Religious Materialism

This work is the fruit of the compilation of talks and question-and-answer sessions with Lama Darjeeling Rinpoche. Through his enlightening and prophetic remarks and responses, the author invites us to understand the true "structure" of the Ego and the foundations of the diversion of the purity of religious mind to serve the never-ending desires of this Ego, in a true "religious materialism." A "dead" religion is one that has lost its original purity, its interiority, its ability for a direct connection with the Divine, while highlighting its intermediaries, dogmas, and precepts, all while closely mingling with worldly affairs. In this incisive work, tinted with humor, Lama Darjeeling denounces all religious shortcomings: the reinforcement of the Ego, the externalization of the Divine in the world, underlying discrimination and violence, sexism, rejection of interiority, and exploitation of human anxieties by the "lords." He invites us to rediscover a living religion, in living, meditative prayer. Advanced techniques of a "Modular Deconstructive Meditation" are proposed to advance on the path of deconstructing the Ego.