Relating to the commentaries and treatises that great Buddhist scholars and saints have written: They weren’t thinking of which publisher they should go to, or what would make a catchy title. They simply wanted to say something directly. They said it to themselves, then they wrote it down. Their work in turn inspired many people because of its frankness, honesty, intensity, and power. These things were not manufactured for somebody else or for commercial purposes. Rather, they were part of one’s own practice and discipline.

From “Poetry and Song,” in Cynicism and Magic: Intelligence and Intuition on the Buddhist Path, page 121.

From a recent review of the book in VICE:

This ridiculously calming audiobook read by Devendra BanhartDaaaaaamn, dude. Cynicism and Magic is a really special book, and a great intro into Buddhism. It assembles a series of lectures by the late Chögyam Trungpa, a Tibetan Buddhist whose teachings really popped off in the 1970s in the United States, and goes through basic concepts like karma, the structure of ego, the paramitas, and the bodhisattva with ease. I bought one version of the hard copy (you’re going to annotate the hell out of this baby), and the audiobook, because it’s read by the musician Devendra Banhart, whose voice sounds like a million little bells drifting down a river. Someone give him an ASMR channel, please. —Mary Frances Knapp

https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgmxmx/october-2021-editors-picks-theragun-alternative