Escaping Tibet after the Chinese invasion, Trungpa eventually settled in North America and founded organizations that trained many of the first generation of Western Vajrayana practitioners. His Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism named the very problem his own teaching risked — the use of spiritual practice to fortify rather than dissolve the self.
Trungpa’s life was radical and difficult. His drinking and relationships with students generated lasting controversy; his teachings shaped the vocabulary of Western Buddhism in ways that remain influential. Both of these are true and deserve serious reckoning.