Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
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Trickster Lineage

The Trickster Tradition
Crazy wisdom holders facing naked reality, asking the questions most don’t want answers to, going beyond good and evil, right and wrong; the not common but known throughout history and in all cultures Trickster archetype ridicules, fools, humiliates, and pokes fun at status quo, conservative and blind beliefs, customs, and people. Often using outrageous and unorthodox trickery and deceit, the Trickster overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds, wins with strategy rather than power, and “pulls the rug out” exposing the kernel of truth buried beneath political correctness, herd instinct solidarity, and conventional belief systems. Vajrayana Buddhism considers them the highest saints, Native American traditions considered them as essential to creativity, to experiencing the sacred, and to finding the humor in a situation that undermines preconception. Using Br'er Rabbit and “Signifying Monkey” symbolism, African American story-telling used the Trickster personification to overcome oppression by using "the master’s tools… to dismantle the master’s house" helping the African, Native American and many other traditions survive European political and cultural domination. Popular personifications include Odysseus, Sinbad, Huehuecoyotl, Robin Hood, Hanuman, Kumiho, Kokopelli, Maui, Bugs Bunny, Pippi Longstocking, and many more.

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People (51)

Cassandra
12th C. BCE
Oracle of Crazy Wisdom


Symbol of the wisdom that’s hard to hear or difficult to practice when we do hear it, Cassandra also represents the disastrous consequences of not listening to that wisdom. Like her, many of the lineage holders on this list during their lifetimes were thought crazy, subversive, completely wrong and were only believed and respected much later. She personifies the intuitive, artistic, open approach to life in balance with Apollo’s linear emphasis on clear definitions, order, and superficial understanding of just the words, not the sense. We see both of these principles magnified today in politics and environmental debate, in all our forms of individual and social denial.

Odysseus Ὀδυσσεύς (Ulysses)
c. 1100 BCE
Trickster lineage hero and symbol

(8 quotes)

Cultural hero to the Greeks and respected for his cunning and strategy, Odysseus was reviled by the Romans as deceitful and without honor for not maintaining strict adherence to rules and ‘duty.’ Christians dismissed him and Dante relegated him to the lowest level of hell. He became a legendary Greek king and hero of Homer’s The Odyssey and a powerful symbol in the Trickster lineage. Stories of his successful guile, his brilliant solutions to problems, his courageous willingness to—for a good cause—go beyond conventions, norms, and chauvinistic beliefs for the greater good. Representing cultural themes long before Homer personified the Odysseus archetype, this imagery continues in the modern world in works by Tennyson, Kazantzakis, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Susanne Vega, and the Coen brothers.

Xenophanes Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος (Xenophanes of Colophon)
570 – 475 BCE

(7 quotes)

Nomad, belief-system critic, poet, and highly influential but greatly under-appreciated pre-Socratic Greek philosopher; Xenophanes traveled for 67 years teaching, "making enemies," and challenging traditional Greek values like athleticism and belief in anthropomorphic gods. Plato used many of his ideas in the Republic III, Aristotle deprecated him but then advanced many of his ideas when he wrote Metaphysics. Xenophanes realized early how stuck to tradition most contemporaries become and consciously wrote for future generations he believed (correctly) would be more open to his ideas.

Sun Tzu 孙武 (Sun Zi)
544 – 496 BCE
HIstory's supreme strategist

(41 quotes)

A huge influence in China from the first emperor, Qin's Shi Huangdi who considered Sun Tau’ strategy invaluable in his success to Mao Zedong who partially credited to him his 1949 victory over Chiang Kai-shek; Sun Tau also became influential in the West during the twentieth century. It helped leaders unify Japan, generals in Viet Nam win over superior French and American forces, Colin Powell win the Gulf War and continues to help people all over the world involved in politics, the military, business, sports and any competitive endeavor. Sun Tzu uses Daoist principles and terms emphasizing victory over aggression, taking whole, how to be rather than what to do.

Diogenes (of Sinope)
412 – 323 BCE

(16 quotes)

Exiled from his place of birth, Diogenes lived as a citizen of the world begging for food and sleeping in a big ceramic jar. Carrying a lamp during the day “looking for an honest man,” he publicly ridiculed Alexander the Great, sabotaged and embarrassed Plato, and was sold into slavery after being captured by pirates. He developed Cynicism and teachings that became Stoicism, one of the most influential philosophies of Greek culture. He criticized the artificialities of society and advocated simplicity and a return to nature. Referencing him in their works, he inspired many great literary figures including Chekhov, Blake, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Cervantes, Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens. Called by Plato ”Socrates gone mad,” his poetic spirit and lifestyle continued through the ages, manifested in modern times by people like Charles Bukowski, and embodied in stories like Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

