From the founder of Shambhala Publications, a no-nonsense, occasionally irreverent field guide to busting out of your own neuroses—mixing Buddhist wisdom and a dash of mischief to help you wake up (even in the middle of work, sex, and your bank account).
In this refreshingly unfiltered guide, Sam Bercholz—founder of Shambhala Publications and a lifelong student and teacher of Buddhism—invites you to drop the pretense, roll up your sleeves, and get real about waking up.
Drawing on decades of firsthand experience with some of the most influential Buddhist teachers of our time, Sam serves up the full spectrum of Buddhist teachings with a healthy dose of humor and zero sugarcoating. This isn’t about sitting on a cushion and pretending you’re above it all. It’s about wrestling with your own distractions, addictions, and neuroses—right in the middle of your messy, beautiful, everyday life.
From meditation and tonglen to the everyday chaos of work, sex, and money, Sam gets his hands dirty with the real challenges of being human—no spiritual bypassing required. He dives into the gritty details of breaking free from habitual patterns, finding flashes of clarity in the chaos, and discovering your own basic goodness—even when you feel like a total mess.
You’ll get the inside scoop on Vajrayana teachings, the power of lineage, and the Shambhala path of warriorship, all delivered with Sam’s trademark irreverence and honesty. If you’re looking for a guide who’s been through the wringer and come out laughing—and who’ll urge you to live the teachings, not just read about them—this is your invitation to wake up, lighten up, and join the dance.
Also available in paperback.
“In my opinion, this is probably the best book written to date about Buddhism. It is said that a teacher is best heard through his or her students. Sam’s root teacher was the remarkable Tibetan Buddhist Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, an absolutely brilliant import to the West. I knew Trungpa relatively well, at any rate well enough to recognize that Sam is transmitting Trungpa’s mind and voice. As a true student of Trungpa Rinpoche’s, Sam is stunningly transmitting what Trungpa had taught him.
That is one of the many reasons I love this book. Sam covers all the main aspects of Buddhism clearly, thoroughly, and brilliantly. Best of all, he offers short exercises where the reader can directly experience what he is explaining. This really is a wonderfully brilliant book—as I said, the single best book about Buddhism now on the market. As a prolific writer on self-help and spirituality, I am often asked what system or spirituality I think works the best or is the most ‘life-changing’ approach, and I always say ‘Buddhism.’ So get this book, read it, and have your life changed forever, thanks to the extraordinarily clear mind of Trungpa Rinpoche as wonderfully and brilliantly transmitted through the exquisite voice and understanding of Sam Bercholz.” —Ken Wilber, author of Finding Radical Wholeness and A Brief History of Everything
As the founder of Shambhala Publications, SAM BERCHOLZ has been instrumental in the transmission of Buddhism and authentic lineages of wisdom from Asia to the rest of the world. He has been a close disciple of two of the great luminaries of his time, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, who both empowered him to teach. His books include the best-selling anthology The Buddha and His Teachings (coedited with Sherab Chodzin Kohn) and a graphic memoir titled A Guided Tour of Hell (illustrated by Pema Namdol Thaye). A senior teacher in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Sam has taught extensively in North America, Europe, and Australasia, often at the request of Traleg Kyabgon. His fearless, humorous, and deeply personal style makes the age-old tradition of Buddhism eminently relatable.
From the founder of Shambhala Publications, a no-nonsense, occasionally irreverent field guide to busting out of your own neuroses—mixing Buddhist wisdom and a dash of mischief to help you wake up (even in the middle of work, sex, and your bank account).
In this refreshingly unfiltered guide, Sam Bercholz—founder of Shambhala Publications and a lifelong student and teacher of Buddhism—invites you to drop the pretense, roll up your sleeves, and get real about waking up.
Drawing on decades of firsthand experience with some of the most influential Buddhist teachers of our time, Sam serves up the full spectrum of Buddhist teachings with a healthy dose of humor and zero sugarcoating. This isn’t about sitting on a cushion and pretending you’re above it all. It’s about wrestling with your own distractions, addictions, and neuroses—right in the middle of your messy, beautiful, everyday life.
From meditation and tonglen to the everyday chaos of work, sex, and money, Sam gets his hands dirty with the real challenges of being human—no spiritual bypassing required. He dives into the gritty details of breaking free from habitual patterns, finding flashes of clarity in the chaos, and discovering your own basic goodness—even when you feel like a total mess.
You’ll get the inside scoop on Vajrayana teachings, the power of lineage, and the Shambhala path of warriorship, all delivered with Sam’s trademark irreverence and honesty. If you’re looking for a guide who’s been through the wringer and come out laughing—and who’ll urge you to live the teachings, not just read about them—this is your invitation to wake up, lighten up, and join the dance.
Also available in paperback.
Praise
“In my opinion, this is probably the best book written to date about Buddhism. It is said that a teacher is best heard through his or her students. Sam’s root teacher was the remarkable Tibetan Buddhist Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, an absolutely brilliant import to the West. I knew Trungpa relatively well, at any rate well enough to recognize that Sam is transmitting Trungpa’s mind and voice. As a true student of Trungpa Rinpoche’s, Sam is stunningly transmitting what Trungpa had taught him.
That is one of the many reasons I love this book. Sam covers all the main aspects of Buddhism clearly, thoroughly, and brilliantly. Best of all, he offers short exercises where the reader can directly experience what he is explaining. This really is a wonderfully brilliant book—as I said, the single best book about Buddhism now on the market. As a prolific writer on self-help and spirituality, I am often asked what system or spirituality I think works the best or is the most ‘life-changing’ approach, and I always say ‘Buddhism.’ So get this book, read it, and have your life changed forever, thanks to the extraordinarily clear mind of Trungpa Rinpoche as wonderfully and brilliantly transmitted through the exquisite voice and understanding of Sam Bercholz.” —Ken Wilber, author of Finding Radical Wholeness and A Brief History of Everything
Author
As the founder of Shambhala Publications, SAM BERCHOLZ has been instrumental in the transmission of Buddhism and authentic lineages of wisdom from Asia to the rest of the world. He has been a close disciple of two of the great luminaries of his time, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, who both empowered him to teach. His books include the best-selling anthology The Buddha and His Teachings (coedited with Sherab Chodzin Kohn) and a graphic memoir titled A Guided Tour of Hell (illustrated by Pema Namdol Thaye). A senior teacher in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Sam has taught extensively in North America, Europe, and Australasia, often at the request of Traleg Kyabgon. His fearless, humorous, and deeply personal style makes the age-old tradition of Buddhism eminently relatable.
