Customer Reviews

Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chogyam Trungpa

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From an early age, Diana Mukpo didn't feel that she really belonged in the life she was living as a privileged youth in England. When she saw Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche for the first time, she said to herself, "This is what I've been missing all my life..." And so begins the intimate account of Diana's life with a Buddhist teacher in the book, Dragon Thunder.

At first the subject of the story appears to be an account of the life of a womanizing drunk, told from the point of view of his wife, who was sixteen at the time of their marriage. But the insights you get into Buddhism, as presented by Chogyam Trungpa, are remarkable. This is a coming-of-age story and a spiritual autobiography that often reads close to fiction. You will learn interesting things about the origins and teachings of Shambhala Buddhism while following Diana's struggles in loving a man who is deeply spiritual but humanly flawed.

As much as I appreciated my husband, I wasn't always accepting of his behavior. When we were first married, Rinpoche told me that it was normal for Tibetan men to beat their wives. I told him this was barbaric, but he said that it was just common practice. In the first few months of our marriage, he tried--not very convincingly--to slap me a couple of times when we were arguing. I said to him, "What do you think you're doing?" And he said to me, "This is just what Tibetans do." I felt that this was definitely not okay. I waited until he was asleep one day, and I took his walking stick and began hitting him as hard as I could. He woke up, and he was quite shocked, and he said, "What are you doing?" I said, "This is just what Western women do." He got the message, and it was never an issue again.

Diana faces the challenges of dealing with a clash of culture, race and religion. She shares her love journey with us as she and her teacher-husband cross continents and years in this finely detailed story of her life with a powerful mystic whose teachings and writings have helped to introduce Buddhism to the West.

by Rhonda Esakov
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Great insight into the life with a Tibetan Master. Very moving.
Thank you Diana for a sharing your life with us all.

A real page turner, I read it in a couple of days and couldn't put it down. It's well written, so it makes an interesting time in history come very alive. It's a wonderful portrait of Diana Mukpo and Chogyam Trungpa.

I wanted to give this one star but they won't post the lousy ones anymore.

I admit this definitely kept me turning the pages, except when the author droned on endlessly about her fascinating career riding horses, studying to ride horses, training to ride horses, etc. Then i skimmed.

I remember when Trungpa was quite the happening thing in colorado, had all these books in print, etc. It's funny to read this now that he's been gone for a while because basically the man was a head injury victim.

He was in a car wreck when he was in his twenties living in England and then he began acting so strangely it "scared" the other monks. He had the accident because he was an alchoholic and driving drunk.

He then hung up his monk's robe and married an underage girl. They fled to the usa to escape her outraged family and he went on to discover a gift for convincing people to donate huge amounts of money and believe whatever he said.

He built this whole constellation of buildings and organizations and basically got crazier and crazier. Eventually he was dressing as a king and had all the sycophants that worked for them (free of charge)call him "your highness" and his wife "your ladyship."

Personally, I've always leaned toward being called "Your Magnitude" but that's just me.

He wore uniforms that made him look like the mexican general santa anna and drank, drank, drank until he drank himself to death in his mid to late forties.

His hand-picked successor then knowingly gave several people in their buddhist community AIDS.

It's like walking into the mad hatter's tea party only the mad hatter is also the king. He was an insane person who talked about developing "basic sanity" a lot and had all these gullible sycophants around that aided and abetted.

Honestly, as looney as this is, it's kind of entertaining. What it really is is funny. IT's a black comedy. He even had a guy with a folding chair and another guy with an umbrella to keep the sun off of him follow him in case he wanted to sit down.

My only question is--what did these people think they were going to get from this guy? Did they really believe that anyone who had to be drunk all the time and dressed in uniforms and had his servants tell people he was a "tibetan prince", did they really believe that such a person was spiritually enlightened? Why?

Still, if you like bizarre you might find this amusing.

A wonderful, and interesting book for all the wrong reasons!
Sort of an involuntary expose by Diana Pybus (Mukpo) bring forth by what seem at first a very naive, and not too bright boarding school British, sixteen year old girl, burdened by class issues, and a social climber pushy Mother. By karma or pure chance she jumps in to bed with a Tibetan Monk living in England, we are not certain if Rimpoche married her for love or just to escape prosecution of sex with a minor, to their good, or bad karma, Scotland just authorized marriage for sixteen year old that same day, so they got married.
She describe the turmoil that was living with a man who raised since childhood to believe he was a Tulku (Reincarnation of a wise Lama) destined to spread Buddhism on the unsuspected naive, thirsty for Spirituality Westerners, specially Americans in the early Seventies, gullible enough to swallow the most outrageous claims, despite the bizarre and very unlike monk behavior that brings to mind many analogies, like if you believe in Reincarnation He is the reincarnation of of a mad Roman Emperor, or a Banana Republic megalomaniac Generalissimo, rather than a wise old monk!
Diana shows the clash of cultures that this enterprise entailed, and the rationalization that people go through to condone his outrageous behavior, drunkenness, drugs, sexual abuse, cheating, economical exploitation, servitude, etc.Typical of people invested in a cult, wanting to believe so much they are so lucky, and special to serve this high spiritual being, that they are ready to be blind to his failings as a Human Being, and go along with whatever, rather than to admit to themselves, they have been taken for a ride!
Diana if honest in her telling, is still naive to expect from the reader some sympathy, and understanding, I mean as much as I want to believe her good intentions, it is hard not to see some hypocrisy, or self delusion, like the social, and economical benefits of being the Queen Goddess of such a court, and the ability of pursuing a double life romantically, and her dream of horses, and Dressage a mighty expensive activity, on the money of the believers!
You may find some jewels here, and there, when there is true Faith miracles may happen, like the Indian tale of the phony Guru when told that one of his disciples walked on water with the phony Mantra he gave Him, in shock he wanted to try it on himself, but of course he sank as a rock...
All in all, it is good to be a believer for a time in hope of experience, and better Spiritual things to come, but as someone said: It is good to be born in a church, but not to die in one.