Chuang Tzu 莊周 (Zhuangzi)
369 – 286 BCE

(93 quotes)

In a very real way, all of Chuang Tzu’s writings are a commentary on the Tao Te Ching. And by far, the best. Many consider him to be like Plato was to Socrates, like Paul was to Jesus, like Mencius was to Confucius, like Ashoka was to the Buddha… responsible for spreading the message of their teacher to the bigger world. Ridiculing rigid Confucian principles, he champions the sense instead of the words, the non-thought lineage, and true wisdom in daily life. His teachings emphasizing the interdependence of all things both inspire and foreshadow our modern ecological perspective.

Hipparchia ππαρχία (of Maroneia)
350 – 280 BCE


Cynic philosopher and the only women on Diogenes Laërtius' list of eminent philosophers, Hipparchia influenced Zeno's views on love and sex, on the founding of Stoicism. She fell in love with her teacher, the most famous Cynic of the time, Crates; and going against her parents, married him to live a street-life of poverty. Going far beyond what was considered acceptable for women, she wore men’s clothes and living on equal terms with her husband became a symbol for rejecting conventional values and thinking for yourself. Rejecting the conventional roles for women in favor of philosophy, she left her rich family, became a beggar, consummated her relationship with Crates in public, and with him epitomized unwavering fidelity and deep affection.

Anonymous
-800 to present
Freedom from the narrow boxes defined by personal history

(127 quotes)

Anonymous (5000 BCE - )
Most of us, most of the time stay busy trying to impress people looking for approval, praise and fame. This enslaves and sells our souls to the tyrants of public opinion, the status quo, and to external personal whim. As an antidote to this, the cloak of anonymity opens wide doors of personal expression, creativity, and innovation. In ancient times, perhaps less personal ego fostered this approach, perhaps names were just eroded away by time as is surely the case with many of the quotations that comes to us through the annals of history, perhaps people needed to avoid religious or political persecution. The venerable tradition of using pseudonyms exemplifies both the need and benefit of freeing ourselves from the narrow boxes defined by our personal histories.

Bodhidharma 菩提達磨 (Daruma)
5th-6th C. CE

(15 quotes)

28th Zen Patriarch and first Chinese patriarch, the Indian prince Bodhidharma brought Chan Buddhism from India to China and began the Shaolin Kung Fu tradition founding the Shaolin Monastery. Known as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian,” his direct authenticity confounded and impressed everyone from the emperor to famous teachers to peasants. He directly taught the wisdom beyond words, mind-to-mind and heart-to-heart transmission. In Japanese legend, he also traveled to Japan and met Prince Shotoku who then became the first great patron of Buddhism there.

Lakshmincara ལཀྵྨཱིངྐ་རཱ།། (“The Princess of Crazy wisdom”)
c. 8th Century CE

(4 quotes)

Born into a royal family and pledged as a wife to the king of Ceylon, when Lakshmincara saw the king for the first time hunting and killing animals, she gave away her large dowry to the common people, pretended madness to stop the wedding, and moved to the charnal grounds to practice and realize enlightenment. She survived on food thrown out for dogs and took an untouchable latrine cleaner as attendant and first student. She became famous with many disciples. Her former fiancé’s father, the king Jalendra also wanted to become a disciple but she instead referred him to her student, the latrine sweeper who became his teacher. Mahasiddha #82

Han Shan (Cold Mountain)
c. 730-850 CE

(12 quotes)

Claimed by Buddhists as a Buddhist, by Taoists as a Taoist; Han Shan poked fun at both and living beyond any narrow categories like these, through his poems communicated a universal wisdom and truth. Not attached or attracted to honor and gain, he laughed at offered high positions and wealth. The favorite poet of everyone from Wang Anshi (1021-1086), one of China’s most famous prime ministers to Jack Kerouac who in 1958 dedicated his book Dharma Bums to him, Han Shan’s poems express complete spontaneity, total indifference to praise and blame, and continual realization of pure consciousness in the simple, ordinary details of life.

Nansen, Nanquan Puyuan 南泉普願
749 – 835 CE

(6 quotes)

Nansen, Nanquan Puyuan 南泉普願 Nánquán Pǔyuàn (749 – 835)
Tang Dynasty Chán master and inspiration for the “Golden Age of Chan;” Nansen, after 30 years meditating in a mountain retreat, came back to the world of people becoming a famous teacher and a key figure in many illuminating Zen anecdotes. Renowned for untangling the deep truth caught and hidden in the net of words, his direct communication and activity with students (including Joshu, Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn) directly provoked many enlightenment experiences. His koans appear in The Gateless Gate, The Blue Cliff Record, and The Book of Serenity.

