PERSON
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Tibetan Buddhist teacher (1939–1987) who introduced Vajrayana Buddhism to the West, founded Naropa University and Shambhala Training, and taught Pema Chödrön the practices of
shenpa-recognition and warriorship.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Tibetan meditation master, scholar, and artist who escaped Tibet in 1959 following the Chinese occupation and became one of the most influential — and controversial — figures in the transmission of Buddhism to the West. Recognized as the eleventh Trungpa tulku at thirteen months old, he received traditional monastic training before fleeing to India and later to England, where he studied comparative religion at Oxford. He moved to North America in 1970, founded Vajradhatu (now Shambhala International), established Naropa Institute (now Naropa University) in Boulder, and developed Shambhala Training — a secular path emphasizing meditation and the cultivation of 'basic goodness.' His teaching style was direct, psychologically sophisticated, and often shocking, stripping away the cultural trappings of Asian Buddhism to present its core psychological insights in language accessible to Westerners.
Pema Chödrön was his student from 1972 until his death in 1987 and credits him as the source of every teaching she offers.