Chogyam Trungpa

Tibetan Buddhist teacher who escaped Tibet in 1959 and became one of the most influential — and controversial — Buddhist teachers in the West, founding Naropa University and the Shambhala movement while becoming famous for heavy drinking, sexual relationships with students, and unconventional methods.

Created the most influential Western transmission of Vajrayana Buddhism — Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism identified the spiritual ego's tendency to use spiritual practice for self-improvement rather than ego-dissolution — while his own conduct demonstrated the dangers he warned against.