Lūipa ལཱུ་ཨི་པ། (“The Fish-Gut Eater” )
8th century CE
Mahasiddha #1

(2 quotes)

In the noble but uncommon tradition of the 1% voluntarily equalizing wealth, Luipa disdained his excessive riches and though born a king, like the Buddha he left his kingdom for a spiritual path. More than just his wealth though, Luipa’s teacher gave him a practice of abandoning his royal blood/Brahmin, food-purity culture prejudice by for 12 years eating only the fish guts normally intended only for dogs. This made him an untouchable and closed the door back to his former status and privilege. As a mendicant sage, he became an important teacher to many and passed into legend.

Bhadrapa
8th century CE


A “goody-two-shoes,” Brahmin purist intent on complete political correctness and purity; when the cleanliness obsessed and wealthy Bhadrapa met a homeless yogin he was repelled and cried out, “Unclean!” The teacher countered that physical form isn’t unclean, only the psychological corruption of body, speech, and mind. Bhadrapa realized his bigotry, that real purity means giving up ego-clinging and has nothing to do with following conventions and religious rules. He became a disciple, renounced his caste privileges and practices, cleaned latrines as his spiritual practice and became a great Mahasiddha himself.

Tantepa
8th century CE

(3 quotes)

Tantepa ཏངྟེ་པ། “The Compulsive Gambler (8th century CE) #33
A stereotypical gambler who lost all his money, lost all his credit, lost all his friends, lost all his self-respect but still couldn’t stop gambling even with the wise teacher he met who offered to show him a path away from his intense suffering; Tantepa was intrigued when this teacher agreed to show him a spiritual path based on his gambling experience instead of only moralizing and telling him to change. Instead of fighting against his strong feelings, his practice became looking directly into the experience of emptiness he had when losing, extending that perception to the worlds of sense, form and his own mind. This led to his realization that all thoughts and beliefs are equally empty and a new life as a teacher famous for his compassion and insight into the human failings of his students.

Ghaṇṭāpa གྷ་ཎྚཱ་པ། (“The Celibate Bell-Ringer”)
early 9th century
Mahasiddha #52

(6 quotes)

One of the earliest Kalacakra practitioners, founder of the Pancakrama Samvara lineage, Nalanda scholar, and guru to a king; Ghantapa became a symbol for appropriate action outside the confines of rigid ethics and morality, allegiance to personal insight over status quo strictures, and belief in the sense above the words. As a celibate monk, he saw through the chains of public and monastic opinion, desire for fame and acceptance, dissolved his vows, drank liquor, had sex, took on a consort, and had a child. His example inspired the people of his village and hearers of his stories during the centuries to dissolve their self-righteousness, prejudice, and sectarianism. Mahasiddha #52

Huangbo Xiyun 黄檗希运 (Huangbo Xiyun, Huángbò Xīyùn, Obaku)
? - 850 CE

(30 quotes)

An uncompromising and fierce teacher, Huángbò often hit and shouted at his students including a future emperor of China. Though according to the Blue Cliff Record he was seven feet tall, very little is known about his personal life — unsurprising given his uncompromising disregard for conceptual thinking, his focus on egolessness and One Mind. Once when he told his students that in all of China there are no teachers of Zen, a student asked him how he could say that since he was teaching them. Huángbò answered, “I didn’t say there was no Zen, just no teachers.”

Yunmen Wenyan 雲門文偃 (Ummon Daishi, Yúnmén Wényǎn)
862 – 949 CE
The most eloquent Chan master

(6 quotes)
One of the most famous Zen masters in later day Japan, Ummon founded one of the five major Chán schools in China. This school compiled and wrote the Blue Cliff Record, flourished for hundreds of years, and continues today. Supported by the region's king, and famous throughout China and Korea, Ummon rejected the fame and many offered honors while building a new monastery in a more remote location. Many of his recorded statements later became koans—5 listed in The Gateless Gate, 8 in the Book of Equanimity, and 18 in the Blue Cliff Record.

Dharima
10th century CE


Prostitute, consort of the famous Mahasiddha Tilopa, slave owner and student of Mahasiddha Luipa (probably a different person with same name and profession); Dharima and Tilopa started on this spiritual path together, practiced together for many years, and when enlightened taught together. They learned the "Illusory-body" yoga from Nagarjuna’s tradition, Dream yoga from Caryapa, Cakrasamvara and the Clear Light from Lavapa, and from the woman saint Subhagini, Candalini-yoga and the Hevajra tantra. They forged these 4 traditions into what became the Kagyu lineage of Mahamudra that continues powerfully today through teachers like Chogyam Trungpa and the Karmapas.

