The Future Is Open: Good Karma, Bad Karma, and Beyond Karma

by Chogyam Trungpa, Carolyn Rose Gimian (Editor)

Overview

Renowned meditation master Chögyam Trungpa challenges popular misconceptions of the Buddhist doctrines of karma and rebirth, in the process showing how to step beyond karma on the path to awakening.

Karma has become a popular term in the West, often connected with somewhat naive or deterministic ideas of rebirth and reincarnation or equated with views of morality and guilt. Chögyam Trungpa unpacks this intriguing but misunderstood topic. He viewed an understanding of karma as good news, showing us that liberation is possible and that the future is never predetermined. His unique approach to presenting the Buddhist teachings lends itself to an insightful and profound view of karma, its cause and effects, and how to cut the root of karma itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590309537
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	11/13/2018
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA (1940-1987)—meditation master, teacher, and artist—founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America; the Shambhala Training program; and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books, including Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, and The Myth of Freedom.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Part 1 The Birth of Karma 1

1 Karma, Compassion, and the Dark Age 3

2 Karma and Rebirth 15

3 Volitional Action 31

4 Past, Present, and Future 43

Part 2 The Painful Reality of Samsara 51

5 Karma, Ego, and Buddha Nature 53

6 The Wheel of Life 63

7 The Power of Flickering Thoughts 83

8 Perpetually Recreating Suffering 89

Part 3 The Future Is Open 107

9 Choiceless Choice 109

10 The Path of Meditation 117

11 Cutting the Root of Samsara 127

12 Auspicious Coincidence 137

CODA: Karma in Everyday Life: Work, Sex, and Money 147

Acknowledgments 159

Sources 163

Related Books Chögyam Trungpa 165

About the Author 167

Index 173

Editorial Reviews

Carolyn Gimian has accomplished a formidable task, boiling down the reflections on ‘karma’ of the ever wise and irascible Chögyam Trungpa. The Future Is Open, as in the title itself, sketches a path forward even as it candidly details our karmic dilemma. As always, Trungpa Rinpoche poses us a riddle, this one about the stuff of our lives—and, just perhaps, dangles a solution.”—Daniel Goleman, author Emotional Intelligence and Force for Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World
 
“Our deep urge to understand the ultimate truth often implicitly assumes we understand the relative truth. But beyond the failures of philosophers, at the most basic level we sentient beings constantly fail in our own pursuit of happiness. So it is of utmost importance to understand the relative truth, of which karma is the epitome. And who can explain that truth better than Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche—a master who was not only extraordinarily knowledgeable but was spiritually accomplished and understood the modern world like no one else. If you’re curious how karma works, read this book!”—Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, author of What Makes You Not a Buddhist

From the Publisher