Rinpoche Dzogchen Ponlop - Rebel Buddha: on the road to freedom

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche shatters old myths and sweeps away cultural baggage, presenting the essence of the Buddhas teachings in a fresh, contemporary voice. With uncommon clarity and authority, he offers a new vision for the future of Buddhism that is at once shocking and hopeful. This is a small book with a big message that is timely and important.

Pema Chdrn, author of When Things Fall Apart

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche has a remarkable ability to present the wisdom of the Buddhas teachings in a manner that is as fresh and accessible as it is profound. With Rebel Buddha, he goes straight to the core of the spiritual path, showing how the Buddhas liberating insights transcend race, religion, and culture. This book is sure to provoke, inspire, and move us one step closer to creating a thoroughly modern approach to spirituality.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, author of The Joy of Living

A seminal work for the growth of Buddhism in contemporary society. Fearlessly and intelligently, Ponlop Rinpoche invites the reader to make these ancient tools meaningful in our lives, without any fetishizing of someone elses culture. Rinpoches voice roars with the relaxed confidence of authenticity, and the fierce urgency of now. In Rebel Buddha, Rinpoche establishes himself as something we need now much more than a Tibetan lama: he is among the first of the American Buddhist masters.

Ethan Nichtern, author of One City: A Declaration of Interdependence

This book does a wonderful job of bringing the Buddhas teachings to all of us here in the West. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche has great insights into the workings of our minds, guiding us from delusion to clarity.

Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

ABOUT THE BOOK

Theres a rebel within you. Its the part of you that already knows how to break free of fear and unhappiness. This rebel is the voice of your own awakened mind. Its your rebel buddhathe sharp, clear intelligence that resists the status quo. It wakes you up from the sleepy acceptance of your day-to-day reality and shows you the power of your enlightened nature. Its the vibrant, insightful energy that compels you to seek the truth.

Dzogchen Ponlop guides you through the inner revolution that comes from unleashing your rebel buddha. He explains how, by training your mind and understanding your true nature, you can free yourself from needless suffering. He presents a thorough introduction to the essence of the Buddhas teachings and argues that, if we are to bring these teachings fully into our personal experience, we must go beyond the cultural trappings of traditional Asian Buddhism. We all want to find some meaningful truth about who we are, he says, but we can only find it guided by our own wisdomby our own rebel buddha within.

DZOGCHEN PONLOP RINPOCHE, born in 1965 in northeast India, was trained in the meditative and intellectual disciplines of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism under the guidance of many of the greatest masters from Tibets pre-exile generation. He is a widely celebrated teacher, known for his skill in making the full richness of Buddhist wisdom accessible to modern minds, and devotes much of his energy to developing a vision of a genuine Western Buddhism. For more information, go to www.rebelbuddha.com.

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rebel buddha

A GUIDE TO A REVOLUTION OF MIND

Dzogchen Ponlop

SHAMBHALA

BOSTON

2010

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

2010 by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

The quotation in chapter 10 is from The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: As Interpreted by the Hazelden Foundation, p. 115. 1993 by Hazelden Foundation, Center City, MN. Cover image: The Buddha Sakyamuni by Gonkar Gyatso, reproduced courtesy of the artist and TAG Fine Arts.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dzogchen Ponlop, Rinpoche, 1965

Rebel Buddha: a guide to a revolution of mind/Dzogchen Ponlop.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2286-3

ISBN 978-1-59030-874-5

1. BuddhismDoctrines. 2. TruthReligious aspectsBuddhism. I. Title.

BQ4570.F7D96 2010

294.34dc22

2010022470

This book is dedicated to my little rebel buddha,

Raymond Sidarta Wu,

the first generation of my family to be born in America.

rebel [r-bl]

one who questions, resists, refuses to obey, or rises against the unjust or unreasonable control of an authority or tradition.

buddha [b-d]

the awakened mind.

BORN TO BE FREE

REBEL BUDDHA is an exploration of what it means to be free and how we can become free. Although we may vote for the head of our government, marry for love, and worship the divine or mundane powers of our choice, most of us dont really feel free in our day-to-day life. When we talk about freedom, were also talking about its oppositebondage, lack of independence, being subject to the control of something or someone outside ourselves. No one likes it, and when we find ourselves in that situation, we quickly start trying to figure out a way around it. Any restriction on our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness arouses fierce resistance. When our happiness and freedom are at stake, we become capable of transforming ourselves into rebels.

Theres something of a rebellious streak in all of us. Usually its dormant, but sometimes its provoked into expression. If nurtured and guided with wisdom and compassion, it can be a positive force that frees us from fear and ignorance. However, if it manifests neurotically, full of resentment, anger, and self-interest, then it can turn into a destructive force that harms us as much as it does others. When were confronted with a threat to our freedom or independence and that rebellious streak surfaces, we can choose how to react and channel that energy. It can become part of a contemplative process that leads to insight. Sometimes that insight comes quickly, but it can also take years.

According to the Buddha, our freedom is never in question. Were born free. The true nature of the mind is enlightened wisdom and compassion. Our mind is always brilliantly awake and aware. Nevertheless, were often plagued by painful thoughts and the emotional unrest that goes with them. We live in states of confusion and fear from which we see no escape. Our problem is that we dont see who we truly are at the deepest level. We dont recognize the power of our enlightened nature. We trust the reality we see before our eyes and accept its validity until something comes alongan illness, accident, or disappointmentto disillusion us. Then we might be ready to question our beliefs and start searching for a more meaningful and lasting truth. Once we take that step, were starting off on the road to freedom.

On this road, what we free ourselves from is illusion, and what frees us from illusion is the discovery of truth. To make that discovery, we need to enlist the powerful intelligence of our own awake mind and turn it toward our goal of exposing, opposing, and overcoming deception. That is the essence and mission of rebel buddha: to free us from the illusions we create by ourselves, about ourselves, and from those that masquerade as reality in our cultural and religious institutions.