Cao Daochong 道寵 (​Daochong or Ts’ao Tao-Ch’ung)
fl. 960 - 1268

(7 quotes)

Mysterious Taoist nun during the Tang Dynasty, Cao Daochong walked in Lao Tzu’s footsteps of inscrutability and disregard for fame and fortune. Though unassuming and humble, her deep insight, wisdom, and compassion speak through the centuries through her book, the Lao-tzu-chu. Living during the time of the great Mahasiddhas in India, Naropa and a major transmission of Buddhism into Tibet, she was a contemporary of other great women teachers like Dharima, Manibhadra, Niguma, Arwa al-Sulayhi, Heloise, and Hildegard of Bingen.

Tilopa
988 – 1069 CE

(14 quotes)

Born a king, Tilopa - like the Buddha - wasn’t that impressed by fame and fortune and left everything to go on a spiritual search. When he met the teacher Nagarjuna though, he was told to return to his kingdom and kingship. He saved his country during a war with non-violence. He later became a monk and scholar but another teacher, Matongha saw pride remaining from his royal caste and advised him to leave, go into the world, and take a job crushing sesame seeds during the day and procuring for a prostitute at night. This led to him becoming a great Mahasiddha, lineage holder and teacher to Naropa.

Thaganapa
11th C. CE

(5 quotes)

A low-caste, compulsive liar, Thaganapa’s entire life depended on his lies, deception, and scams. One day he met a monk who saw through, confronted, and challenged him to lead a better life. Thaganapa asked for teachings and the monk gave him a practice of using deception as an antidote to deception teaching him that everyone’s experience is deceiving from the beginning, that everything is a lie. He meditated on this for 7 years and then on all as emptiness until he became enlightened himself and taught a path of resolving paradox and unifying conflict.

Touzi Yiqing 投子義青 (Tōsu Gisei, “Zen Master of Complete Compassion”)
1032 – 1083 CE

(8 quotes)

Said to have left his family when only 7 years old to study Buddhism, Touzi came to to the realization that a reliance on words to teach the ultimate truth would always be bound to fail. First leaving one then another tradition, he finally settled into the early Caodong/Soto Zen school and became the dharma heir although he had never met or studied with the previous lineage holder, Dayang Jingxuan. This broke the common practice of direct teacher-to-student transmission and further communicated the depth beneath the words, the heart of understanding under superficial beliefs.

Robin Hood
1160 – 1247 CE


The historicity debate about Robin Hood may not be as much about if there really was one as about how many different ones there were. A symbol for history’s recurring story of class warfare, the rich against the poor, the economics and politics of keeping the highborn high and the lowborn low is as relevant today as it was in medieval England and the dawn of civilization. While in Chinese political philosophy, rulers were taught that if the poor were too poor it’s the government’s fault and the they have every right to steal, in European and American history the Robin Hoods were vilified. In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand wrote, “until the last trace of Robin Hood is wiped out of men’s minds, we will not have a decent world to live in.”

Genghis Khan
1162 – 1227 CE

(9 quotes)

Genghis Khan (c. 1162 – 1227)
Maligned by history, feared by all, conqueror of more territory, people, and countries than anyone either before or since; Genghis Khan rises high on the scale of best-known historical symbols. Although a continually creative innovator who helped establish the modern world by promoting religious tolerance, international law, and the cross-fertilizing of multi-cultural medicine, science, trade and art; most historians and stories label him as barbarian, bloodthirsty, and cruel. Perhaps it was his extreme openness and tolerance that invited this projection. Coming into Europe and many countries during times of deep corruption, intolerance, and exploitation; his openness and tolerance became the real threat, deeper than his military might. His legacy shows that the real “barbarians” were the culturally chauvinistic, narrow-religion-trapped believers, and tradition-blinded people of his and our own time.

Ikkyū Sōjun 休宗純
1394 – 1481 CE
Famous trickster, flute player, and bringer of Zen awareness into everyday life

(8 quotes)

Folk hero, poet, Rinzai heretic and saint, eccentric Zen monk, and one of Japan's most famous flute players; Ikkyū's unconventional approach to Buddhism became a significant influence in popularizing Zen teachings to the general population. A Trickster, he rejected and criticized the religious establishment's hierarchy as well as the popular formalities, rituals, and societal norms of his time. Known as a great calligrapher and sumi-e artist, he also evolved and popularized the Japanese tea ceremony. His teachings emphasized direct, experiential, spontaneous understanding and he took a strong position against celibacy. Going further, he even taught that love and sex furthered people on a spiritual path and he encouraged sex with prostitutes, and either heterosexual or homosexual lovers. A continuous influence on Japanese culture, the popular TV series about him ran for 296 episodes.

