Dharma Art (Dharma Ocean Series) [Paperback]

Chogyam Trungpa (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dharma Ocean Series | Publication Date: November 12, 1996

     "Dharma art" refers to creative works that spring from the awakened meditative state, characterized by directness, unselfconsciousness, and nonaggression. Trungpa Rinpoche shows that dharma art provides a vehicle to appreciate the nature of things as they are and express it without any struggle or desire to achieve.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1938-1987) was the 13th incarnation of the Trungpa tulku, a revered teacher in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism. A refugee from the Chinese invasion of Tibet, Trungpa ultimately settled in Boulder, Colo., and founded the famous Naropa Institute, the only accredited Buddhist university in North America. As a teacher, Trungpa was famous for the utterly fresh approach he took to the most ancient and profound teachings of his tradition. In this book, Judith Leif has compiled Trungpa's teachings on Dharma art from an exceptional archive of published materials and formal talks, forming for the first time a cohesive statement of his teachings on the nature of art. Trungpa's notion of Dharma art is not merely reproducing and interpreting a collection of Buddhist symbols or ideas, but it is an approach to art as meditation, an attitude of directness and unself-consciousness in creative work. Leif's inspired selection and careful editing make this an essential book for those committed to the view that the artist should be a spiritual teacher.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Chögyam Trungpa (1940–1987) was a meditation master, teacher, and artist who founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, 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 and Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1st edition (November 12, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570621365
• ISBN-13: 978-1570621369
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #616,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Practical Manual, Not A Coffee Table Book, December 26, 2001

By 

Nicole Freed - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dharma Art (Dharma Ocean Series) (Paperback)

This is NOT a coffee table book meant to showcase the artist's work; this is a practical manual for *doing* art from a contemplative (i.e. meditative) perspective--that is, fresh, unpremeditated, direct from one's sense perceptions, and unmediated by concept. Written in Trungpa Rinpoche's engaging, inimitable, and often elliptical style, it offers a number of startling and surprisingly useful insights into the nature of perception and the creative process--for instance: "Before we produce anything at all, we have to have a sense of free and open space with no obstacles of any kind" (p. 111). Now, this might seem elementary, but if you look carefully, the source of every creative or artistic block is having some concept in mind beforehand--either fear, or ambition, or an idea of where one wants to go before one gets there--"starting with the wrong end of the stick," as Trungpa Rinpoche used to say. This is a manual for freeing oneself of artistic blockages and reacquainting oneself with the freshness of unbiased perception. To my knowledge, there's nothing else remotely like this out there.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars how to make art, January 18, 2005

By 

Bob Rosen "metroart" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dharma Art (Dharma Ocean Series) (Paperback)

One reviewer's 1-star rating is really unfair. The book was never intended as a visual presentation of particular artworks. It's a very rich set of essays, some very challenging, about how to make art, in particular, the kind of mental and emotional attitude that one needs to develop in order to be *spontaneously* creative -- as Trungpa puts it: "There is such a thing as unconditional expression that does not come from self or other. It manifests out of nowhere like mushrooms in a meadow, like hailstones, like thunderstorms."

3 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Words, Words, Words..., May 14, 2001

By 

Tan Kwan Seng (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dharma Art (Dharma Ocean Series) (Paperback)

"A picture is worth a thousand words". But if you are expecting to see the beauty of Dharma Art in pictures, be prepared for real disappointment. There are NO color pictures/photos; only a few pages of black-and-white photos and the only one that can be considered as "art" is that of a thangka painting. If you want to see beautiful Dharma art, look elsewhere.