The Path is the Goal

The Path Is the Goal: A Playlist of the Original Talks

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As a pioneer in bringing the Buddhist teachings to the West, Chögyam Trungpa placed enormous emphasis on meditation practice as the essential starting point and foundation of the entire path. He stressed the importance of both mindfulness meditation (shamatha), leading to the inclusion of awareness (vipashyana) in one’s practice. His emphasis on the outbreath was a unique way in which he mixed shamatha and vipashyana from the beginning. By 1974, Trungpa Rinpoche had formalized his meditation instruction, which he presented to hundreds of students at Naropa Institute in a summer seminar captured on video. This was also his most prolific year in his teachings on meditation. Rinpoche gave six seminars on the subject in 1974, including two which were later published in his book The Path Is the Goal: A Basic Handbook of Buddhist Meditation (2011).

Edited by Sherab Cohn, The Path Is the Goal is split into two parts. Part One of the book is based on the seminar Mindfulness and Awareness that Trungpa Rinpoche taught in New York City. This seminar traces the practitioner’s path from the foundation of mindfulness and sitting practice, discovering ourselves through simplicity, to the continuity of awareness in working with our confusion and expectations. Part Two is based on the seminar Vipashyana Insight Meditation, which he gave six months later at the Vermont retreat center Tail of the Tiger (now Karmê Chöling). In these powerful talks, he introduces the heart of vipashyana practice, including how it relates to shamatha practice.

Below is a playlist mapping each chapter of the book to the talk it is based on. While many of Chögyam Trungpa’s books are an edited compilation of talks on a specific subject from many different seminars, this book notably contains just two seminars in their entirety, presented in chronological order. Even the Q&A sections are included. Because the book is edited in this more minimal style, the experience of listening to these recordings is almost like listening to an audiobook with bonus material*. You can also experience the humour, historical flavor, and feeling impossible to totally capture in the written word.

The Path Is the Goal Playlist

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AUDIO CLIP

More Seminars on Meditation

Understanding the Neurotic Aspects of Mind (NYC, 1971. AUDIO.)

A seminar exploring how to work directly with our neurosis through meditation. Chögyam Trungpa describes how our confusion arises and can be seen clearly and also unraveled through the simplicity of the meditation technique. Other topics include mindfulness; vipashyana, or insight meditation; developing warmth toward oneself; compassion; and the first glimpses of bodhisattva experience. Talk 3 and 4 from this seminar were published in the book Mindfulness in Action.

Playlist:

• Talk 1: Neurosis of the Centralized Watcher
• Talk 2: Occupational Misery and Open Space
• Talk 3: The Fringe of Our Emotions
• Talk 4: The Heart of Emotion
• Full seminar playlist

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Dhyana and Samadhi (BERKELEY, CA, 1974. AUDIO.)

This seminar touches on different elements of shamatha and vipashyana meditation practice. The main themes include meditation practice as a method for reconnecting with our fundamental enlightened state, the experience of loneliness in practice and life, and tuning into messages from the phenomenal world. Talk 1 was published in The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Volume 10, and Talk 2 in The Collected Works Vol. 10 as well as Mindfulness in Action.

Playlist:

• Talk 1: Dhyana: Why We Meditate
• Talk 2: Rhinoceros and Parrot
• Talk 3: Samadhi
• Full seminar playlist

*While the book is based on these talks, the material in the original recordings differs from the book. This is to be expected when a book is based on oral presentations.

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