SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM: CROSS-TRADITION COMPASION

Spiritual Materialism: Cross-Tradition Comparison Handout

Core Question Across Traditions

Is spirituality being used to dissolve the ego—or to sanctify it?

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1. Tibetan Buddhism

Key voice: Chögyam Trungpa

Risk

• Turning meditation, insight, or compassion into identity

• “I am awakened / beyond attachment”

Corrective

• Radical self-honesty

• Cutting through ego at increasingly subtle levels

• Ordinary mind, no special status

Test

Does practice reduce self-importance—or refine it?

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2. Zen Buddhism

Key figures: Dōgen, Hakuin

Risk

• Attachment to enlightenment experiences (kenshō)

• “I have seen the truth”

Corrective

• Continuous practice after awakening

• “Before enlightenment: chop wood. After enlightenment: chop wood.”

Test

Has awakening made daily life simpler—or grander?

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3. Sufism (Islamic Mysticism)

Key voice: Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi

Risk

• Spiritual intoxication becoming pride

• Mistaking ecstasy for union with God

Corrective

• Fanāʾ (annihilation of the self)

• Humility before the Divine

• Love that erases the self, not polishes it

Test

Is love dissolving the “I”—or glorifying it?

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4. Indigenous Spiritual Traditions

(Pan-American, Australian, Arctic, Amazonian examples)

Risk

• Ritual removed from land, elders, and obligation

• Ceremony as personal “healing product”

Corrective

• Spirituality inseparable from:

  • community

  • land

  • ancestry

  • ethical responsibility

Test

Does ceremony increase service to the people—or focus on the self?

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5. Christian Mysticism

Key voices: Meister Eckhart, St John of the Cross

Risk

• Pride in holiness

• Moral or ascetic superiority

Corrective

• The “dark night”

• Surrender, unknowing, humility

• Grace rather than achievement

Test

Has faith softened judgment—or intensified it?

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Shared Warning Signs (All Traditions)

• Spiritual language used to avoid pain or accountability

• Hierarchies of “advanced” vs “unenlightened”

• Identity built around purity, insight, or awakening

• Loss of compassion for ordinary human struggle

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Shared Markers of Authentic Practice

• Humility

• Ethical responsibility

• Greater tolerance for ambiguity

• Deepened compassion for self and others

• Less need to be special

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Unifying Diagnostic Question

Is this path helping me escape reality—or meet it more fully?

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Bottom Line

Across traditions, spiritual materialism is the same error in different clothing:

the ego survives by becoming sacred.

True spirituality makes us less defended, less certain, and more human.

TO MY IRANIAN FRIENDS AND LOVERS , YOU ARE IN MY HEART AND MIND 

SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM ... THE VISION OF THE MINDLESS MURDERERS OF THE IRANIAN PEOPLE

Spiritual materialism is a concept introduced and most clearly articulated by the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, especially in his book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.

At its core, the term describes the tendency to use spirituality as a way of strengthening the ego rather than dismantling it.

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1. The core idea (in plain terms)

Instead of collecting money, status, or possessions, we begin to collect:

• spiritual experiences

• spiritual identities

• spiritual knowledge

• spiritual purity

We turn spirituality into another form of acquisition.

The ego survives by changing costumes.

When material success no longer satisfies, it puts on robes.

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2. How it shows up in real life

Spiritual materialism is subtle and often socially rewarded.

a) Identity inflation

• “I am more conscious than others.”

• “I meditate, therefore I am evolved.”

• “I am beyond politics / beyond anger / beyond attachment.”

Spiritual language becomes a shield against self-examination.

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b) Experience collecting

• Chasing peak states: bliss, visions, awakenings.

• Measuring progress by intensity rather than honesty.

• Becoming dependent on retreats, ceremonies, plant medicines, or gurus.

The question quietly shifts from “Am I seeing clearly?” to

“Am I having impressive experiences?”

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c) Moral superiority

• Using compassion as a weapon: “You are not there yet.”

• Using non-attachment to avoid responsibility.

• Using forgiveness to bypass accountability.

This is sometimes called spiritual bypassing, a close cousin of spiritual materialism.

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3. Why Trungpa considered it dangerous

According to Trungpa, spiritual materialism is dangerous because:

• It preserves the ego at a deeper, harder-to-detect level

• It makes self-deception feel like wisdom

• It creates hierarchies of “advanced” vs “unenlightened” people

• It blocks genuine transformation

The ego becomes sacred, and therefore untouchable.

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4. What 

authentic

 spirituality looks like (by contrast)

In Trungpa’s framing, genuine spiritual practice is often:

• Uncomfortable rather than pleasant

• Humbling rather than empowering

• Ordinary rather than dramatic

• Ethical rather than performative

Signs you may be cutting through spiritual materialism:

• Increased tolerance for uncertainty

• Greater emotional responsibility

• Less need to be seen as special

• More tenderness toward your own contradictions

If spirituality makes you less human, something has gone wrong.

If it makes you more human, it is probably working.

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5. Clinical & anthropological lens (relevant to your work)

From a medical-anthropological perspective (especially in Indigenous and contemplative contexts):

• Spiritual materialism often appears when ritual is detached from community obligation

• Healing traditions become consumer products

• Suffering is reframed as “failure to evolve” rather than a shared human condition

This is particularly visible when ancient practices are transplanted into hyper-individualistic societies.

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6. A simple diagnostic question

A useful self-check (from Trungpa’s lineage):

“Is my practice helping me avoid reality — or meet it more fully?”

If spirituality is being used to:

• avoid grief

• bypass anger

• deny injustice

• anesthetize pain

…it may be functioning as materialism in sacred clothing.

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7. Final thought

Spiritual materialism does not mean spiritual practice is wrong.

It means the ego is extraordinarily adaptive.

True practice does not decorate the self.

It disassembles it — slowly, compassionately, and without applause.

TO MY IRANIAN FRIENDS AND LOVERS ..I LOVE YOU