Kabīr कबीर
1399 – 1448 CE

(15 quotes)

Formidable iconoclast and deeply spiritual but anti-religious leader, a simple weaver but greatest poet of his time and place; Kabīr was born and raised as a Muslim, studied with a Hindu guru, became critical of both traditions, was physically threatened by both and after he died revered and claimed by both. From his background of a Muslim father and Hindu mother, he worked tirelessly to unite both traditions with a wisdom beyond their sectarian views. An important influence on Guru Nanak and the founding of Sikhism, his poetry and wisdom continue today in mainstream Indian film, folk songs, and even progressive rock.

Hakuin Ekaku 白隠 慧鶴
1686 – 1769 CE

(7 quotes)

A monk at just 15, Hakuin soon became dissatisfied with the teachings available, left the monastery, began wandering and met a Taoist hermit, Hakuyu. One of the most influential figures in the Zen tradition, Hakuin included teachings from many different traditions and brought these to the illiterate. Although not beginning to paint until almost 60, he’s now recognized as one of the greatest Zen painters with works displayed in some of the world's leading museums. In a famous story, when unjustly accused of fathering a child and also when the mother later confessed to the lie and the child was taken away from him, his only comment was “Is that so?”

George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin)
1804 – 1876 CE

(10 quotes)

Intriguing, inspiring, and subversive; France's most famous 19th C. woman writer; friend to Franz Liszt, Balzac, Henry James, Browning, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev; famous lover of composer Chopin, and famous actress Marie Dorval, George Sand was a cross-dressing, cigar and hookah smoking, rebellious and scandalous dramatist and campaigner for important political reforms. Not the most likely person for this list, her creative courage and compassionate kindness make it an easy choice. As she wrote, “Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.”

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
1835 – 1910 CE
America’s most famous author

(77 quotes)

Riverboat captain, adventurer, bankrupted businessman, inventor, and America’s most famous author; Mark Twain, with his wit, wisdom, insight, and humor influenced and continues to positively influence the world. A strong supporter of women's, religious, racial, and labor rights; he wrote scathing indictments on war, patriotic, and religious bigotry and published new work in 3 different centuries. Though disliked by his wife Livy, his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ranks among history’s all time best. Ernest Hemingway said, ”All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”

Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa)
1863 – 1950 CE

(14 quotes)

Holy Sioux Medicine Man, Heyoka (sacred clown), wounded warrior, seer of wisdom-visions; Black Elk was spiritual but pragmatic - he became Catholic because “My children had to live in this world,” but later told his daughter, “The only thing I really believe is the pipe religion.” He went to England with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in 1887, got lost, and traveled through Germany, France, and Italy where he saw that “The Holy Land is everywhere,” and returned with insight that inspired both the American Indian Movement and some of the best elements within European-American culture: civil rights, organic farming, renewable energy, sustainable living, and the environmental movement.

Georgios Zorbas Γεώργιoς Ζορμπάς (Alexis Zorba)
1865 – 1941 CE
"Zorba the Greek"

(4 quotes)

The Greek miner Nikos Kazantzakis befriended, admired, and used as the inspiration for his book, Zorba the Greek; Georgios Zorbas grew up as the son of a wealthy sheep farmer. He tended flocks, worked in the fields, cut wood for people, and became a miner. He eloped with his boss' daughter who had 8 children with him before tragically dying. He then decided to become a monk on Mount Athos where he met Kazantzakis and began a partnership to develop a mine together. His great-grandson, Pavlos Sidiropoulos, became a famous rock star who founded the band, Spiridoula and produced an record considered the greatest Greek rock album of all time.

G. K. Chesterton
1874 – 1936 CE

(39 quotes)

Social critic, theologian, and philosopher turning popular proverbs inside out with deep insight and laugh-out-loud humor; Chesterton was called both the best writer and best thinker of the 20th century, “the most unjustly neglected writer of our time,” and the "prince of paradox.” One of the most prolific authors of all time, he wrote more than 100 books, hundreds of poems, plays, short stories and over 4000 newspaper articles. Over 300 pounds and 6’4,” normally wandering around lost with a cigar in his mouth, writing many of his articles in train stations after inadvertently missing his train; he criticized both capitalism and socialism predicting the modern polemic stalemate of progressives “continually making mistakes” while conservatives continue to “prevent the mistakes from being corrected." He influenced atheist C.S. Lewis’s conversion to Christianity, the movement for Irish Independence, and Gandhi’s movement to end British colonial rule. He “changed the life” of Marshall McLuhan and inspired the novels and writings of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Agatha Christie, Jorge Luis Borges, George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, E.F. Schumacher, Bertrand Russell and many more.

