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

(Paperback)

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Renowned meditation master Ch gyam 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. It is also often equated with views of morality and guilt. In The Future Is Open, Ch gyam 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. Topics include- the origin of karma; samsara and the world of ego and how they are shaped by karma; traditional teachings on karma; the difference between karma and fate; individual, group, and national karma; good karma, bad karma, beyond karma; karma and reincarnation; buddha activity and how it relates to ordinary practitioners; and meditation practice as the vehicle to step outside of the normal cycle of karma.

Reviews

Carolyn Gimian has accomplished a formidable task, boiling down the reflections on karma of the ever wise and irascible Chgyam 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 livesand, just perhaps, dangles a solution.Daniel Goleman, author Emotional Intelligence and Force for Good: The Dalai Lamas 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 Chgyam Trungpa Rinpochea master who was not only extraordinarily knowledgeable but was spiritually accomplished and understood the modern world like no one else. If youre curious how karma works, read this book!Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, author of What Makes You Not a Buddhist

Author Bio

CH GYAM 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.