This book by one of Chogyam Trungpa's students gives a very relevant interpretation of the six realms of existence which is a major part of Buddhist pilosophy. Traditionally these were seen as different physical realms within which we could be reborn, depending on the kind of karma we created in our life. However when Chogyan Trungpa, the first Tibetan Lama to teach in the west and learn English - back in the 60s and 70s - taught western students, he made it clear that these were essentially mental states. David Nichtern takes this aspect of the six realms and shows how they are relevant to us in our daily life, how we can cycle through these mental states and  get trapped in one or another of them for periods at a time. He describes the qualitites of each state so we can recognise them as well as the factors that lead us into such a state. For example, competitiveness will lead us into a jealous god mindstate/realm. Readers will recognise these states, for we have probably all been … [Read more...]