Will Rogers
1879 – 1935 CE

(8 quotes)

One of the most famous and popular, internationally recognized Native American personalities, "Oklahoma's Favorite Son,” humorist, radio and movie star, columnist, and penetrating social commentator; Will Rogers made 71 movies, traveled around the world 3 times, and wrote more than 4000 national newspaper articles. The highest paid movie star of his time and most respected political commentator, he came from a small farm in Cherokee Nation Indian Territory and set an example for Native Americans integrating into White culture and becoming successful without selling out and abandoning their heritage. Wise, kind, and humorous; he teased politicians, gangsters, and ordinary people’s confused convictions influencing them all into better ways.

Henry Miller
1891 – 1980 CE

(25 quotes)

Banished from the UK, literary bohemian in 1930’s Paris, painter of over 2,000 watercolors, author of over 50 books (many banned for a generation), anti-Vietnam War voice, “one of the most iconoclastic literary spirits of our time,” legendary lover from Anaïs Nin to Playboy magazine star Brenda Venus when he was 84 years old; he pioneered new literary forms, attacked respectability, broke cultural taboos, and in one of the main events in 1960’s sexual revolution, won a Supreme Court decision on obscenity. Continuing a tradition from Dostoyevsky, Balzac and Nietzsche; he was an important influence on Jack Kerouac, Philip Roth, Alan Ginsberg and Norman Mailer who called him “the writer’s writer.”

Gendün Chöphel དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་འཕེལ།
1903 – 1951 CE

(5 quotes)

Child prodigy, iconoclast, artist, master debater, greatest Tibetan poet of the 20th century, Buddhist monk from an early age, modern Tibet’s first historian, and one of the most influential modern Tibetan intellectuals; Gendun Chopel kept a non-sectarian view throughout his life and challenged cultural, religious, and political dogmas. He lived with Nicholas and Helena Roerich for 2 years helping their son translate the Blue Annals which became a 1275 page book. He abandoned his monastic vows, drank alcohol, practiced and wrote the first Tibetan guide to love and sex. Having traveled and studied widely, he realized the importance of abandoning blind superstition and integrating Tibetan culture into the modern world. Instead of heading his warnings and developing Tibet in this way however, the conservative, status quo establishment had him whipped and imprisoned, ignored his message until the Chinese army arrived in Lhasa.

John Fire Lame Deer
1903 – 1976 CE

(23 quotes)

Native Americans have a unique perspective on White, American culture. While not sharing the same values and assumptions, they still live surrounded by this foreign way of life. This makes their commentaries and critiques both more accurate and more personal than those based on a more distant point of view. Lame Deer exemplifies this perspective in a vivid and articulate style – his words are well worth taking to heart.

Anais Nin
1903 – 1977 CE

(8 quotes)

A writer since 11 years old and after sharing a bohemian lifestyle with Henry Miller in Paris while she was married to her first husband; she married her second husband while still married to the first. A radical feminist long before it became popular, her renown grew quickly during the 1960’s feminist movement. With a “degree in erotic lore,” she was the first well-known woman in the West to write erotica and is widely considered the best at it although she began writing it as a joke without intention to print. Close friend and in some cases lover to many of the main literary figures of her day including Henry Miller, John Steinbeck, and, Gore Vidal; Nin bravely looked deeper than the thin shell of politically correct, respectability, and status quo.

Alan Watts
1915 – 1973 CE

(51 quotes)

Episcopal priest become Buddhist, trickster, "philosophical entertainer,” counterculture hero, gifted speaker, and transducer to the West of Eastern philosophy; Watts wrote more than 25 books and in 1953 began a 9-year series of weekly radio broadcasts that continue being re-broadcast today. A friend and collaborator with Gary Snyder and Joseph Campbell, an inspiration for Robert Anton Wilson and Werner Erhard; Watts was criticized by teachers like Philip Kapleau, D. T. Suzuki, and Robert Baker Aitken but defended and described as a “great bodhisattva” by Shunryu Suzuki. Equating mystical experience with ecological awareness and Buddhism with psychotherapy, Watts became a bridge between culture and nature criticizing the modern view of “progress,” the idea of an absolute morality, and the ego-centricism preventing individual and international peace.

