Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 294.3923092
EAN num: 9781556431760
ISBN number: 1556431767
Label: North Atlantic Books
Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: September 13, 1994
Publishing house: North Atlantic Books
Release Date: September 13, 1994
Sale Popularity Level: 830392
Studio: North Atlantic Books
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Product Description:
In The Double Mirror, the author's personal history-- as a student of the late Tibetan master Chogyam Trungpa, known for his unconventional lifestyle and 'crazy wisdom' teaching style-- is the framework for an incisive and eloquent examination of a profound spiritual journey. Writing both from a critical perspective and from his direct experience of Vajrayana practice, the author look at Buddhist tantric teachings and practices and their expressions in Vajradhatu, Trungpa's organization. While discussing how the institution may sometimes function like a 'cult,' Butterfield nonetheless experiences Buddhist tantra as an authentic system of profound spiritual transformation.
The Double Mirror explores the effects of Buddhist practice on personality, autonomy, perception, and health, and discusses what Buddhism has to offer American. With skeptical intelligence, Butterfield illuminates the stages, teachings, and assumptions of the Tibetan Buddhist path, offering a frank and insightful portrayal of the ideal and reality of spiritual life.
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Rated by buyers 
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An amazingly honest book! In view of the current popularity of Tibetan Buddhism, this is a very timely warning by a former member of the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, founded in 1974 by Chögyam Trungpa. Anyone thinking of taking up Tibetan Buddhism should certainly read this first.
Rated by buyers 
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It is sad to read of yet another story of abuse perpetrated by the Shambhala cult. The Shambhala cult is so obviously fascistic that it is hard to believe anyone could call Vajrayana good! I pity anyone who has given both their time, money, trust and devotion to such a dysfunctional militaristic, self-deluding cult as Shambhala. Buddha never imagined such a concept. It is a Tibetan folkloric Hinduistic accretion and a corruption of the genuine Buddha teachings. Trungpa was a corrupt, drunken, sexually abusive fraud. No more, no less. And his usurper son, Sakyong Mipham, (not his designated 're-incarnated' manifestation in Trungapa XII) continues the abusive fraud, perpetuated on a gullible, open-hearted West seeking spiritual answers. To anyone venturing into the dark secrets of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism I beg you read THE SHADOW OF THE DALAI LAMA: Sexuality, Magic and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism by Victor and Victoria Trimondi before you make the fatal error that poor Stephen Butterfield did , exhausting and wasting his life in pursuit of a false ideal. It is available in book form and also online for free at http://www.trimondi.de/SDLE/Index.htm.
I wish you all a genuine spiritual journey without exploitation from fake gurus.
Rated by buyers 
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The late Chogyam Trungpa has already been picked over by his former students and lovers (most of them his students). All one is left with at the end of the saga is the essential problem Tibetan Buddhism presents to westerners. It is a religion with a monocratic heirarachy that stresses unflinching obedience to the "teacher", who is supposed to embody the Buddhist teachings. Trouble is it is now exported without reform to a democratic west. It is fascinating to see how students manage this tension in their own lives. As charismatic an brilliant as he apparently was, Trungpa was an alcoholic philanderer with some sociopathic tendencies as well. Most of his students came through unscathed. Others, like Butterfield, did not. Read it and weep.
Rated by buyers -
A highly readable and sensitively written book.
Butterfield was a follower of a Buddhist cult (using the term loosely: it was more kooky than vicious) that revolved around the enigmatic but dissolute Chogyam Rinpoche.
The book is a chronicle of the author's years with these people, and why he, Siddharthalike, eventually had to turn and follow his own path.
Perhaps the book's chief merit lies in its deliberate dissection of what it's like to really want to get into a belief system, yet know in the back of your mind that it doesn't add up. You don't want to embarrass people, you don't want to strain friendships, you have so much invested, your friends will think you foolish, etc. And yet you are unsuppressibly aware the whole thing is horse-puckey.
Having said that, the book is certainly not an "expose" of Buddhism, or even of Rinpoche. It is clear that Butterfield has a high opinion of most of his co-religionists and is not necessarily out to take off Rinopoche's head or discredit the religion.
Rather, it is a respectful and thoughtfully-woven account of the author's years of involvement with this group, and how he grew to be dissatisfied personally with its teachings and practices.
And happily, this book is not so beset with specialized Buddhist terms that only the initiated could navigate it. I've seen some of those. No, it's fine material for a general reader, or for somebody just getting into Buddhism.
Rated by buyers -
The author recounts the story of his journey on the Shambhala buddhist path, a path originated for Westerners by the controversial Trungpa Rinpoche. He speaks from his experience, relating both his experiences and his thoughts about them in a way that allows the reader to separate the two. And I might add that it's a well-crafted and enjoyable read. Butterfield views the ideosycracies and controversies of the Shambhala organization more completely than I have seen in print anywhere, at the same time that he introduces the reader to Tibetan Buddhist practice. Butterfield was an arhat; his book is embued with clarity and insight. I wish the reviewer who thought Butterfield missed the point of Tibetan Buddhism would explain what else he thinks it is. I was saddened to read that Butterfield was rejected by his sangha on account of this book. I don't get it.
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