[Buddha-l] crazy wisdom

[Thomas Fink]

One of the interesting things about this thread is how some facts by 
second hand knowledge turn into fiction and how for instance things 
that happened in GB now happened in North America. One really gets a 
feeling how history is constructed. Like Bowie. As far as I know, Bowie 
had/has a brother who was seriously interested in Buddhism. Some or one 
time they went together to Samye Ling, the place in Scotland, where at 
this time Chögyam Trungpa and Akong had been the teachers. Around this 
time, again in GB, Trungpas car accident happened. He was driving into 
a toy shop. Like the car accident of Guirdjeff it marked a complete 
change in his way of teaching. In Trungpas case it was putting off the 
robes, getting away from Samye Ling and into the States teaching in a 
Hawaii shirt.
The change from Hawaii shirt to suit with tie is another story. A story 
partly told in "The Mahasiddha and his idiot servant" by "Major" John 
Perks. Regarding the facts, the Major is not completely reliable but he 
is a great storyteller. The ones who are allready illminded about 
Trungpa Rinpoche will of course get more fuel for their opinions. But 
the rest will get a real taste of the crazyness, the sanity and the 
humour of this force called Chögyam Trungpa.
Another interesting source regarding Chögyam Trungpa is the latest Zen 
book from Janwillem van de Wetering. The german title is >Reine Leere<. 
I believe in english it is called >A Glimpse of Nothingness<. There is 
a complete chapter about Chögyam Trungpa. The name is never mentioned, 
but it is clear that Wetering knew Trungpa from GB. His point of view 
and knowledge about the car accident and the alcohol I found quite 
insightfull.
By the way, when Trungpa had his car accident and changed his way of 
teaching Akong Rinpoche and a lot of other tibetan teachers thought 
that Trungpa Rinpoche really went crazy. I heard that the late Akong 
said in a meeting something like that he needed a long time to realize 
that he had to show his western students his real face and that Trungpa 
was not only showing them his real face but that he was tearing down 
his flesh to let them see whats inside.

Thomas Fink

Am 06.12.2005 um 12:13 schrieb Stephen Hopkins:

> Hmm.  Whatever Bowie's interest in Buddhism is, this seems unlikely.  
> Bowie
> was born in 1947 and lived with his parents in Bromley, nr London, 
> until he
> was 18.  According to at least one source, he first visited the States 
> in
> 1971.
>
>
> Best,
>
> Steve Hopkins
>
>> From: "John Whalen-Bridge" <ellwbj at nus.edu.sg>
>> Reply-To: Buddhist discussion forum <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
>> Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 10:39:21 +0800
>> To: <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
>> Subject: [Buddha-l] crazy wisdom
>>
>> It seems Bowie was a frequent visitor to Tibet House in his early 
>> teens
>
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