Charles Bukowski
1920 – 1994 CE
"Laureate of American lowlife”

(8 quotes)

Called "laureate of American lowlife,” “the original Big Lebowski,” “pulp-fiction hero,” and “king of the underground;” Bukowski wrote over 60 books, thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories, and was the writer behind Robert Crumb’s famous comics. Icon of the Los Angeles cultural life of his time, lover of alcohol, affairs, and outrageous creativity; he became the epitome and symbol of the anti-social, utterly free, and uninhibited bachelor. An intensely captivating and mesmerizing figure, his life and story show up in film personalities including Jean-Luc Godard, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, Sean Penn, Dennis Hopper, Bono, Tom Waits, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Matt Dillon, and many more.

Carlos Castaneda
1925 – 1998 CE

(12 quotes)

An anthropology graduate student from Peru going to UCLA, Castaneda's first two books were dissertations for degrees and the first one ended with lots of academic jargon which he soon apologized about. His 12 books took on an increasingly symbolic tone and the reception changed from historical belief to conviction that they were complete fiction. This perception did little to decrease their popularity and they sold more than 28 million copies and were translated into 17 languages. Factual or not, they inspired a different way of looking at culture, value systems, and perception - one in harmony with our wisdom beyond words theme.

Neal Cassady
1926 – 1968 CE

(5 quotes)

Beat Generation generator, one of the most significant literary and pop-culture figures of the 20th century, the most famous Colorado native, pioneering stream-of-consciousness writer, reason for Kerouac and Ginsberg moving to Denver, (in)famous lover, inspiration for Bob Dylan and much of the 1960’s soundtrack; Neal Cassady is a little-known but deep influence on the best of today’s culture. Homeless son of an itinerant, alcoholic barber; stealer of more cars than any other person in Colorado’s history (500+ between ages 14 to 21); Cassady is immortalized in Grateful Dead songs, as Dean Moriarty in Kerouac’s On the Road, Cody Pomeray in Dharma Bums, the mad driver of Further in Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and most likely Randle McMurphy in Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Allen Ginsberg
1926 – 1997 CE

(12 quotes)

Eloquent instigator, figurehead and voice for the Beat Generation of the ’50s, the counterculture of the 60’s and the flowering of Buddhism in America during the 70’s and 80’s; Ginsberg symbolized a powerful influence against materialism, the military-industrial complex, and conformity. His poem "Howl” written during a time when homosexuality was a crime in every U.S. state was confiscated by police, seized by US Customs, and started a famous obscenity trial that led to more legal and cultural acceptance for the LGBT community. For decades, a powerful advocate for free speech, gay rights, and non-conformity; a tireless opponent and protestor against the Viet Nam War, the War on Drugs, imperialism, the failure to protect refugees, and persecution of minorities; at the request of his Tibetan teacher Chögyam Trungpa and along with Anne Waldman started The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

Ryszard Kapuściński
1932 – 2007 CE
“One of the most credible journalists the world has ever seen"

(9 quotes)

Poet, journalist, photographer, secret service agent, and author; Kapuściński was called ”The master of modern journalism", "Translator of the World,” "The Greatest Reporter in the World", "Herodotus of our times", and "Third World chronicler.” He lived through and reported on 27 revolutions and coups, was jailed 40 times, lost his career-journalism job because of his Polish pro-democracy support, and survived 4 death sentences. “One of the most credible journalists the world has ever seen" and a deep, compassionate thinker; he used innovative literary techniques including “magical journalism” to record his philosophical reflections on decolonization, political corruption, and major world events as well as on their their psychological significance.

Ken Kesey
1935 – 2001 CE

(11 quotes)

Countercultural icon, Beat to Hippie era link, Grateful Dead mentor, and founder of the Merry Pranksters; Ken Kesey wrote one of the most influential books of the 20th century, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. His life blended with his fiction and became a dramatic and entertaining story in itself as he explored the world of consciousness with the Merry Pranksters, evaded police trying to arrest him for marijuana possession, faked a suicide, went to jail, and finally settled down into a back-to-the-land lifestyle. A continual voice of authentic clarity; his essays, articles, and books brought insight and wisdom to the many cultural inequalities, dilemmas, and challenges of his time.

George Carlin
1937 – 2008 CE
One of the most influential social commentators of his time

(22 quotes)

“Dean of counterculture comedians,” host of the first Saturday Night Live in 1975, and one of the most influential social commentators of his time; Carlin, with skill and insight, fearlessly challenged the status quo and ceaselessly poked fun at America’s most revered sacred cows. Arrested and at the center of a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case, he transcended comedy and became a social psychology and political influence. Admired and an inspiration for Larry King, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Lily Tomlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Trudeau, and many more; he skillfully brought the courage and iconoclastic willingness common with most of our lineage holders into 20th century world culture.

