Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chogyam Trungpa

"Enlightened Master" "Egomaniac" "Genius" "Fraud" "Compassionate" "Cruel" It is difficult to imagine one person attracting so many different sobriquets. Yet Chögyam Trungpa gathered all of these and many more. A recognized reincarnation of the Tenth Trungpa, he came to India after the Chinese invasion of Tibet and faced enormous hardships. He eventually came to Britain and met and married the sixteen-year-old Diana Probus, who took the name Diana Mukpo, and finally wrote this extraordinary memoir, almost twenty years after his death. They were married for a tumultuous period of seventeen years during which he established meditation centers throughout Europe and North America, attracted a large number of students and founded Naropa in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired University in the United States. Chögyam Trungpa was a key figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, and apart from the testimony of his personal students, he has left a substantial body of written works, many of which are widely recognized to be spiritual masterpieces. He was always controversial and heavy alcohol abuse contributed to his early demise. I never met Chögyam, but I well remember many of my Buddhist friends being scandalized by his behavior. Most of them had acquired an extraordinarily ascetic view of Buddhism that many still hold today. The idea that an Enlightened Master may smoke, drink and have sex is anathema. They have an idea of the way that a spiritual being should behave, and if he or she does not, well that simply proves that they are not enlightened! I have known so many people who never realized that this view of spirituality is a projection based on just one spiritual current. There are many others, and it is a sad reality that rather than practicing tolerance, many of the different spiritual schools and traditions really dislike each other. This book paints an intimate portrait of a master of "crazy wisdom." It is particularly fascinating to see the juxtaposition of the early life of someone born into a life of privilege in England, with a man born in poverty half a world away. And what an unusual and complex man he was, with a colorful and powerful personality. Not only was he someone who transmitted teachings, he was also believed to be someone who found and uncovered lost poetic and philosophical treasures. This is a very personal book, but it is not a rose-colored one. Diana was not only Rinpoche's wife she was also his student, and he did many things that must have been very hard on her. There was evidently a clash of cultures and even though she was very young when they got married, she was concerned about some of the questionable decisions that were being made. Though at the end of it all, she says that she has "no regrets." The book gives some extraordinary insights into the inner workings of Tibetan Buddhism during its early encounter with the West. Though not designed to be a book of teachings, it contains

I was a close student of Trungpa Rinpoche for 16 years. I never closed a door in Diana's face; I did spend a bit of time caring for Taggie, yet even though I was "close in" to Rinpoche's family, I did not appreciate or have much empathy for Diana's challenges or for the fact that she was facing them at such a young age. Now at 60, having raised 4 children and being grandfather to 4, I humbly beg her forgiveness and bow to her strong Dharma Heart. This book is a generous and bold revelation of life with a rare Great Being. It will help any spiritual seeker break out of their limited notions of spiritual life and practice. The way in which Diana perservered in preserving and strenghtening her own spirit under extraordinary circumstances will be an inspiring example for any reader. It with help you develop a mature relationship to meet your own challenges on the path.

Dragon Thunder is an remarkable book on many counts. The book not only gives us a new understanding of the extraordinary life and work of Chögyam Trungpa, one of the great spiritual teachers of the 20th century, but it also shows, without equivocation, some of the many both serious and humorous complexities and paradoxes and challenges involved in the transmission of Buddhism to the West. Diana Mukpo's intimate revelations as wife, friend, and student of this remarkable teacher and human being are not only lovingly expressed, but, perhaps just as important, they are also balanced and sane. You don't have to be a Buddhist to appreciate this amazing book (I'm not); you just have to be willing to be taken beyond the framework of your habitual self-image and to open to the miracle and mystery of your own being. And even if you don't think you're really willing, get the book anyway. You will not be disappointed.

This is a captivating, deeply intimate account of Diana Mukpo's seventeen year marriage to Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche written, thanks to the editor, in a restrained, objective reporting style that prevents this inscrutable story from becoming out-of-control fiction, (which it verged on anyway). This book may be of greatest interest to students/former students of Chogyam Trungpa who experienced him and his broader organization, Vajradhatu, during his lifetime. His wife knew him most deeply, but neither she nor his closest students could ever pin him down, and that same principle applies to the reader: the accuracy and value of this book is relational to the perspectives of Ms. Mukpo and those of the reader, who (somewhat delightfully) is forced to construct his own conclusions. Personally, for example, as a peripheral student still carrying twenty years of doubts and grudges, to my surprise I found this book clarifying and helpful for further practice. Then again, some cynics might find this account marred by the author's normal adolescent narcissism, never outgrown, and still coloring her memories and explanations of Rinpoche's behavior. Fortunately, readers free from this type of historical baggage will find plenty to ponder, such as the author's gut-checking attempt to raise her family, one of whom proves to be autistic, whilst playing a cacaphony of roles created by her husband. The reader quickly learns that nothing is easy, predictable or certain when married to the guru, except perhaps death. An authoritative and objective third-person book about Chogyam Trungpa can never be written because he was aware of, but non-attached to habitual patterns unlike most prominent public figures. Well-intentioned attempts to "capture" him have proved to be critical literary failures. Prior to Diana Mukpo's book, the only first-person description of life with Rinpoche was John Perks' fine book "The Mahasiddha and his Idiot Servant". Now we have his wife's first-person account, independently written, different events, yet same flavor. This is a superb narrative about a near-impossible subject, firm and opiniated when necessary, and revealing just enough defensiveness to confirm the author's humanity. A good book by any measure.

This is an extraordinary, from the heart account of life with a Mahasiddha, written in the most intimate terms of a love affair that continues to this day. This book goes beyond the aspects of any religious dogma into the ordinariness of everyday love of a woman for a man. This book is completely inspiring. Just put yourself in the author's place to see how that feels. Dragon Thunder is a must read for anyone.