Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala

by Carolyn Rose Gimian

Chögyam Trungpa had a vision of a society of enlightened people, or at least of people on the path to enlightenment. These are the Shambhala warriors, people "brave enough not to give in to the aggression and contradictions that exist in society." A companion volume to Trungpa's classic Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Great Eastern Sun is an invitation for all people to discover their own goodness, which is always there, just as the sun is always rising. Trungpa had an uncanny grasp of the hang-ups and excuses that keep Westerners in their safe ego cocoons, and in Great Eastern Sun he entices us all out, to express our goodness and live a life on the edge of insecurity. The mindful life turns out to be one of detached but sacred existence, floating with the power of compassionate awareness. A genuine life is what Trungpa propels us to, and Great Eastern Sun is his lantern for guiding us down the path of genuine living. --Brian Bruya

Genres: Buddhism, Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Eastern Philosophy, Psychology

265 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Ricardo Acuña · Rating 3 out of 5]

The purpose of Shambhala is about to help other´s to save others to cure others pain, in your daily life by raising your consciousness and being a warrior, fearless and brave, about how to become a real person and how to have a real enlighted society. Chögyam Trungpa was one of the best known Tibetan Buddhist teachers in the west. The source is this book are public talks and weekend seminars in the level five of Shambhala training program during the 70´s and 80´s.

I started reading the book with a lot of expectation. Some years ago I read “Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior”. This book is a sequel to that. However a few years later, the teachings here seem to me too metaphoric or elementary. Although the teachings are indeed valuable, Chögyam Trungpa just simply expose a sort of basic ideas like: “your personal feelings should be expressed freely to your friends”, “synchronize mind and body and try to have a good physical posture”, and so on. Other teachings are metaphoric but not too profound: “the primordial dot has no bias to either that or this; therefore it is unconditional”, “wisdom is what joins heaven and earth”, “humility, very simply, is the absence of arrogance”.

Being a Buddhist book, you should expect that sort of ideas. But from my point of view it lacks some kind of philosophic, psychologic, metaphysic, or spiritual explanations or discussions. Chögyam Trungpa says that he deliberately rejects to go into any kind of analysis of the Shambhala teachings. Just simply let follow the teachings, because they are good.

It is a valuable book because the Shambhala teachings are essentially good. But the benefit you could get from it depends on your actual spiritual path.

[Tom Riordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been going through a difficult time right now so I started reading books by this author. I started with Shambhala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior and continued on with this book which is supposed to be a continuation of the same themes. These books are on a topic I can get behind which is creating an enlighten society. Seeing how we are about to globally warm ourselves into extinction I think its message is needed more than ever. Since I never watch TV I had to laugh when I read this:

"Lately we have been spoiled by television, whose creation is one of the worst crimes ever committed. When you watch TV all the time you have your appreciation and your self-exploration taken away."

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Buddhism and people doing something to help others and make a contribution. I must admit I do not understand his alcohol abuse, I do not drink these days myself. The only way I can make sense out of it is that he was a 60s guru and he was a Pisces Dragon. Sometimes Dragons can be outrageous and quite powerful, but often Pisces people can have a problem with addiction.

[David]

Chogyam Trungpa is always worth reading and "Shambhala" -the book to which this is a follow up- is excellent, but this volume -which is a collection of speeches given at the conclusion of his curriculum based on the aforementioned book- is disjointed, rambling and a bit repetitive. Still a lot of wisdom here, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you really liked the previous volume (as I did.)

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I always find insightful things to ponder in Trungpa's writing no matter what, the redundancy of these talks made it hard to tell one apart from the other. I also found myself puzzling over the irony of his "BIG NO" talk, which seemed hypocritical in light of his alcohol abuse (though I agree with the talk's message).

[Poyom Riles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chogyam presents the Tibetan Buddhist wisdom in a fresh way that was very helpful for me at a time when I was looking to make radical change in my life. The book is a series of lectures that was compiled and edited posthumously, that present a way of being in the world as a spiritual warrior.

[Bob Bergeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has - since 2009 - become my manual for living my daily life - mindfully and fearlessly. It is the path to becoming fully human - through the daily discipline of mediation/mindfulness. I finally learned how to shake my own hand.

[Mary Braden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, gentle, and humorous, Trungpa paints a picture of human possibility like no other, and offers a lyrical, intuitive path to realizing it.

[VincentMeade · Rating 4 out of 5]

college read

[Scott Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice companion piece to Chogyam Trungpa's introductory work. Based on talks he gave during retreats and seminars, the tone is much more conversational and personal. Specific topics addressing common struggles like depression bring this book out of the more lofty clouds of The Sacred of Path of the Warrior- though the 'Warrior' book is excellent in it's own right.

[Inara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title in German:
Große östliche Sonne

[diwili · Rating 5 out of 5]

omg, just read it, it's so good. seriously, if this subject matter interests you (being human), it is worth your time.

[Me · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel Shambhala is a sex cult and I threw this away.

Note: the key word being “sham”