Chögyam Trungpa
1939 – 1987 CE

(224 quotes)

A once-in-a-generation kind of teacher, a mahasiddha for our times, a transducer transforming ancient wisdom into modern idiom. Per Allen Ginsberg, “A Renaissance man of the highest peaks of East, meditation emperor, space awareness Dance-master, witty rude calligrapher whose poetry and flower arrangements unite the Mind with Body… Prime Minister of Imagination… Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ordinary Mind.” Meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, he was honored as a mahasiddha by teachers like Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa. “The father of Tibetan Buddhism in the US,” his influence was and remains beyond words.

John Lennon
1940 – 1980 CE

(48 quotes)

Poet of our age, 20th Century social conscience, inscrutable, uncompromising, brave and outrageous; John Lennon personifies the Lao Tzu lineage and left a lasting and profound impact on the international evolution of consciousness. Uncompromising psychological prophet, he distilled and magnified both our dark side shadows and bright, golden age potentials. Reviled by the Nixon administration and investigated by the FBI, he’s now number 8 on the list of 100 Greatest Britons. Anthem writer for the counterculture and the anti-war movement, reviled by the Nixon administration and investigated by the FBI, he’s now number 8 on the list of 100 Greatest Britons.

Bob Dylan
1941 CE –

(32 quotes)

Though thought of in many different ways by different people, at heart, Bob Dylan may most essentially represent a modern-day Taoist sage, a continuation of Lao Tzu’s lineage. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 and called the “Shakespeare of his generation,” he wrote over 500 songs recorded by more than 2000 singers and sold tens of millions of albums. Though world famous for decades and beyond “successful” in numerous ways, his humility and refusal to make a big deal out of himself remains. His music and message transcends his voice and culture. As relevant today as it was in the 60’s, it continues as a major influence on our cultural conscience and consciousness. And this influence shows all signs of continuing far into the future.

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)
1942 – 2016 CE

(5 quotes)

Many easy accolades for Mohammad Ali but maybe the best is “A Muslim who put friendship and other people over dogma and belief.” A true citizen of the world, musician, poet, actor, political commentator, Civil Rights leader, counterculture icon, one of the most famous and celebrated sports figures of all time; he was arrested, convicted of draft evasion, mired in a Supreme Court trial but still became the only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion and the only boxer to be named Fighter of the Year five times. Graduating high school # 376 in a class of 391, he received an honorary doctorate from Princeton University. He actively supported Native American rights, the Palestinians, Israelis, poverty alleviation in Africa, peace in Iraq, and numerous philanthropic projects.

Neil Gaiman
1960 CE –
Myth-transmitting creative maelstrom

(24 quotes)

Creative cultural hero, inventive myth-making continuation, author and screen-writer par excellence; Neil Gaiman may be one of the most effective transmitters of ancient myths, symbolism and stories into modern culture. From comic books to television, from books to movies, from Twitter to FaceBook, his understanding of the basic dilemmas and opportunities facing our evolutionary potential seeps inextricably into contemporary zeitgeist. Winner of the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Nebula, Bram Stoker Newbery, Carnegie, and the British National Book Awards; his influence is huge and still growing.

Related Sources (1 sources)

Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Quotes about the Trickster Lineage (3 quotes)

“Only in some pitiful dreamer, some philosopher, poet, or romancer, or when the common practical man becomes a lover, does the hard externality give way, and a gleam of insight into the vast world of inner life beyond us, so different from that of outer seeming, illuminate our mind.”

William James 1842 – 1910 CE
"Father of American psychology”
from Talks to Teachers on Psychology, 1899

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“human society has always been propelled by the visionary few... represented by the freaks, the mutants of whatever calling, who deviate and dissent from the prevailing order of consciousness.”

José Argüelles 1939 – 2011 CE
from Shambhala Review (1976)

Themes: Crazy Wisdom

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“The Indians of the American Southwest called him Coyote, those of the Pacific Coast called him Raven. Europeans called him Reynard the Fox. African-Americans called him Br'er Rabbit. In twentieth-century literature he appears first as Bugs Bunny and then as the Hacker... As technology became more important, the Trickster underwent a shift in character and became the god of crafts—of technology, if you will—while retaining the underlying roguish qualities. So we have the Sumerian Enki, the Greek Prometheus and Hermes, Norse Loki, and so on.”

Neal Stephenson 1959 CE –
(Stephen Bury)
Speculative futurist and cultural social commentator

from Diamond Age

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Comments (1)

  1. Shan Dao
    Shan Dao 6 years ago
    In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky had this to say about this lineage and our place in it, “Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those they have slain… your light will not die even when you are dead. The righteous man passes, but his light remains.”