Your Face Is the Mirror of My Soul - Ani Jangchup Chokyi

Ani Jangchup Chokyi, my meditation teacher has just released a book of poetry and other writings. I am happy to give her a plug. She writes

Dearest Friends and Acquaintances:

This note is to share with you that my book, Your Face Is the Mirror of My Soul, has now been published and is available for purchase online through the Barnes and Noble, Amazon and AuthorHouse websites. At this time, only the AuthorHouse site allows you to get a good deal of information about the book, including an author bio and an excerpt from one of the poems. It is also the least expensive source from which to purchase it and pays me the highest royalty percentage. It is available on all sites in both hard cover and paperback.

Those of you who know me personally and have followed my process know that I left New York City around a year ago to travel to Nepal, India, Europe and then back to New York City. The poetry contained in this book was written during that period of my travels. The poems are known as vaja dohas in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition; they are expressions of my meditation experiences (which include life experiences or meditation-in-action experiences) which arose in my mind and heart as I traversed a path begun so many years earlier in San Francisco as a college student during the Flower Child era. The book is dedicated to my father-guru, the Vidyadhara, the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, whom I first met at that time in what he called a “spiritual supermarket” atmosphere. I was a psychology major as an undergraduate and was also attending psychotherapy sessions in order to deal with my own problems. One semester, the psychology courses I needed were all filled up, and since my financial aid required me to carry a minimum of 12 credits, I registered for a course in Buddhism “just on a lark.”

It is now forty years later, and I have yet to become disenchanted with the Buddhist teachings I began to study at that time, “just for the heck of it, so I could keep my financial aid.” To me, the Buddhadharma is not a religion, but an expression of truth – things as they truly are. My entire life has been, and continues to be, an expression of these teachings. That does not make me into an angel by any means, for people as they are and things as they are do not necessarily mean things as we think they should be. Hence, as a Buddhist and as a Rinpoche (which means “precious one” in Tibetan) who teaches and guides others, all I can be is my genuine self. Were I foolish enough to attempt being what anyone (including Bird Neshama Trungma) decides that I “should be” based on some preconception of what it means to be “religious” or a “religious leader,” I would most definitely make a mess of everything, of the teachings, and certainly of myself!

Though Your Face Is the Mirror of My Soul consists mostly of poetry, it also contains some very controversial prose, including an autobiographical essay entitled “The Misinterpretation of Karma as Psychopathology.” A second essay presents a proposal for a Buddhist action plan to deal with global warming, and is entitled “Creating a Team to Change the Theme of the Dream From a Planet Heating Up to a Planet Cooling Down.” Finally, the issue of sexism within monastic Tibetan Buddhism is brought out into the open in both the poetry and the prolific prose commentaries which accompany almost all of the poems. This is loudly and clearly a feminist book, as its author is a feminist – let me make that unmistakable – with no apologies!

I am thrilled beyond belief to finally have my first book out for sale on the literary market. So if you are one of my dear friends who knows me and loves me (how can you possibly do one without the other?!) or one of my less close but still cared for and about acquaintances (it is nice to think that the feeling might go both ways!), please buy this book now.

I say, “When?”
“Now!”
“When?”
“Now!”
“When do you want it?”
“Now!”
“What do you want?”
“Your Face Is the Mirror of My Soul!”

Buy it for yourself. Buy it for your loved ones. Buy it for your friends. If you are unfortunate enough to have enemies, buy a copy for each of them too. It is good practice. You never know -- it could turn the whole relationship around and turn former enemies into current allies, good neighbors, maybe even lovers or spouses. (Stranger things have happened! It is truly a magical world.)

Love and blessings to everyone!
Bird Neshama Trungma, Rinpoche