DRAGON THUNDER My Life with Cho'gyam Trungpa J. Diana Mukpo with Carolyn Rose Gimian Shambhala Boston & London 2006 SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS, INC. Horticultural Hall 300 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02II5 www.sharnbhala. com © 2006 by Diana J. Mukpo and Carolyn R. Gimian 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. First Edition Printed in the United States ofA merica @This edition is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Institute 239.48 Standard. Distributed in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd Designed by Jeff Baker Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mukpo, Diana J. Dragon thunder: my life with Chogyarn Trungpa/Diana]. Mukpo; with Carolyn Rose Gimian.-1st ed. p. em. 1SBN-13: 978-1-59030-256-9 (aJk. paper) 1SBN-10: 1-59030-256-7 r. Trungpa, Chogyarn, 1939-1987. 2. Lamas-Biography. 3. Mukpo, Diana J. I. Gimian, Carolyn Rose. II. Title. BQ990.R867M86 2006 294.3'923092-dc22 (B) 2006013421 To myfomily Bringing together sun and moon, Dragon thunder proclaims Let us rejoice in the name of the Great Eastern Sun. -CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, FROM THE UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT "THE MEMOIRS OF SIR NYIMA SANGPO, W.O.D.S." CONTENTS About ChOgyam Trungpa and Diana Mukpo ix Dragon Thunder r Publisher's Afterword 407 Coauthor's Afterword and Acknowledgments 4II Notes 415 ABOUT CHOGYAM TRUNGPA AND DIANA MUKPO C hogyam Trungpa (1939-1987) is widely considered one of the most important and influential Buddhist teachers of our time. Born in Tibet, he was forced to flee to India in 1959, during the Chinese invasion of his country. In 1963, he traveled to England to study at Oxford University. While in England, he published Meditation inAction (1969), a classic of twentieth-century spiritual literature that has intro duced hundreds of thousands ofWesterners to Buddhism. Chogyam Trungpa moved to the United States in 1970 and went on to publish more than a dozen books on Buddhism and the spiritual path, including two widely popular and highly influential works, Cutting Through Spiri tual Materialism (1973) and Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior (1984). In 1970, while still in Britain, Chogyam Trungpa married a young English woman named Diana Pybus. In Dragon Thunder Diana shares the intriguing and poignant story of their life together. Over the course of their seventeen-year marriage, Chogyam Trungpa established medita tion centers around the United States, Canada, and Europe. He also founded Naropa, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North Amer ica. In addition, he attracted students from around the world and became ix ABOUT CHOGYAM TRUNGPA AND DIANA MUKPO friend and mentor to some of the leading artists of the day, including the poet Allen Ginsberg. A bride at age sixteen, Diana's narrative is an un usual coming-of-age story, as well as a rare glimpse into the personal life of one of the most enigmatic Buddhist teachers to come to the West. X