A New Release from Crazy Heart Publishers

Excerpts • Recommendations • How to Order

A unique autobiographical account of the author's seven years as butler and personal attendant to Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Inspired by his Tibetan teacher's request to "write about how we worked together," John Riley Perks has given us a candid look into the dynamic and often magical relationship between a Vajrayana master and his student.

Excerpts from The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant:

"One evening Rinpoche and I were sitting in the kitchen. Max rushed in from shopping in town. Now the closet and the basement doors were next to each other and both doors looked the same. The basement stairs were very steep and ran down about twelve feet. Max was distractedly talking to us as he took off his coat, opened the wrong door and, not looking, reached in to hang it up. Rinpoche yelled, 'Shunyata!' as Max and his coat fell into the basement. Unhurt except for a few scrapes, Max climbed out.

'RInpoche,' said Max, 'you should have tried to stop me.'

'Why?' replied Rinpoche, 'You could have gotten enlightened!'"

******

"The problem with meeting a mahasiddha is one of no reference point, which does not exist. And, you are not aware of that. You are doing your thing, being John Perks, Ella-Mae Gray, whoever. A mahasiddha dances out of no reference point. There is no way to deal with that because there is no deal. Rinpoche would sit in a talk and yell, 'Fuck you.' And we, like the person in The Life of Brian, would ask, 'How do you mean, 'Fuck you?' While you were doing that you were still caught up in your 'fucking' reference point. The mahasiddha cuts you down at every turn. That is why you freak out. Nobody wants to deal with the real quality of emptiness because there is no quality."

Recommendations

"Venerable Seonaidh Perks played a crucial role in the creation of many of the Vidyadhara's institutions and his story of their mutual dance is hilarious, wild, shocking, and poignant. This book is a rare thing."

Douglas Penick, author of Gesar of Ling, Wisdom Publications

"It is the first intimate and authoritative account of Chögyam Trungpa, arguably the most important spiritual teacher in America's last century..."

Kidder Smith, Professor of Asian Studies, Bowdoin College

Our crazy friend, the devoted, eccentric, controversial John Perks has written a powerful and intimate book about his life with the Vidyadhara...I found the book sobering and heartbreaking, sad and tender, making me miss him [Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche] now, even more; making him more alive even now...how brilliant he was, what he was trying to do with us and how hard it must have been for him; making me laugh and cry at the same time; making me remember...

Jan Watson, former student and owner of Attic Owl Bookshop

How to Order The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant:

Books can be ordered through Amazon.com