Book Review: “Work, Sex, Money- Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness” by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
I’m a little late to the party in reading and reviewing Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s latest book -“Work, Sex, Money”, but there’s no time like the present and I’m finding myself a bit behind in catching up with all of the great dharma books filling up my shelves. As is true with the majority of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s books that I’ve had the chance to read, without fail, there’s always something within the pages that leaves me thinking that it was exactly what I need to read at a this point in my life. The ability for Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s to provide this kind of spiritual and personal guidance transcends the fact that the material this book is comprised of, comes from talks he gave in the 1970′s. Just when I thought that so much of the themes of work, sex and money may have changed considerably since the 70′s, I really do see that things are absolutely the same, despite the sheen of it being 2011.
The crux of this book is on the practice of mindfulness in our day to day and how there is a richness in practicing the dharma in this 24/7 human realm we in habit. With Shambhala’s vision to create an enlightened society, there is much for us to work with when we are faced with passion, aggression, clinging, aversion and ambivalence as it manifests in our professional, sexual and financial lives. These three realms are where we display the tendencies to find escape in or from work, sex and money and all of the potential pitfalls and trappings associated with them.
The common theme of the book is ‘meditation in action’ and we see that we need to work with situations as they arise, rather than to look away. The need to apply awareness, loving-kindness and compassion in dealing with the tough bits all help to transcend the suffering from attachment or ignoring the circumstances we don’t like - or the ones we like a bit too much.
Some Buddhists wrestle with the concept of right livelihood, struggle with the misuse of sex and view money as a conduit for greed rather than viewing the energy around these elements as possessing the ability for good as well as for bad. There’s a lot of polarity going on and the potential for wrong view to rear its ugly little noggin. Our habitual patterns, self-talk, strategies and psychology all get bound up in reference to work, sex and money and neurosis can develop if we’re not careful.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche makes the point that the rubber needs to meet the road when we are engaged in relationships of a sexual, financial or work nature as this is where we are engaged with the world and have the chance to be skillful in our efforts. We can choose for this engagement to be the teacher we need in our lives, or we can run away. The book makes reference to the precepts and paramitas as they relate to work, sex and money (ie: generosity, discipline) and emphasis is made towards having a sense of humour in our day-to-day workings.
This book is packed full of teachings and many historical references from Buddha’s time that provide illumination for this modern age. Given that society has been trying to figure out how to best work with work, sexuality and finances since cave drawings likely illustrated some stick figures with money bags, genitalia and briefcases, there’s a lot of great material in this book that provides real world advice a person today who is likely posting a photo of their genitalia beside a bag of money and a briefcase onto Facebook (I don’t know any Buddhists engaging in this behaviour personally, but can only assume).
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche walked in shoes of a father, husband, lover, worker all while being a highly revered spiritual teacher. He was a Tibetan master who made it his life’s work to discover the ways of the West and this book provides an examination of his ability to convey pure Dharma with an understanding of the Western experience and our specific hang-ups, abilities, obsessions and tastes.
