Reddit mentions of The Path of Individual Liberation: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume One

Our society is incredibly unhealthy, far more unhealthy than it is possible for most people to understand. You are beginning to realize this and "wake up", and it can be scary. You have been programmed with all these unhealthy patterns that make living a sheer misery and a terror, but you are expected to act as if nothing is wrong. It's very tricky to climb out of a hole like this.

Where are your bright spots? Do you have any good friends? Any communities you belong to? What are your dreams and passions in life?

The best thing I can recommend is Chogyam Trungpa's three-part series The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma. It is a complete guide to all of the aspects of Buddhist practices to end suffering and create a happy life. If you read and master any one of these three books, your problems will end. Very practical:

• Hinayana: The Path of Individual Liberation is the basics of Buddhism, meditation, clearing the mind and letting go of things which harm us
  
  
• Mahayana: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion is the "second turning of the wheel" of Buddhism (like Christianity adds on to Judaism), and it focuses on developing compassion and joy, purity and brilliance through empathy and devotion to helping the world.
  
  
• Vajrayana: The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness is full of advanced techniques for near the end of the Buddhist path of self-purification. These techniques are incredibly powerful but can be dangerous if practiced before first balancing the mind with the first two "turnings of the wheel".
  
  These books are not about religion, but are technical guides for how to handle your life and existential issues of suffering and love, motivation and joy, depression and alienation, etc. I would recommend getting the first two books and working diligently out of them. You will find your problems quickly resolving themselves if you do something like this.
  
  Another perspective that helps me relax is the Church of the SubGenius. Their parody religion is actually a very high quality actual religion. Their main books, The Book of the SubGenius and Revelation X are hilarious and full of techniques for getting through the day and living with the "normals" or "pinkboys".
  
  There is also a fun community on Telegram you can join. See the sidebar in my subreddit, /r/sorceryofthespectacle, for a link to join the Telegram channel. Say hi to me on Telegram and I will introduce you to the wizards there.
  
  P.S. It sounds to me more like you have found your spark, than lost it ;-)

Sure, my pleasure.

If you're interested in tantrayana, Shambhala just came out with the Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma based on talks by Chogyam Trungpa. It's three books and he walks you through the entire Buddhist path from the hinayana, to mahayana, to tantrayana. I'm currently working through these books myself. I'm about halfway through the second one, and so far they are amazing. Chogyam Trungpa tends to be a kind of controversial character, but now that I'm halfway through this series I really think he is brilliant.


This is the first book. In my opinion it's best to start from the beginning so one can keep things in context of the bigger picture. It can be tempting to jump to the most esoteric teachings right away, but the further I get into my practice the more I really appreciate the basics. They're indispensable. Then again, if you want to just read about tantra, the book is freely available and no one is going to stop you.

Good luck.