviewers, he was a predator who, for example, had his cult followers violently sexually assault poets W.S. Merwin and Dana Noane while he watched and taunted them with racist insults. Trungpa's Shambhala successors carried on his hateful legacy - one of them concealed his HIV infection and infected many students, at least one of whom died, and Trungpa's son has been accused of multiple accounts of rape. I attended a tradition Tibetan temple with my family for years and we were always treated with love consistent with the teachings of the buddha and when I asked about Shambhala, I was told that it had nothing to do with buddhism. I recommend reading Andrea Winn's Buddhist Project Sunshine.
January 30, 2019
Don't judge a book by its showy title. I initially picked up this book to skim through at the library. I was pretty sucked in when I read the kind and shrewd words of Chogyam Trungpa. A welcoming introduction to Shambhala Buddhism, and a good way to understand (and question) your personal context in both the broadest and most minute sense. Where Chogyam isn't explicit or forthright, he presents abstract visualizations for the reader to slowly discover for themselves how to interpret their own situations. I found my reading experience both fluid and challenging--it was like a satisfying conversation with a friend you love.
June 14, 2024
Se eu puder te dar um conselho, seria: escolha outro livro para ler sobre o dharma.
Eu já sabia das histórias controversas do autor, mas, por uma indicação, resolvi arriscar. Misericórdia, que livro ruim.
Eu já sabia das histórias controversas do autor, mas, por uma indicação, resolvi arriscar. Misericórdia, que livro ruim.
May 15, 2018
Not necessarily really about work, sex and money! More about being a good Buddhist! But a good read anyway!
May 29, 2018
One of Trungpa's best books, although it is a bit slow at times
February 13, 2023
Practical at times but also pretty esoteric. Er...too esoteric for me.
February 19, 2024
“The editor chose the title I didn’t choose the title” is all I thought about the whole time.
January 9, 2025
Confusion abounds, but the path remains.
August 26, 2025
Aucun des trois.
July 31, 2020
Read this book because I've been questioning spiritual bypassing. The writing felt grounded. He encourages people on the path to be inclusive and use work as a way of spiritual growth. The same with relationships and family life. His view on money was helpful, that money is like milk. Cannot hoard but important. It has its own flow.
March 22, 2021
First of all, Best Title EVER!
And absolutely fantastic COVER--everyone should spend at least one afternoon reading this in their local Coffee Shop...
The book is YACODT (Yet Another Collection of Dharma Talks) which is a format I am rather bored of--this one is has better editing & a more consistent tone than many in the format, but still it would be NICE if we could get some more rigorous theology.
The early sections focus on Work is great. The sex is old school boring-people who came of age pre AIDS talk about sex in a strange mystical way (lacks body logic). The Money section is solid and leads to some nice discussion around Karma which mostly ends out the book.
Worth reading during the pandemic, but not Rinpoche's best work.
And absolutely fantastic COVER--everyone should spend at least one afternoon reading this in their local Coffee Shop...
The book is YACODT (Yet Another Collection of Dharma Talks) which is a format I am rather bored of--this one is has better editing & a more consistent tone than many in the format, but still it would be NICE if we could get some more rigorous theology.
The early sections focus on Work is great. The sex is old school boring-people who came of age pre AIDS talk about sex in a strange mystical way (lacks body logic). The Money section is solid and leads to some nice discussion around Karma which mostly ends out the book.
Worth reading during the pandemic, but not Rinpoche's best work.
August 8, 2025
Not one of Trungpa's best books. I find that it's not so inspiring. A lot about work that is not much more than what you know for yourself. I've spent a long time reading this book, because it's not so interesting to read. The parts about sex were interesting. It's not so much about Buddhism in this book. I miss the angle of Buddhism in the subjects.
April 27, 2014
I appreciate Shambhala's enthusiasm for CTR, who was a great teacher, but I think they should accept that he wrote and published all the books he had in him. These collections of talks don't work as books; they are unstructured and meandering. Not the right format.
January 4, 2014
Great previously unpublished lectures from Trungpa on the balance of real world life that embodies a warrior's courage with a the wisdom of a gentle heart.
December 22, 2016
Modern and timeless
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews