How generosity manifests at the Gongter ceremonies

by Walker Blaine

His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche

Large Buddhist programs in Asia are primarily supported by major patrons, rather than by the collective sponsorship of all the participants’ program fees which is generally the case in the West. This means that an entire event is already funded before people are sitting on their cushions. Anyone who wants to attend the program is welcome, although food is not always provided, and housing is left to the individual to find. Many of the major monasteries in Asia have guesthouses and there are usually other places to stay nearby too.

Any description of an event as momentous as the Gongter would be incomplete without a description of how generosity manifests in the Asian dharmic world. Like programs in the West, the Gongter had teachings, meals, and opportunities to make connections with the teacher and dharmic friends. However, there is a different manner in which Buddhist events arise in Asia and the contrast will be interesting to anyone who hasn’t participated in a retreat like the Gongter.

Start of the final tenshuk

This does not mean the teachings are free. At the end of the Gongter, there was an opportunity for all who received the empowerments to make offerings to the teachers in gratitude and support of their activities. This is an expression of kor, which is the Tibetan word for the cycle of generosity that revolves between the teacher and student. The student offers to the teacher, who in turn teaches the student, or does practices to overcome obstacles, enrich situations, and so forth on the student’s behalf. It is up to the teacher to use the offerings properly and also to do whatever practice they have committed to doing for the student. It is up to the student to follow the teacher’s instructions and do whatever practice they have received from the teacher. Kor is a powerful expression of positive karma benefiting in all directions at once.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche during a mandala offering

The primary disciple receiving the Gongter from His Eminence was Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. For Shambhalians at the retreat, this was an opportunity to see their teacher in the role of both patron and student offering in order to receive the teachings. The Sakyong and Sakyong Wangmo, together with Semo Palmo and her husband Alan, and other major donors co-sponsored the Gongter after the Sakyong initially requested the teachings from Namkha Drimed Rinpoche.

This kind of support from major donors echoes the tradition of royal patronage of the teachings, and harkens back to the time of the Buddha. During that era, and throughout the expansion of Buddhism up to the present time, people with great means and ability have made it possible for the community of practitioners to grow; for monasteries, colleges, and great places of pilgrimage to be constructed; for great works of art and literature to be composed and published; and for many beneficial public works, such as the construction of roads and hospitals, and the distribution of food, water, and other necessities.  Biographies of lineage figures are filled with stories of amazing offerings given by both teacher and patron, such as the iron bridges constructed all over Tibet and Bhutan by Tangtong Gyalpo in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The Sakyong Wangmo with a mandala offering

The ways that generosity manifested at the Gongter were remarkable to watch. Besides providing tented housing for Tibetans who traveled a great distance, the monastery offered lunches for everyone at the retreat—some 2,000 people at one point—by means of a massive outdoor kitchen built in a lower courtyard. The cooking pots of rice and curries were so large that two people had to carry them from the wood-fired stoves in the lower monastery to the upper courtyard where most of the laypeople and the general population of monks and nuns were fed. Through a culinary miracle, the more people who arrived for the empowerments, the better the curries seemed to become, even though the capacity of the monastery was clearly close to its limit.

The place where generosity was most visible, and even celebrated, was during the morning and afternoon teas held during the mid-session breaks in the reading transmissions and empowerments. Virtually all of the mangja, or collective teas, at the Gongter were sponsored by an individual or a group. One of the first was sponsored by the Sakyong and Sakyong Wangmo. The mangja all involved an aspiration read aloud to His Eminence and the assembly. This was a time when the principal teacher and students at the event were formally asked to practice in order to realize the aspiration. It was remarkable to witness the attention that Namkha Drimed Rinpoche and the other teachers gave to listening to the aspirations as they were read.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

The mangjas in particular were a unique way for people to offer money to a dharmic cause, because during a mangja not only is the tea sponsored, but money is offered to the teachers and monastics to support their life and practice. This was meaningful to the monastics, especially the younger ones, who sometimes did not have spending money. The sponsors of a mangja would present the entire Ripa lineage and monastics with small amounts of money. Amazingly, part of the mangja tradition is for the amount given to each person to be announced aloud. This skillful style of transparency is intended to overcome both pride and jealousy since everyone knows who is getting what. Western practitioners sometimes received a small monetary gift as well. This meant everyone was involved in the cycle of generosity, sometimes as the offerer, and sometimes as those offered to, but always practicing for the benefit of His Eminence and the patron’s aspirations.

Interestingly, the tea and snack itself was served as the empowerment or lung was happening. First monks, or sometimes Tibetan lay practitioners, moved through the aisles with boxes of treats. These sometimes had amusing brand names and slogans, such as “Karmacharya,” which means master of activity, or “Freak – Lightly salted and fresh.” Then the tea would come, served from piping hot kettles that seemed too hot and large for anyone to be carrying through a crowded shrineroom. Amazingly, I never saw a single spill during the whole Gongter. At first we had Tibetan butter tea, black tea and butter with salt added. For some, this was an intense beverage in the summerish heat that beat down on Parpeng at the start of the program, but after a few days the monastery began serving sweet chai-style tea.

Shambhala delegation offering the tenshuk to His Eminence

After the tea and snack was served, short offering verses were recited before we began eating. During the empowerments with His Eminence, the mangja often transitioned into a formal tenshuk, or request for the teacher’s life and activity to remain firm. Tenshuks are ceremonies where the students request that the teacher continue to teach, have a healthy and long life, and continue to permeate the world with enlightened activity. In the spirit of kor, this request is made after offering representations of the entire universe, symbolic of the entire kingdom of a universal monarch, followed by representations of enlightened body, speech, mind, quality, and activity. Tenshuks usually happen at the end of vajrayana teachings, so it was significant to be offering them throughout the Gongter, sometimes two or three in a row. As the Gongter progressed we saw that the groups offering the tenshuk were the different communities with which His Eminence had connections. They became a way to learn who was who, as well as being a time for everyone to make aspirations collectively.

Salmo Palden offering a Gesar image

The final tenshuks at the Gongter were especially grand. At some, exquisite statues that were years in the making were presented to His Eminence. I was in the receiving area outside Namkha Drimed Rinpoche’s chambers when one of these statues was sneaked into the monastery by the sculptor and his daughter. Seeing them I realized that offerings like these provided livelihood for some of the most skilled craftspeople in the region, while simultaneously preserving artistic disciplines that are among humanity’s greatest treasures. Another example of the cycle of generosity continuing.

Of course, His Eminence was the most generous being at the Gongter. All of his spiritual treasures were offered to everyone at the teachings, and his monastery was expressing its generosity as host and patron only as a manifestation of Namkha Drimed Rinpoche’s compassionate activity in the world. All of these expressions of kindness created a wonderful atmosphere of gentleness and inspiration, which shone more and more brightly in everyone’s eyes as the Gongter progressed. Whether Tibetan, Nepali, Bhutanese, Malaysian, Taiwanese, or from the West, we each saw that light in each other throughout the Gongter. This light of generosity and wisdom created a huge family of dharma around His Eminence in Parpeng.

Walker Blaine is Master of Liturgies to Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He has studied extensively with the Sakyong and been part of the Shambhala community for more that 30 years. Walker’s ebook, The Great River of Blessings an account of the Rinchen Terdzö received by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in the winter of 2008-2009, can be downloaded at the Sakyong Foundation. Walker lives with his wife Patricia in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Chicago Shambhala Center’s open mic night builds community, fosters diversity

by Sai Wei

photos by Chase Bauer

On the third Friday evening of every month, the Chicago Shambhala center transforms from a peaceful meditation center to a throbbing hub of music and expression. Gone are the smartly dressed middle class adults, and in come teenagers in sweatpants, Nikes, and baseball caps. Gone are the white majority. There are mainly African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and other people of color at this venue. They are here for an evening down in the basement, where the space is dark except for the spotlight and the stage. The silence and quiet of the center is gone, pierced by the loud proclamations of rap, song, and dance.

It’s my first time experiencing a Speak Up Chicago open mic night and I am not comfortable.

It’s the noise. It’s the darkness. Everything is so different from how things are normally run at Shambhala Chicago. The young people here might not even know this is a meditation center. They’re here for a stage where they can express themselves with no judgement, no matter how twisted and tortured and real the issues they bring up are. As an intern of Shambhala, I, like many others who come to the center, came for the meditation. I came for the beautiful flower arrangements and the pure and tranquil atmosphere. I am all about finding peace and bravery in daily life. And now I’m putting my hands over my ears because the speakers are so loud. I hate staying up late during the night.

But Speak Up Chicago is more than an open mic night. Despite the title. It is simply an open invitation for the youth in Chicago to find support in whatever venture they’d like to explore, whatever creative thing it may be. To tell the tale from the beginning, it starts with the Sakyong. Under his inspiration to “open the flower outwards”, Shambhala Chicago began to interact with the outside community, beginning with a few conferences and trainings with mindfulness meditation.  After the conference “Imagining Peace”, a student named Joshua Lazu, who was a part of the conference, came up to Aarti Tejuja, the current director of Social Engagement at Chicago Shambhala, and asked if he could start an open mic night at the center. Aarti said yes.

Around the same time several young people (including myself), started dropping in and telling her they were interested in working for social justice or the open mic night. Encountering many different challenges along the way, we began to form a core group. We have traveled this strange journey of life together, supporting and helping each other along the way.

Speak Up Chicago seems to have generated a lot of buzz. It’s true, this group is definitely different. But sometimes I and others at Speak Up worry about becoming the poster children of Shambhala. We represent a new vein from the white hippies that eventually became Chogyam Trungpa’s students. We’re a group of people of color who are simply hanging out, becoming a close knit family, sharing our sorrows and joys. Because beyond what we do in this vision of engagement and working for peace in the face of violence, there is a primordial aspect of family in this group. We share each other’s homes, lives, and activities, going to barbecues and birthday parties.

Family. That’s an aspect that Shambhala seems to lack, in fact. It seems many come to Shambhala from other religious traditions, where they felt like there wasn’t a genuine spirituality that they could relate to. Shambhala offers something special, fostering bravery and gentleness. But after the retreats are done, we go back to our lives. We return to our homes and come back to the center for the next class or the next meditation session. But how much do we really offer up to share? Everyone knows that acquaintances only share the good parts, the pretty parts of their lives. True family shares everything, the darkness and the light.

Within Speak Up, we offer up something that expands the vision of what Shambhala can be. Shambhala can become more than a meditation center. There is an energy that magnetizes the space, where we continue to challenge the older, more senior folks in creating new ventures, new horizons to reach for. We’re looking for people from Englewood and other violent neighborhoods to interact with people from downtown and Hyde Park. We’ve attended the Sakyong’s “Making Peace Possible” conference, and have traveled to Mexico to attend the Ziji Summit as the largest represented group of young people in Shambhala. We’re planning to do a retreat at the Windhorse center in Wisconsin.

We come from a different part of the city, not the clean, well-educated, protected areas, but the places people whisper about, where some of us have endured traumas that people have only heard of and never have experienced. Some of us suffer from a continuous lack of support and financial means, contributing to the high probability of not graduating from school and being involved with crime and drug abuse. Many of us are scarred by the systematic racism that does not allow people of color and lower economic means to thrive. But we are Shambhala as well, an enlightened society that arises from true reality.

What is Shambhala exactly then? What are we? These questions come up in the face of our existence. Because the fact remains obvious:  Shambhala is dominated by middle class, college educated white people. Why is it so hard to attract people of color or poor people? Even I, a fairly whitewashed, middle class Asian American college student, feel uncomfortable in the Shambhala Level classes because I am constantly surrounded by white people. And I am committed to and deeply inspired by the Shambhala vision. There is nothing I want more than to be a true warrior. And yet, I constantly struggle with the feeling of discomfort on being the only person of color in the room while attending Shambhala activities. Why do I feel like an alien, like an outsider?

What exactly attracts only white people to Shambhala? Maybe because it’s so squeaky clean and articulate, and offers an image of Eastern wisdom that Westerners long for. But what if that’s problematic? On my return from the Ziji Collective retreat in Mexico, I realized that there was an inordinate number of Harvard graduates and professors at the conference! Is the very culture and language that we have adopted too sophisticated and wordy for the average high school dropout? What if people speak in different ways? How can we foster diversity in Shambhala? It seems our existence forces us to expand the vision of what Shambhala means, because it means different things to different people now.  Speak Up Chicago is a testament to a different kind of Shambhala.

Sai Wei is the intern of Social Engagement at the Chicago Shambhala center. She is currently studying at Shimer College with an emphasis on philosophy. 

The Gongter ends auspiciously with an Amitayus abhisheka and the Lingdro Dances

by Walker Blaine

Buddha Amitayus

The final day of the Gongter was one of forward vision and celebration. The conclusion of the reading transmissions and thanksgiving to Lhuntrul Rinpoche happened the day before, and the final empowerment occurred in the morning. The Gongter finished auspiciously with an abhisheka of Amitayus, the buddha associated with long-life. It was wonderful to learn that His Eminence’s terma revelations included an Amitayus empowerment and that everyone would be able to receive it. Amitayus helps to awaken and nurture the student’s inner vitality, virtue, strength, and wisdom.

An extended series of empowerments like the Gongter is often concluded auspiciously with an abhisheka of Amitayus. This grants the student inspiration and blessings for realizing the teachings in this lifetime because a long and healthy life is extremely helpful to practicing the teachings and manifesting compassion in the world. With the prayers and ceremonies for the longevity of His Eminence happening throughout the Gongter, to have His Eminence conclude with a ceremony of long-life for the students was yet another expression of the power and circular generosity exemplified in the tantric tradition.

His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche

After the empowerment, several successive tenshuks were offered to His Eminence. Exceptionally amazing statues, icons, and a large golden stupa were offered to Namkha Drimed Rinpoche during this final expression of devotion and aspiration for his continued teaching and activity. The line of monastics holding offerings from the monastery itself extended out of the shrine room. It was clear that His Eminence is the life-force of the Ripa lineage. Everyone was aware of how precious his presence and teachings—particularly those on Gesar—are to the world at this time.

His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche

It was moving and edifying to witness the Ripa family’s involvement in the Gongter, and especially at its conclusion. Terma lineages can spread far and wide, but the heart of most of them is held by a close family bloodline. This is in part because terma lineages are rarely discovered by celibate monastics, and in part because there is a special blessing that results from a direct genetic connection with the tertön.

His Eminence and the Sakyong

For example, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is regarded as the body, speech, and mind heir, or emanation, of the first Sakyong, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. With His Eminence’s teachings so freshly arriving in this world, it was poignant to witness two generations of his family gathering to receive and maintain them with this same spirit of connection and dedication. Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche, the eldest of the next generation of His Eminence’s family outside of Tibet, seemed to exude a deep awareness of attention, responsibility, and devotion as His Eminence’s main terdak, or terma-lineage holder. Lhuntrul Rinpoche, who bestowed the reading transmissions, was equally one-pointed in his attention to the task of giving the transmissions in a completely pure offering of his father’s power of speech and enlightened heart. All the Ripas manifested a palpably deep expression of devotion while receiving the Gongter.

Sakyong Wagmo Offering an Amitayus Rupa

The main final tenshuk was preceded by an eminent teacher at the monastery reading aloud a massive praise of His Eminence, which recounted the lineage from many perspectives until the present moment, along with making vast aspirations. In accordance with tradition, the reading was brought forth as a scroll that was many meters long. When it was finally finished, the offerings were presented to His Eminence as the many other smaller tenshuks followed one after another. Then, the entire gathering—all 2,000 of us—were able join in line to present our own offerings to His Eminence and the other teachers at the Gongter. The teachers all sat in a row that began after passing His Eminence’s shrine. It was the final time to gaze in the eyes of the teachers and receive blessings from each one as they held the different icons from the Amitayus empowerments. At the end of the row, some monastics gave each of us a bag of biscuits, fruit, and candy, a take-home style of offering the final feast food to participants in an extraordinarily well-attended blessing.

The plan had been to serve lunch after the empowerment, and then have the final celebration of the Gongter, the Lingdro Dances of Gesar, in the early afternoon. As it turned out, 2,000 people take a long time to walk through a blessing line, and the dances were pushed back to much later in the day. The Shambhala students moved through the line relatively quickly, and had time to eat lunch before returning to the monastery to discover the line was barely halfway through. Everybody’s patience and good humor was exemplary.

Lingdro Dancers

The Lingdro Dances are one of the great treasures to emerge from Tibet into the wider world. They recount the deeds of Gesar and invoke his presence in song and dance. Unlike monastic dance, which is performed by only one gender, the Gesar dances are performed by men and women together. Some members of the Shambhala community have been taught the opening of dance of the Lingdro by the Sakyong Wangmo, who led a performance of it before the Sakyong went into a year-long retreat in 2008.

Gesar Dancers

To see the dances in full regalia, performed by many of the senior dancers in the Ripa community, at a time of great celebration of His Eminence’s activity and teachings, was a tremendous final blessing for everyone at the Gongter. There could be no more fitting conclusion to the Gongter than seeing beautiful women wearing colorful brocades and flower-crowns, and heroic men wearing armor with banners flying from their helmets, all singing about the deeds and power of Gesar and his retinue of warrior lords and ladies. After receiving the protection of the Amitayus empowerment, it was a great wonder to see the Lingdro, about which it is said that seeing it can save one from rebirth in unfortunate circumstances, and a memory of it can even liberate someone from the after-death state.

The Sakyong Wangmo, Semo Pede, and Semo Palmo

His Eminence, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Jigme Rinpoche, and Lhuntrul Rinpoche watched the Lingdro from the porch of the monastery, while it was performed in the canopied courtyard surrounded by all who attended the Gongter, who were joined by many local children and villagers. The Gesar dances were interspersed with local cultural dances, such as dances and songs from Yolmo, a famous retreat place a few days walk into the mountains from Kathmandu.

Tulku Karma Shedrup

This gave the Lingdro performers time to change costumes and also a little rest between the dances, which can be quite strenuous—especially because the dancers must sing at the same time. Among the many dancers of Gesar could be seen members of the Ripa family, including the Sakyong Wangmo and her sisters, Semo Pede, Semo Sonam, and Semo Palmo, and His Eminence’s brothers Tulku Karma Shedrup, who led the singing, and Tulku Samten.

The Gesar Dancers after the Lingdro

The Lingdro was a wondrous conclusion to the Gongter, a final flourish of lineage energy that satisfied everyone, young and old, with poignant dignity. The dances continued long after sundown, and because the Gongter’s conclusion coincided with a festival time in the Kathmandu Valley, sounds of celebration echoed not just from the monastery, but from all over the hills of Parpeng, late into the night. The blessings of Gesar seemed to permeate the entire region with the incense of joy and the songs of celebration.

Walker Blaine is Master of Liturgies to Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He has studied extensively with the Sakyong and been part of the Shambhala community for more that 30 years. Walker’s ebook, The Great River of Blessings an account of the Rinchen Terdzö received by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in the winter of 2008-2009, can be downloaded at the Sakyong Foundation. Walker lives with his wife Patricia in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

A letter from Acharya Emily Bower and Cynthia Mackay

Dear Sangha Friends,

Acharya Allyn Lyon passed away just before midnight (Mountain Time) on Friday, November 20, in Denver, Colorado. She will be missed by so many of us.

Allyn had been unconscious in the Swedish Hospital ICU in Denver since November 9, due to bleeding, swelling, and seizures in her brain. She had been on a respirator since then. On Thursday the 19th, the seizures abated and doctors took her off sedation. She remained on the respirator and did not regain consciousness.

On Friday, the decision was made to remove the respirator. Allyn’s son Chris was present, and they were surrounded by loving sangha as Allyn passed. Los Angeles sangha member Carolyn Sykes was on the phone with Chris, and she could hear the group gathered around them singing the Seven-Line Supplication to Padmakara as Allyn made her way out of this life.

During Allyn’s time in the hospital, Lhamen Mitchell Levy was in close contact with her doctors, and he assured us that Allyn had received excellent, compassionate care.

Acharya Emily Bower

Cynthia Mackay, Center Director, Shambhala Los Angeles

Editor’s note: a warrior’s tribute in recognition of Acharya Allyn’s passing is being prepared as a follow-up to this brief announcement, and will be published soon.

Acharya Allyn R. Lyon passed away on Friday 20 November 2015 at Swedish Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, age 78, surrounded by friends and family. In her role as an acharya, and throughout her decades of teaching, Allyn guided countless students with her heartfelt, unconventional yet clear presentation of the teachings.

She is survived by her son, Chris, and many, many students and colleagues who will long miss her. The Sakyong, when informed of Allyn’s death, wrote from his retreat in Nepal: “Allyn, my love and blessing are with you now, as you travel the great path of warriorship.”

A Shambhala funeral ceremony was held at the Boulder Shambhala Center on Monday 23 November and Allyn’s cremation was held at Shambhala Mountain Center on Tuesday. Her biography follows.

Born in Ohio in 1937, Allyn R. Lyon was raised in northern New Jersey. After two marriages, the adoption of her son Chris and completing an M.A. in Government from the University of Ohio, Allyn’s attraction to eastern philosophy led her to Naropa University in 1974. “Naropa, of course, radically changed my life,” she said.

By 1977, Allyn and Chris were living at Karmê Chöling. As a meditation instructor, Allyn sat five dathuns and began teaching. She attended the 1979 seminary, the first of seven that she would go to as a student, staff member or teacher. Allyn also held various administrative roles at Naropa University and the Boulder Shambhala Center.

In 1992, she directed three Naropa Nepal Programs and two three-month Maitri Space Awareness programs in Crestone, CO. In 1995, Allyn “found herself volunteering” to take on the position of Director of Shambhala Mountain Center, also teaching in Europe, Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, and elsewhere during that time.

In 2000, Allyn was designated an Acharya by the Sakyong and given the name Drukmo Choga – Dragon Lady Dharma Joy. Having finished her tenure at Shambhala Mountain Center, she began teaching full time in Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. She became “resident Acharya” for the Shambhala Center in Los Angeles, Tepotzlan, Mexico, and then Shambhala Mountain Center, also teaching in Brazil and Chile.

Never one to be limited by convention, Allyn’s teaching style was a mixture of meticulously presented doctrine and sassy humor. Each talk was peppered with her throaty laugh, accompanied by insistent nodding (as if asking, “right? right?”), making her audience complicit. Allyn demonstrated bravery with her unhesitating embrace of the Shambhala teachings and late in her life by joining the ranks of the Dorje Kasung. Allyn’s speech could at times be quite sharp; her intention was unfailingly kind.

Allyn described her main interest in teaching dharma as the nature of mind and how it functions: “What is mind? How does practice work with mind? What is real?” But if there’s a bottom line, Allyn said, “it’s that I really enjoy practicing the dharma, teaching and sharing my love of the dharma with students.”

On the morning of November 14th, Khenchen Michael Taney, Rusung of Vermont’s St. Johnsbury Shambhala Center and long-time student of both Sakyongs passed away. He had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive cancer. He was surrounded family, including Susan and Gabe Taney and Pamela Keats while they were playing a Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso song, which begins, “Leave your body as a corpse…” when he passed.

Khenchen Michael Taney joined the Shambhala community at the Philadelphia Dharmadhatu in 1978, going to Seminary in Bedford Springs, PA in 1983 and has served in both the Gesar and Kusung arms of the Dorje Kasung since 1979. He received Vajrayogini Abhisheka in 1991 at Karme Choling with Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, attended the second Rigden Abhisheka that ever happened at Karme Choling and entered the Scorpion Seal path in 2009, continuing through SSA3.

Khenchen Taney served as Rusung of St. Johnsbury twice, exemplifying dharma, community service and protection. Khenchen Taney is remembered for his cheerful service and wry sense of self-deprecating humor, as well as his wisdom and humility. No task was too small for him. He is an inspiration and humbling reminder to all of us who have the unique opportunity to serve the Shambhala community. Both the Sakyong and Sakyong Wangmo were deeply saddened by the sudden news. The Sakyong expressed how loyal and dedicated he was, recognizing how much time and service Michael has contributed to the community in St. Johnsbury and beyond. The Sakyong Wangmo expressed fond memories of Michael from her recent visit to Karme Choling. She was well aware of how active and present he was during this past summer’s campaign.

Michael was born on October 28, 1951 in Westport, CT to J. Charles Taney II and Amie Hollingsworth Taney. He grew up in New Rochelle, NY and graduated from New Rochelle High School. He graduated with a BA from Westchester University in Westchester, PA.

Michael is survived by his son Gabe, now a freshman at Massachusetts School of Art and Design in Boston, by his partner Pam Keats, and his ex-wife Susan Taney. He was a loving and devoted father and grandfather. Michael is also survived by seven siblings: Ria Brownlow, Monica Brooke Taney, Charlie Taney III, Peter Taney, Suzanne Hutchinson, Mayda Taney, and Damon Taney. He was predeceased by his parents. Music played a big role in Michael’s life. As a young man he played guitar and harmonica in several rock bands. He loved classic jazz of the big band era, bebop and American Blues. Michael’s livelihood was supported by two careers. He was a professional in internet connectivity, marketing, telecommunications and web design. He created websites for several organizations, including Samadhi Cushions. He was also trained as a paralegal at Woodbury College and served as an investigator for public defense attorneys.

Following are a number of remembrances. Share yours below in the comments field.

Rupa Acharya Suzann Duquette, Resident Acharya, Karme Choling
Michael’s honesty and true heart were always a teaching to me. His complete dedication and loyalty to the Mukpo lineage and steadfastness to the kasung path were an inspiration. Michael always offered himself honestly, and he faced his dying with this same true heart and Michael humor. His death is a great sadness, and a huge loss to our community. I wish Michael a clear journey and his family my deepest sympathy.

Tara Bass and Doug Stark, Assistant Directors, Karme Choling
Michael Taney was completely committed and always available to Karme Choling. When we asked him to help us with a project it was never a question. He was here and ready to help, no matter how last minute it was or what else he might have had going on. He was not shy in expressing how he may have felt about a given situation, but that was one of the gifts that he gave us. You always knew exactly how he felt about something and he always showed up. Not only did he show up, but he arrived with a glint in his eye, a smile on his face and commitment in his heart. Michael demonstrated complete commitment of body, speech and mind. We are so grateful and fortunate to have had him in our close community.

Sara Demetry, Kado, Regional Desung Commander
Over the last 11 years, Michael Taney and I have served together as kasung in many campaigns. He was always warm and loving, occasionally edgy and very devoted to his community and family with a sense of humor I often could not understand but admired. I watched him show up for virtually every campaign. He was steady and loyal.

In spite of our long acquaintance, it feels now that my friendship with Michael started on September 12th this year when I went to see him at home. I thought we were going to talk about back pain, but instead Michael disclosed that he was told 2 days earlier that he had lesions on his sciatic nerve and that it seemed it might be an aggressive cancer, but more tests were needed. We went on to have a long and wonderful dialogue about our paths with Shambhala, our inspiration, our families of origin, experiences with our parents’ deaths, and stories about how we connected with the dharma. It was a spectacular sunny day on his back porch. For days afterward, my heart felt opened by our contact.

What strikes me now, what I will take with me from him, is the truth that opportunities to connect deeply with one another are right in front of us all the time. I wish I had more time to know him more deeply and intimately as a friend and fellow kasung. But I am inspired to remember that each conversation has the power and the opportunity for the kind of presence I felt with him that day.

Khenchen Byron Wild, Rusung at Karme Choling
I knew Michael as a member of the Vermont sangha and particularly as the St. Johnsbury Rusung. We worked together on several occasions co-hosting Essential Heart of Kasungship and supporting the Garuda’s Nest Court. He took such joy in kasung practice. I will always remember him as a passionate advocate for the straightforwardness and earthiness of being kasung. He was strong, steady, loyal, and funny.

I was asked to place the pins on his uniform once his body arrived at Karme Choling. I took my time. I fussed over millimeters and wondered how he had the patience to deal with the faulty clasp on the back of the flag pin. His belt was on backwards so I fixed it. Finally, I stepped back and felt something shift into place. He had so much dignity and calm. I imagined him as a warrior in his best armor setting out for his final battle. His decision to leave this life as a kasung melted my heart. Farewell and much love my kasung brother. May you protect the Mukpo lineage for lifetimes to come.

Tom Bryer, Director, St. Johnsbury Shambhala Meditation Center
Michael was always available to be of service. He was there for the center, for his family and for his community. Photographing events, playing music, organizing fundraisers…his service is a long, long list spanning many years. He loved to greet dignitaries at the center with proper decorum. I remember him standing on the sidewalk on a cold Vermont winter evening waiting for an Acharya to arrive. He was passionate about it. His dedication to Shambhala and the Dorje Kasung was boundless. Michael will be greatly missed. Not just for all that he did but for who he was. We will remember him as a Noble Warrior of Shambhala. Thank you Michael for all that you shared with us.

Gerry Haase, Kado, currently holding the desung post at the St. Johnsbury Shambhala Meditation Center
Two months… That’s all Michael Taney would have wanted. Two months to put his affairs in order. We traveled to Boston, Pam, Michael and I, on November 2nd for a second opinion. The oncologist at Dana Farber cancer clinic did not hold out false hope. That’s when he understood it was a matter of days or weeks at most. Michael spoke openly to me about wanting to reconcile with anyone he felt he might have harmed in this life. Although at times in excruciating pain, Michael exhibited tremendous courage, love, and appreciation for his family and his community.

Michael was not always an easy person. His colossal rants are legendary. Form and protocol were extremely important to him. Beware the person who broke decorum. In the face of death, with the precious time that he had left, Michael showed himself to be a Dorje Kasung through and through. He handed over his Rusung responsibilities, taking his Oath of Resignation on his deathbed while being entered into the Trident path with yet another oath. It is said we can be called back to duty at any time…

~~
Tribute compiled by Sarah Lipton as an act of remembrance for her Kasung Brother. Please leave your remembrances below in the comments field.

St. John’s creates a legacy for long-time member Boyce Taylor

by Debbie McGee

Boyce Taylor was 52 years-old when he died from a heart attack on April 22, 2014. He was cycling to a family gathering when he felt dizzy, and sat down to rest on the sidewalk. A kind passerby called an ambulance. Boyce passed away a few hours later.

A long-time member of the St. John’s Shambhala Meditation Group, Boyce’s sudden death left our sangha reeling. We had all just spent a week with Boyce during a retreat led by Acharya Moh Hardin. Boyce was our treasurer, and many of us had received emails from him that very day, which furthered our sense of disbelief. In spite of the shock, we managed to help Boyce’s wife Rhonda organize a funeral service that honoured Boyce’s Buddhist beliefs as well as met the needs of Boyce’s extended family. We sat with his body for one day in the funeral home, and that night we held a Sukhavati, which was well-attended by Boyce’s friends and neighbours and most of Rhonda and Boyce’s family – including their three children (17, 15, and 7). Boyce was then cremated and the following day an all-faith service was held in the chapel of the funeral home.

As the months went by and the shock wore off, the sangha tried to think of a way to honour Boyce. He had such devotion, and was very hardworking and meticulous, but also exceptionally kind and patient.

Eventually, it was remembered that Sangyum Karen Lavin had been honoured after her death through the giving of an annual award in her name to a high school in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. We liked this idea very much. Boyce’s wife and family were consulted, and gave consent. Our community was consulted, and also approved.

And so was born The Boyce Taylor Memorial Award for Compassionate Action.

The award will recognize genuine kindness and actions benefitting others, and will be given annually to a student graduating from Holy Heart of Mary High School in St. John’s, the high school that Boyce’s children attend.

The award will be accompanied by a $300.00 bursary, and is intended for a student who:

• Displays compassion, kindness and respect towards others
• Is concerned with fostering cooperation
• Promotes diversity and an open-minded approach
• Is courageous in working towards the elimination of conditions that cause pain to others.

It was challenging to find a way to crowdfund for the award in a way that did not cause confusion for sangha bookkeeping. Basically, we had to make sure that the donations did not flow through our bank account, but still give a charitable receipt to everyone who donated.

A solution was found through the non-profit Community Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (CFNL).  The St. John’s Shambhala Meditation Group contracted with them to establish the Boyce Taylor Memorial Endowment Fund. Using Canada Helps, a non-profit, registered charity crowdfunding site, donations go directly into the Endowment Fund. Charitable receipts are issued immediately by Canada Helps (not Shambhala).  Canada Helps charges a 3.5% fee on each donation, which is below the industry standard.

When the amount in the Fund reaches $10,000.00, the annual interest will be used for the award. Best of all, the CFNL will send a cheque for $300.00 directly to the school each year. The school’s scholarship committee will select the students they think are eligible to receive the award, and Shambhala and Boyce’s family can have input into the final choice if we wish to.  This smooth administration means that even after those of us who knew Boyce are gone, the award will continue. Students in this high school, and their parents and family at the graduation ceremonies, will be reminded each year that compassion is a value, and can be part of school life along with sports and academics. And Boyce and his warrior qualities will be honoured for many years to come.

As of this writing, we are very close to our goal. Only $1000.00 is needed to give an award to the next graduating class. If this story has inspired you, please use the following link to donate if you are able:  The Boyce Taylor Memorial Award for Compassionate Action

Ki Ki! So So!

Nordzin’s Story: A Gampo Abbey Reflection

by Tsondru Nordzin (Jarek Paslawski)

Before coming to Gampo Abbey, I lived in Poland where I was born. I worked for a logistic forwarding company as a manager. Having job and a family with two children, going to a place like the Abbey seemed best left in the realm of my dreams. Sometimes, though, life surprises us by writing a new scenario.

My first interest in meditation began 10 years ago when I was 38. At that time, I discovered that I have a mind and it is workable. I was very lucky, as I spent only half a year exploring the virtual spiritual “hypermarket” on the Internet. I tried to find something spiritual, but didn’t want anything connected with a religion. Buddhism especially was instantly bypassed in my search. Ironically, I eventually found my way to Shambhala, mostly by chance. After completing level 1, I felt that Shambhala was truly my path. I was home.

After starting in the vajrayana, at some point I felt that I would like to deepen my practice. Practicing my sadhana quite regularly, I felt like it influenced my life a great deal, but still something was lacking. There was a sense of chaos, and a lack of grounded view. So, when in my life a new situation popped up unexpectedly, what came to my mind was attending the One Year Monastic Training at Gampo Abbey. It was not an easy decision, but I really felt confident that it would be beneficial for me. Now, as my monastic retreat is coming to an end, I have to admit it was the best decision I have ever made.

Life at Gampo Abbey is not only meditation, but also studying, developing, systematizing and grounding the dharma view. Whatever one learns can simultaneously be put into practice and applied to life. Living in community, there are plenty of situations every day that provide opportunity to watch one’s mind during interaction with others. Through the process of regular practice, the mind gradually becomes calmer, more clear, open and sensitive. The actions, actor and their results are more vivid. You do feel more and more.

During solitary retreat in the cabin, you have an occasion to deepen even further. Ten hours of practice a day is quite a shift. You really feel balance and strength. Such a mind is pliable and easy to work with. You feel peace, confidence and absence of fear. Joy and appreciation appear; everything becomes simple. You feel like you are complete, and you don’t need anything more.

Soon I will be back home in Poland. I realize that I cannot take these insights with me, but now I know how it is. This pliable mind I have access to can be my ally, but can also be challenging. At the end of my time here, what I have to express is my gratitude toward all the people I have met during the monastic training program. I have never learned in my life learned so much as I have over this one year, just by being here at Gampo Abbey with all of them.

Jarek Paslawski lives in Poland, Szczecin. He is 49 years old, has two children and works in the field of logistics. In his free time, Jarek enjoys running, doing yoga and dancing the tango.

The new position of Director of Development is the senior fundraising position for the Sakyong Potrang, the highest leadership and coordinating body of Shambhala, and replaces the part time development work previously done by the Executive Director of Shambhala. The Director of Development reports to to the Potrang Chief of Staff, Joshua Silberstein.

The new Director of Development will join the current staff of two part time Potrang development positions, one focused on major donors, and the other focused on Kalapa Patrons — major donors within Shambhala with a personal relationship to the Sakyong. The Director of Development will lead the effort, in collaboration with the other development positions and the Treasury Council, to develop an overall fundraising strategy for the Potrang.

To find out more about this position, and other paid positions available within the Shambhala community, please visit this site: http://shambhala.org/community-positions-available/

Shambhalians gather for Family Camp in Snohomish, Washington

by Barbara Everdene 

The wind shifted, and Seattle Shambhala’s 2015 Family Camp materialized in a circle of birch trees near the town of Snohomish in mid-August. A blue canopy with cushions and many colorful rugs created a magical meeting spot for twenty-five parents and children.

I have attended the Vancouver (Canada) Shambhala Centre for several years. I quickly realized that I wanted to bring my children with me on my spiritual journey. Above all, I expected my spiritual practice to strengthen my commitment, love and skillfulness as a parent. But I also wanted to teach them the language and practices of mindfulness, and connect them to the Shambhala community.

Last summer, we made it to the Shambhala Mountain Center’s Family Camp and loved it. This year, looking for an opportunity to connect closer to home, we ventured to the Seattle Shambhala Center’s 2015 children’s camp out. As we parked our car, I felt suddenly shy. Would we be welcomed? Was I even feeling the least bit mindful after a four hour drive and long wait at the border? I felt the familiar struggle around bridging my children to values I hold dear, and frustration over the times I fall short of modelling them. As we stepped on site, we were greeted warmly by camp Kasung Cheyenne Covington, and my shyness dissolved. Soon we were snacking on blackberries picked from the bush, creating a fire pit, and experiencing the exhilaration of roasting marshmallows!

I loved the collective spirit of friendship, a fresh sense of possibility in participating actively to make camp happen. We ate, trampolined, and ate again. On Sunday, horse-whisperer Mary-Anne Campbell drew everyone quiet and close, and told us the Greek legend of Pegasus and Bellerophon. What a vivid metaphor for the spirit of partnership, the quality of gentleness and connection between beings! Then, we actually rode two wonderful horses, Strutt and Blue, slowly, without taking anything for granted. The story echoed in my thoughts as a call to mindful parenting, to bringing my children close by tuning in and connecting. 

It was wonderful to just play together, as part of a larger inter-generational gathering. There is magic in coming together this way: my children arrived as feuding rivals and with some space in the situation the next day, disappeared together for their own workshop of imaginative play. What a golden opportunity to just be committed, imperfect parents together in a container of acceptance and aspiration. It’s a relief to practice sitting meditation in all this chaos, just like the everyday chaos at home. Coming into the breath, and then called away to help tie a shoe. Balancing on this flow of caring for myself and being present to care for my children, working on making this transition with appreciation instead of resentment. Sometimes easy, sometimes hard, always worth it.

One enthusiastic camper, Georgia Macourek, said, “This was my first time camping without my family, and I had a great time at Shambhala Family Camp. I got to share my tent with my friend, roast marshmallows, make music, do lots of group activities, jump on the trampoline, and ride horses. I really liked the group activities like marching and singing together. I especially liked singing Yellow Submarine. I can’t wait for next year.”

Grateful thanks to the Shambhala Center of Seattle for organizing this retreat; to Margarett Rottsolk and Eric Niebler for so generously opening their home and property to 25 campers; to Chris Roberts and his parents for teaching us to listen for music everywhere in the world around us and for introducing us to musical instruments made out of plumber’s piping; to Cheyenne Covington for leading us in drill with good hearty spirit; and to Mary Anne Campbell, co-owner of the National School for Academic Equitation, for our encounter with horses and our minds. Lastly, a deep bow of gratitude to the members of the Shambhala Center who helped participants pay for camp, and to parents who nurture and protect the sanity, strength, and compassion of next generation. Thank you all!

Introduction

The First8: From bottom left to right—March Wood; Endia Sowers Paige, Rashid Hughes. Top left to right is Chiquita Richardson, Jennifer Nash, Alice Bellis, Erin Johnson, Donna Lawson, Cleon Peoples.

Washington DC Shambhala Member March Wood completed her Masters at The Howard University School of Divinity earlier this year. While she was at Karme Choling participating a weekthun in the fall of 2014, she had an inspiration about bringing some of her classmates (mainly African American Christian leaders) to experience meditation and the retreat container, as a way of cultivating new strengths and skills they can use as they serve their communities. Cara Thornley, who was the Director of the retreat, was also enthusiastic about the idea; she solicited the interest and support of Acharya Gaylon Ferguson, and with the help of the KCL staff, they put together a plan for a 5-day immersive retreat for this group of Black leaders. The Shambhala Center of Washington DC signed on as a sponsor, so as to provide a tax-deductible platform to raise the funding to cover retreat expenses. March, DC Chagdzö Judy Gillespie, and DC Center Director Jayne Sutton started a campaign that raised the necessary funding in a little more than a week, and the retreat took place in July. We are viewing this first effort as a pilot we hope will move forward to build new partnerships and networks for social justice and racial healing.

Following is a letter from the retreat group about their experience.

OPEN LETTER TO THE SHAMBHALA COMMUNITY

From

The HOWARD UNIVERSITY FIRST EIGHT

The First 8, eight members of the historically black Howard University community in Washington, DC, extend our gratitude to the unwavering commitment and generosity of the Shambhala community for our five-day retreat to Karmê Chöling this July.  Our experience “can only be described as transformative!” shared participant Cleon Peoples. The participants overwhelmingly agree that the intimacy and encouragement of all of the retreat participants and our retreat team laid the foundation for a strong bond among us all. “Since our ultimate goals are not just personal, but social,” said Dr. Alice Bellis, Howard University School of Divinity (HUSD) faculty member and retreat participant, this bond was particularly important to bring back to our communities following this historic endeavor.  

Gaylon Ferguson

This first of its kind retreat was wonderfully led and skillfully facilitated by our all star Karmê Chöling team, notably Senior Teacher Cara Thornley and March Wood as co-coordinators, Acharya Gaylon Ferguson and Kasung Dr. Deborah Marshall as educators, and the entire Karmê Chöling community. March Wood, a HUSD graduate, conceived of this idea following her participation in a weekthun with Cara Thornley at Karmê Chöling. The rest is history! The natural beauty of Barnet, Vermont, and of Karmê Chöling contributed a magical background to our experience. “Karmê Chöling is much more than a place, it’s a sacred experience,” said participant Rashid Hughes. The true commitment to our cause and comfort by this retreat team and by the Karmê Chöling community as a whole allowed us to experience, together, “a unique cultural immersion that provided fertile ground for the safe development of multidisciplinary spiritual leadership,” shared participant Erin Johnson.

For five days we studied under the only African-American Acharya within the Shambhala Buddhist organization, the deeply respected Gaylon Ferguson, as well as engaged in daily one-on-one meditation instruction with experienced Kasung Dr. Deborah Marshall, also African-American. “The biggest takeaway from the retreat has been the practical tools that I learned to support a meditation practice in my daily life” shared participant Endia Sowers Paige. “Acharya Gaylon Ferguson and Deborah Marshall did an amazing job of demystifying my previously held opinions and assumptions about both meditation and Buddhism.”

Karme Choling

Our teachers, the immersion into meditation practice and the overall exposure to Shambhala culture at Karmê Chöling, laid a safe foundation for us, both as African-Americans and as spiritual leaders, to discuss our collective struggle for citizenship amidst the ongoing genocide of our people, both as individuals and as a group. Our discussions were deepened from considering our struggle through the lens of the Shambhala vision of Enlightened Society, and witnessing the Shambhala response to some of the African American community’s most difficult ordeals.

Festive Dinner

We read and discussed Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche’s July 2, 2015 letter to the Charleston, SC Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he asked a question of great importance to all of us: “In this time of instability and extreme challenge, where can we find refuge?” “For me, the powerfully sacred answer to the Sakyong’s question is that we can ultimately find refuge within ourselves, through meditation” participant Erin Johnson shared. We also had the opportunity to view the Dhamma Brothers documentary about meditation successes in U.S. prisons (including the prison where Dr. Marshall used to work!) and the recent CBS News “Religion and Culture” feature highlighting the Sakyong’s meeting with members of Chicago communities empowering the collective pursuit of peace amidst gang violence.

Howard Family

Finally, of the upmost importance to this retreat, was sowing the seeds for collective organized resistance. This was our call to the Shambhala community, and the community answered with a resounding outpouring of love, financial support, education, patience, compassion and kindness. We, as African Americans and as spiritual leaders, collectively recognize how powerful of a force this retreat, the practice of meditation, and the Shambhala tradition, can be not only in our lives, but as a galvanizing force aligned with the attainment of Enlightened Society within the Shambhala tradition.

The First8: March Wood; Endia Sowers Paige, Rashid Hughes; Chiquita Richardson, Jennifer Nash, Alice Bellis, Erin Johnson, Donna Lawson, and Cleon Peoples.

Editor’s note: if you enjoyed this article, you may want to see this video of Carolyn Mandelker’s interview with March Wood.

The popular series on yoga for pain-free sitting practice continues

by Martha Whitney and Trina Magi

Many meditators experience back pain or discomfort, even if they’ve never had back trouble or a back injury. In Part 3 of this series, we share strategies for a happier back. “When I first started to meditate, I remember feeling discouraging discomfort in my upper back. Even with a regular yoga practice, I had to learn how sit on a cushion. Happily, I found with practice my back strengthened and the discomfort went away. Unless you have a back problem related to an injury or structural problem, the following tips could help you as they helped me,” says Martha.

1) Sit on something higher. Sometimes we’re not able to relax into our cushion because our hips and ankles won’t allow it. This creates tension higher in the body, often between the shoulder blades. In our next column, we’ll give advice for opening the hips. For now, try adding an extra cushion, sitting on a chair, or using props to support your knees. (See Yoga to Help You Sit, Part 1.)

2) Pay attention to alignment. If your hands are resting too far forward on your legs, your shoulder blades will be forced to spread, and your heavy head (which weighs about 10+ pounds) will be pulled forward, putting strain on your back. Slide your hands back so that your elbows hang loosely, in line below your shoulders. Align your head right over your pelvis. Maintain a slight curve in your lower back. You can check this by feeling your lower spine. If feel the little knobs of your vertebrae your back is rounded; rather you should feel a subtle hollow depression along your spine. To find it, tilt your tail slightly back.

3) Relax! We may habitually hold tension in our bodies without knowing it—until we try to sit in meditation. When you take your seat, take a moment to relax and feel your weight going into the cushion or chair. Do a body scan (see Yoga to Help You Sit, Part 2), identify areas of tension, and see if you can let them go. Enjoy a few sighs and extend your exhalations. A longer out-breath encourages the relaxation response.

Three simple yoga stretches can help you release tension in the back: seated cat and dog, and a spinal twist. They can be done unobtrusively without leaving your seat. For seated cat, curl your tailbone under and round your back, rolling through each vertebra, tucking your chin, and stretching your arms forward, resting them on your knees.

For seated dog, tilt your tailbone up and arch your back, moving through each vertebra, lifting the chin, and moving the shoulders back. Go back and forth between cat and dog about five times.

For spinal twist, place your feet on the floor in front of you, bring your left hand behind you on your seat, and place your right hand on your left knee. Lengthen your spine and gentle twist to the left. Breathe easily in and out. Repeat in the opposite direction.

4) Strengthen your back. Sitting up straight in meditation posture may require you to use muscles that you aren’t accustomed to using. Simply spending more time in sitting meditation will strengthen your back. You can also try a yoga pose called low cobra. Lie on your stomach with your hands under your shoulders. Press the pelvis down as you lengthen through the legs and toes. On an in-breath, draw your heart and head off the ground to an easy height. On your exhale, roll down, turning your head to one side and placing your ear to the floor. Repeat the whole movement, ending by turning your head to the opposite side. Do three sets of these each day. Enjoy!

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche Addresses Western Students at the Gongter

Near the end of the Gongter, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche gave an evening talk to the Westerners and English-speaking Tibetans attending the empowerments. About two hundred people attended the event, which was followed by a blessing line where everyone had an opportunity to meet the Sakyong personally. It was a magical evening, adorned with a perfectly-timed power failure near the end of the talk.

Text from talk by the Sakyong:

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche: Well, we’ve spent twelve days together. I don’t know who’s counting [laughter], but it’s been an extraordinary journey. First of all, I want to express how moved I am that so many of you decided to come. You took this time out of your life and made this journey, a pilgrimage of the mind and heart, to come here. It is commendable to be in a situation like this one. I am have also been very touched by His Eminence, the Venerable Jigme Rinpoche, Lhunpa Tulku Rinpoche, and all the Ripa family. His Eminence has been emotional at times—as emotional as a being like him can get. This is very much the fruition of his life and work. For all of us, coming at this particular time, whether we have been practicing for many years or only just took refuge, it’s a poignant moment.

Blessing line

Karma has brought us together. When we receive the abhisheka there’s a moment when we hold the flower and put it in the mandala. That is a ceremony of karma and inspiration. According to the Buddhist tradition, that ceremony represents that at some time in the past we threw our flower and it landed here. Somehow that moment brought us all here. That is the strength of our mind’s intention, our aspiration and motivation. It is a powerful aspect of the teachings.

We live in a world that is dominated by science and empirical analysis. What we see is real, what we don’t see is not real. However, this whole ceremony has very much been about the unseen, about the mind. And now, even science and modern culture are beginning to recognize that the universe is multilayered. This truth has been understood and experienced throughout the Buddhist tradition and in many other wisdom cultures. What is important is the cultivation of the mind and heart.

Part of what is happening is we are exploring who we are. We are exploring our humanness. We are also exploring our enlightened qualities. One of the basic premises is that innately, the foundation of who we are is awake, enlightened, and complete. That is the notion of essence, and of seed. This sounds very philosophical and theoretical, but the idea of who we are as people—and what human nature is—along with the environment, is one of the most critical issues of our time because we are living in a world where there is more doubt. There is more aggression and cynicism. Many cultures now doubt the spirit of humanity and have very cynical views about religion and spirituality. There are many questions about who we are and how we will go forward. It is definitely a very interesting time.

It is this question of who we are and how we are that leads us on a journey and a path. We are all looking, which is important, and I encourage you continue on your journey after receiving these abhishekas. In a simple way, having a question is also what deity practice is. The deities help us answer that question.

Denma – Gesar’s chief minister

When my father and His Eminence were they were seventeen or eighteen years old and about to escape Tibet, they engaged in the Rinchen Terdzö abhishekas, which are about four months of exactly what we are doing here. His Eminence received those empowerments from my father. With their own spiritual insight they were both wondering what the future is. One of the qualities that I take from both these teachers, from both gentlemen, is this tremendous spirit of bravery and courage. My father went to India, and later to the West, but he entered a situation where nobody knew about Buddhism. It was the late Sixties, just the beginning. Most people didn’t even know where Tibet was. Being alone was not “cool.” [Laughter.] There was a good mixture of activists and hippies. We are very proud of our hippies. It was a time of exploration.

My father continued to teach and explore how the dharma and human wisdom can have relevance in modern times. A basic premise of that exploration is the question of who we are as individuals. This is related with His Eminence receiving these visions of Gesar and the empowerments.

Magnetizing Gesar

The essence of Gesar is courage and bravery. You can have experience, you can have knowledge, but you have to have bravery and courage to actually go forward. We are all somehow connected to that spirit of bravery. It was brave for you to come here. [Laughter.] Maybe you wondered a few times while the stomach was grumbling. Bravery is important because, by and large, people just get busy with their lives and do not explore the essential and critical issues of human nature and society. However, that is very much what we are doing here. One of the basic elements of this approach is that we are in a culture and tradition that believes that humanity is good, humanity is complete. That teaching is simple, but it is profound.

My father expressed this in many ways. He talked about it as basic goodness dömané sangpo in Tibetan, “primordial goodness.” What does that mean? Most of us, when we reflect, are not sure that we are good or complete. We have a lot of doubt. Not only that, but we are not sure if somebody else is good and complete. It is a simple principle, but it has a profound effect on how we view the world and how we view ourselves. If we do not view ourselves in an intimately healthy way, life becomes a process of guilt, of not feeling satisfied. In such a process, we cannot express love or compassion, we cannot hold others.

King Gesar of Ling

Gesar lived at a time when aggression arose and the notion of human goodness and human nature were suppressed. In a sense, his journey was to go out the four directions and manifest in a peaceful way, a magnetizing way, an enriching way, and a wrathful way in order to uplift society. There are many similarities between Gesar’s time and our own. There is a lot of confusion and aggression. We live in a time when we need to look at who we are and how we are going forward. This period when humanity becomes doubtful, depressed, and aggressive, when people treat themselves and others badly, is called the dark age, when the sun sets. Human values are setting, the human spirit is setting, human ethics are setting. Gesar brings about the rising of the sun by reinvigorating the notion of ethics and culture in a simple way. As we explore the themes of enlightenment and compassion, that is part of what we are doing here, asking, “Can we live our life this way?” To me, one of the most important things is that it is not just about understanding this stuff intellectually; it is about actually embodying, manifesting, and living it.

Whether the teachings and blessings of His Eminence and what my father began go forward does not come down to how great they are, but to how much we can manifest and actually live our life. This is challenging. We cannot have compassion, or a sense of love, and just keep it secret. We have to engage. That’s what we are talking about. What inspires me is the question of how can we try these things out in a society that may not particularly agree with our method and says, “That’s your trip, being compassionate, being nice. Go meditate.” How do we actually do this? Tibetan Buddhism is not just an intellectual trip; it is a culture that has produced incredibly human people. That is what has inspired this situation.

Even if we talk about deities, it is important that we don’t do these practices while trying to abandon who we are. This is where the notion of abhisheka comes in. If we have doubts and obstacles, we may become self-centered to the point that we can’t get out of bed and say hello to somebody. We can’t just hold the dharma; we have to manifest it. Even though we understand all the dharma, we can be decent to somebody else.

The tradition of abhisheka ceremony empowers the strength that we all have. It is connected with our own body and mind. The two main words for abhisheka— in Tibetan, wang—are abhishinsha and abhisheka. Abhishinsha has to do with the cleansing process, the calming and purification process. Abhisheka has to do with empowerment. The process of abhisheka is that one is bathed and then enthroned. What’s enthroned is our enlightened qualities. You could say that in many ways we go through empowerment every day, but sometimes it is in reverse. Our aggression is empowered, our self-centeredness is empowered, and then that rises up. It is not about being good or bad, it is about looking at the very, very subtle seeds of who we are.

Abhisheka is a ritualized ceremony where the teacher tries to empower, help, and uplift the student. In order to do that, the student must come forward and want to be bathed and dressed—even with a limited water supply. [Laughter.] Wanting to do this and having some energy for it is what we call faith or devotion. It is what we call lungta, energy. As everybody at Gongter knows at this point, you have to do some searching even just to survive the abhisheka because it can be a very long process. It sounds like a good idea, and after a while you start to wonder if you know what you are doing.

Often there is a time before the abhisheka when you contemplate why you are doing it. It is the same if we are going on a journey. We need reasons to go on a journey because there may be challenges. We have to remind ourselves why we chose to go. That is normal. We go through that same process during different situations every day.

The abhisheka process is pointing to our inherent strength, which is being purified and empowered. The process of the abhishekas, which relates to the four elements of body, speech, mind, and wisdom, addresses how our own body, our own speech, our mind, and the inherent wisdom are acknowledged and empowered. Abhisheka is a permission and blessing for us to act on our enlightened quality. What does that mean in a practical way? It means that once we have received abhisheka we have the permission of that particular lineage to do visualization practice and see ourself as enlightened. Part of the quality of visualization and meditation is getting used to those qualities of wakefulness.

The journey we are going through can become esoteric, but also it’s very human and simple. According to the vajrayana teachings, how we relate to our physical body is that the body is precious. Our speech too—the wind and channels—is also very special. Even our thinking mind has inherent wisdom at its root. Nonconceptual wisdom is inherent within us. This is a path that we are traveling.

What happens in powerful situations like this one is that something unnamable, inexpressible, is transmitted and experienced. Ultimately, especially in the vajrayana—[the power goes out] Can you hear me? [Students: Yes.] You’ll have to visualize now. [Laughter.] In the vajrayana tradition especially, nonverbal communication takes place. That is done through the imagery. As we go through the empowerment, we are becoming familiar with symbolism, which is the notion of things being transmitted in a nonverbal and nonconceptual way.

Sometimes we may read a text and intellectually understand it, but when we do the practice, something is not happening. Then we need the missing link, which is some kind of blessing and acknowledgement. This ceremony is empowering your practice and understanding at an immediate level. Not only that, it lays the foundation for your experience and practice in the future—whether that is in a meditation session or not. This is very important to understand.

The Sakyong

After the empowerments, when you return home and go back to your life, I hope you will take along what has happened here. It will help you see your life and what you are doing in a fresh way. In particular, I encourage everyone to engage in the principles from these empowerments that are helpful to you and try to help others. Not only is this an incredible way to learn things for yourself, but even simple things we do can be very powerful for other people. We don’t have to feel like we must understand everything or accomplish everything. That is what I mean by the notion of bravery and courage. We are creating the possibility for things to occur. That’s what we are doing here.

In many ways, something important has happened because the transmission of Gesar occurred. Everyone’s experience of this will benefit the world. It is much broader than any of us. This is a very auspicious ceremony and ritual to be involved in. We have all been part of creating the good intention that allowed His Eminence to be able to teach his termas in a full way. This will be incredibly important for the Ripa lineage and all its activities in Russia, Switzerland, France, Spain, and many other places. This has also been an excellent way for the Shambhala community to connect with the Gesar tradition and share this common family root. As you have seen, the whole thing is very family. It is wonderful that it has occurred.

I send you all my blessings and good wishes for how you go forward. I hope you make it the next two days. [Laughter.] Try to stay healthy. I look forward to seeing all of you again and again. Tashi Delek and best wishes. Let’s conclude with a bow.

Remembering the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

by Tom Pinson, Montreal

article originally published on the Chronicles of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Here is the story of Tom Pinson playing the Qualities Game with Rinpoche at the 1984 Seminary.

My stories of the Vidyadhara are pretty uneventful. As a kasung, as personal guard, I got to be around him many times, and I lived in the Court in Boulder, in a room in the basement, and took care of his sons Gesar and Ashoka for six months in 1985, just before the move to Halifax.

Yumi and I and especially Doug Webb held the fort after that. I saw the Vidyadhara a lot just before the move, but I think we actually talked only a few times over all the time I knew him. Once at the 1984 Seminary in Bedford Springs in an elevator I thought he knew me by then but he asked me what my name was.

“Pinson, Sir,” I said.

“Pencil?” He asked.

“Yes, Pencil, Sir,” I said. He laughed and it felt good to make the guru laugh. And that was that exchange. The elevator door opened and I wheeled his wheelchair out into the hall. I think we were headed to a talk. Most of my exchanges with the Vidyadhara were very simple & no big deal.

Nonetheless, he used to terrify me. My hands would sweat, my heart pound, often I would’ve been determined to ask some question or other before my shift or a talk, or before seeing him, but, in the moment of asking, my brain would abandon me. “If you want to talk to him, that’s fine, but we’ll have nothing to do with it.” In the heat of the moment, I’d be there without the ability to think, or often even to clearly remember my question. It seemed then to be talking just for talking’s sake. “But this is the Buddha,” I’d tell myself, “Say something, anything, make a connection. This is an opportunity not to be missed!” But I usually ended up saying nothing.

He was never mean to me, or harsh, and, although I’ve heard stories of “black air” and rough treatment, I never saw any of that. His presence just terrified me. When I was living in the Court in Boulder, entering a back door to the basement as I did, I could always tell if he was in the house or not. Or going into Karme Dzong [Boulder Shambhala Center], I could tell if he was there, aside from any event. This wasn’t great ESP on my part, many people could tell right away. The Vidyadhara had an extraordinary presence.

During the 1984 Seminary, I was invited to a small gathering – a birthday party for a couple of the participants.* Rinpoche was there, so this was one of the few times I was around him not as kasung. Although I went in uniform, I wasn’t on duty.

After dinner and cake, we played the Qualities Game, which if you don’t know, is a game where something is written on a card, often a notable person, but it could be almost anything, and the Vidyadhara was the only one who knew what that something or someone was. Everyone else would take turns asking questions like, “Sir, if the subject of this game were a kind of car, what kind of car would it be?” or, “If the subject of this game were a kind of plant, what plant would it be?”, etc. And the Vidyadhara would answer, say, “A Volkswagen” or “A yellow rose”, whatever, and everyone would try to guess the subject of the game from the qualities, the sense of the thing, from the answers the Vidyadhara had given. For example, if the subject were Winston Churchill, and if asked what kind of dog, perhaps a bull dog would be a good answer. It’s a pretty good game, but it depends on having someone who is a bit of a poet doing the answering.

This particular evening, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche himself was the subject of the game. I don’t know who made that choice, although I saw his name on the card and thought it was not written in his handwriting. The game went on for awhile and at one point the Vidyadhara left with his guard on his arm to go to the bathroom. While he was gone, John Weber got up and said, “Well, I guess it’s pretty clear to everyone that the Vidyadhara himself is the subject of the game, so this becomes a perfect opportunity to ask him questions about himself.” Well, this hadn’t been obvious to me, but, having it pointed out, it did seem clear enough, and an especially good opportunity to ask questions. So that’s what we did when the Vidyadhara returned, and later I wrote down some of the questions and the Vidyadhara’s answers. Here’s what I remembered:

If a type of alcohol, the Vidyadhara answered, “Tequila Sousa.”

If a flavor, the Vidyadhara said, “Jalepeno.”

If a haiku, he said,

Nonthought
Tremendous Passion
One Taste

If a flower arrangement, he said, “A pine branch and a crysanthemum.”

If a part of sex, I thought he would say orgasm, but he said, “Foreplay.”

{A note from Dominique Le Grand (who was also there that evening): I remember vividly asking, “If this person were a sexual activity, which would it be?”….to which he replied, after taking his time….”Foreplay.”}

If a kind of heartbreak, he said, “Loneliness.”

A place to go on vacation, he said, “Disneyland.”

Where to go for a good time on the town, he said, “Get a haircut.”

I’d been silent up to this point, as usual, much impressed with both the questions and the answers, and I was thinking desperately of a “good” question to ask.

One person asked if the subject were a person in this room, who would they be? The Vidyadhara said, “Suzann Duquette.”

Another person asked if the subject were a lineage figure, who would it be? The Vidyadhara said, “Marpa.”

Finally, with my heart in my throat and blood pounding in my head, I thought to ask how long he would live. “Sir, if the subject of this game were a length of time, how long would it be?” He said, “A long time. It would become like Moses. It would become like a myth, like an echo.” I mustered my courage and continued, “Sir, if the subject of this game were an echo, how long would the first utterance last?”

The Vidyadhara leaned forward toward me on the table. He was seated two people away from me, about three feet across the table. He leveled his bloodshot eyes above his glasses at me.

“It ceases to be a game,” he enunciated in his high voice.

I felt nailed by his eyes. He just stared at me. I wanted to climb under the table but I couldn’t look away. There seemed an awful long silence.

“….It would become like myth….It would be less than myth….It’d be more than myth….” the Vidyadhara said. He kept staring at me.

Then at some point, locked in eye contact with the Vidyadhara, I realized he didn’t exist in this body before me like I was thinking. He seemed to be all around the room, more in the space itself than just in this body of his. I was being overly concerned about just the body. It wasn’t like any big revelation or anything, just a clear certain thought. Then I felt I’d done something wrong, committed some grave social error. Nobody was saying anything. I have no idea what others were thinking.

“Sir,” I said, trying to redeem myself, “If the subject of this game were a wealthy man, what kind of gift could you give him?”

“Knowledges,” he said.

“Disneyland knowledges?” I asked because I couldn’t imagine a fully enlightened person wouldn’t know all the important things. What knowledges could possibly be important to give?

“Cultural knowledges,” he said.

And that was basically the end of that game and the end of this story. He left shortly after that.

*This event was a birthday dinner for Cathrin Hayward-Ziegler, 28 January 1984.

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Tom Pinson is a long-time student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and a dedicated member of the Dorje Kasung, currently living in Montreal.

Pixoto:Bradley van der Westhuizen

A Reflection on the Practice of Meditation

by Linda Lewis
originally published on the Elephant Journal

From a Buddhist point of view, ignorance is giving in to seduction, hoping that something or someone “other” will fundamentally enrich us and make us live happily ever after.

Ignorance is also avoiding contact, communication or confrontation out of fear.

Fundamentally it is small mind – all-about-me mind — that is ignorant and that is preoccupied with either trying to enhance or protect ego.

Through the practice of meditation our self-centered tendencies can be seen gently, and, as we continue to breathe, we tune into the space in which thoughts, hopes and fears are accommodated.

As we tune into the space, our mind expands a bit. At the same time, there is nothing to hope for or to fear. The practice is boring and non-threatening. We are simply noting whatever arises, but not acting or following after any impulse. Slowly our allegiance begins to shift from self to all-accommodating space.

Interestingly, this shift helps us make friends with ourselves exactly as we are. We see what distracts or limits us, we register our habitual patterns, but we identify with the seeing rather the stuff seen. We are not trying to find another way to give ourselves a hard time! We are simply sitting with good posture, breathing into the space, and letting go.

As we do so, we discover that thoughts are not deep-rooted. They are like cartoon bubbles, mere fleeting fabrications. We also notice that small mind attracts discursive hopes and fears, while relaxed and spacious mind accommodates them without dwelling or clinging.

Gradually, during post-meditation (all the time we’re not meditating) we don’t feel the need to indulge in our confused tendencies as much. Our heart feels a bit more open, not only to ourselves, but also to others.

Mental Health Care in Shambhala: An Interview with Acharya Han de Wit

by Rebecca Hazell

• How did you become involved with integrating the field of mental health with practicing the dharma?

Acharya Han de Wit

Acharya Han de Wit: In the beginning of our Dutch sangha, in 1977, I was the only one available with a background in how to relate to mental disorders. So our Meditation Instructors would come to me for advice. Over the years I learned (and had to learn!) a lot about the field of mental health. At that time I worked closely with a Buddhist friend who was a psychiatrist, and I consulted him for many years about difficult cases. Also, in my family there are members who suffer from mental disorders, which prompted me to learn as much as I could in terms of how to work with various disorders. Of course that does not make me a psychiatrist, but I am pretty well informed about this field and about what to do.

Later on, when I taught meditation instructor trainings, I would always include a talk about mental illness and what to do (or not to do) as an instructor. I felt that was better than not addressing this topic at all. Many trainers, however, didn’t do this, because they didn’t feel qualified to talk about this topic, which I understand. But again, it shows the low priority that this topic has had in preparing trainers, much less instructors, to address the issue. I say ‘has had’ because recently Acharya Asrael expressed the need for such a talk at our Trainings, and now there is a mental health leadership group discussing how we can include this topic.

• Recently you wrote what you would like to see included as an addendum to the Shambhala Educators/Guide Training Manual, entitled Psychological and Psychiatric Suffering: Our Roles as Meditation Instructors and Guides. What motivated you to write it?

The road to health includes a healthy mind. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Holder.

HdW: Well, the direct cause was a recent suicide in a local sangha here in the Netherlands. I felt that this suicide could have been prevented if our sangha had been more informed and alert about the mental disorder that caused this tragic event. Of course I don’t know whether this is true, but I felt the only thing I could do to somehow turn this event into something somewhat positive would be to educate our Guides and Meditation Instructors about mental disorders. The second reason for writing this was the recent publication of the Shambhala Guide Manual. This in itself is a wonderful text, but it struck me that not a single paragraph was dedicated to how to relate to students suffering from mental illness. So I approached Flip Kolthoff, a senior sangha member and psychiatrist to work on this document with me. Of course this document can only offer some general information and some general suggestions for what we as instructors and guides can and sometimes even should do when students suffering from mental illness practice meditation. And since writing it, I am part of the group I mentioned before, which also seeks to address this issue in the Guide manual.

• What are some of the important points you and your colleague want to make in it?

When I started working on this document, I also realized that mental illness and how to relate to it has not been addressed in our Shambhala Society in an encompassing way. I know there are some valuable local initiatives happening in the field of mental health in our Shambhala society. But it is on the level of our ‘rank and file’ Guides and Meditation Instructors where there has been a need for additional training and preparation, and where we can make the greatest progress. In my view, that is priority number one.

In a family where one of its members suffers from what seems to be a mental disorder, the family would call in the help of a specialist. But they would only do that if they had at least some knowledge – even be it so little – of mental illness. I don’t know how it is in North America, but in Europe we fortunately see an increase of television programs informing people about mental disorders. Shouldn’t we provide that information in our Shambhala society as well, particularly because as Guides and Meditation Instructors we do have a special responsibility? So that kind of knowledge is what the document that Dr. Kolthoff and I wrote provides. We hope it will be helpful for the final addendum in giving our instructors the tools to be more able to recognize serious mental problems that are beyond their expertise as instructors. We hope they’ll be able to overcome any feelings that these mental disorders are ‘too difficult to touch’ and thus be able to be supportive to their students.

Jamgon Kongtrul the Great

It might be good to know that great enlightened teachers in our lineages suffered from mental disorders as well. Jamgön Kongtrül the Great, for instance, suffered at times from depression. When he was afflicted by that state he would stay in the cellar of his monastery until he got could resume his teaching, practice, and writing.

• Can you talk more about mental illness in general and what instructors may be facing in meeting with students?

HdW: According to official statistics, one in four adults experiences some form of mental illness in a given year. And one in seventeen lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, psychotic episodes, major depression, or bipolar disorder. Sadly, practitioners often do not share information when they are in psychotherapy or use psychotropic drugs. Sometimes they do not want to be treated because they see it as a spiritual defeat: all this comes out of shame around undergoing psychotherapy or using psychotropic drugs. This has to do with the fear of being stigmatized. It adds to the instructor’s challenge. Even if someone does tell the instructor, the instructor might feel uneasy and not know what to do with this information.

• Given the fact that mental health issues are so widespread, would there be the same relative numbers of sufferers within our sangha?

HdW: Who knows? I do know that quite a few people begin meditation because they think that a spiritual path might help them to get rid of serious mental problems. They often are attracted to our centers because of that kind of expectation. And perhaps we all secretly have some expectation about feeling better, at the least! Of course the practice of Shamatha, of mindfulness meditation, has been shown to have an alleviating effect and can diminish the chance of relapse in some cases of mental disorder.

• What kind of reception do people with mental health issues meet in the wider world?

HdW: They meet with the fear and uneasiness that people often feel about mental disorders. That fear stems from ignorance and denial, which leads to taboos and stigmatization. For instance, you could lose your job if your boss found out about your mental health issues. Or you may just fear that this might happen. You are, or feel that you are, discriminated against, looked at with suspicion, or ignored because of your mental health situation.

• And is this also true within our sangha? Do stigmatization and ignoring mental health issues happen here, too?

photo by Margaret Clark

HdW: Of course. Where there is ignorance in our sangha, the common notions of our society seep in and fill in the gap – both on the side of those who suffer and on the side of sangha members relating to them. Sufferers often feel that some freedom is taken away by being diagnosed with a certain mental illness. Not only do they suffer from this illness, but also they feel boxed in by the diagnosis. Why? Because that is how society unfortunately tends to relate to diagnoses, and unfortunately how people with disorders relate to themselves, having internalized this societal view. So on top of suffering from their mental disorder, they suffer from feeling stigmatized.

However, students who unwittingly suffer from mental illness are often extremely relieved when they hear that the cause of all their never-understood suffering and their difficult life is not them, it is the illness. And when they hear that this illness can be treated, they are also often motivated to undergo treatment.

• How about mistaking mental illness for obstacles that anyone might encounter on the path of meditation?

HdW: Yes, that is closely related to this issue of taboo, now in the form of denial. One might think something like this: ‘Because meditation is healthy thing to do, the appearance of a mental disorder while on the path must be a healthy thing as well.’ Of course we cannot exclude the possibility that at certain advanced level on the path one might go through a state of mind that is similar to (or even the same as) a mental disorder! But let that not be an excuse for failing to treat a student who experiences a manic episode during a long meditation retreat.

• What would you like to see happen in the field of mental health care in Shambhala?

It would be great step forward if we could have a mandala wide organized mental health body of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists in Shambhala. Beyond their professional skills, its members would be familiar with our various practices of meditation, and familiar also with the challenges of taking part in long and demanding programs and individual retreats. And they could be recruited to be on call (or even present) during very large programs. But again, our meditation instructors and guides would only know to consult this mental health body and refer to it, if they have at least some knowledge about mental illness and are able to recognize that a student is possibly experiencing mental health issues.

• Thank you, Han, for this interview.

Rebecca Hazell is a Shastri Emerita. An artist, author, and educator, she also edited both the recently released Shambhala Educators Manual, written by Acharya Adam Lobel, and the proposed addendum to that manual, written by Acharya de Wit and Dr. Kolthoff.

Enlightened society comes to life through a new business venture in Los Angeles

by David Fraioli

Sounds weird, right? In Shambhala we talk about creating enlightened society, and that includes everything: education, politics, religion, business, trade, technology, the arts…and fashion. What you wear and how you wear it can either uplift and inspire yourself and others, or conversely can depress and degrade yourself and others.

So about a year ago my friend Dustin Cox (who is a graphic designer and has experience with branding and street wear) and I decided to create a line of street wear that would feature words and graphics inspired by the Shambhala principles of warriorship and basic goodness.

Words are transmissions. They are symbols and carry tremendous power and meaning. Clothes can influence how we feel about ourselves. What we choose to wear is a direct reflection of our minds. The clothes we wear affect those around us. It feels good to receive a compliment on what we are wearing, and our clothing can wake people up, initiate conversation where we discover shared tastes, styles, and aesthetics. What do we want to communicate through our clothing?

The vision statement on our website expresses our answers to this question:

‘In all activities, be a warrior.  See challenges as opportunities to rise to the occasion, rather than a reason to retreat or feel defeated.

We practice meditation by simply sitting down, feeling ourselves, and coming back to the present moment. This moment is now.  It has freshness and possibility.  It is free of the past.  It is free of the future.  It is where the warrior lives.  It takes bravery to live in the now. That is why we are warriors.

Our clothing is a symbol of the warrior’s fearlessness, kindness, and bravery. It is our proclamation to the world that humanity is good. We aspire to create a society of warriors who meet aggression with kindness, greed with generosity, and ignorance with wisdom.’

We wanted our clothes to inspire creativity and curiosity about the principles of warriorship in the Shambhala tradition. For more information about our company and our vision, visit our website at www.warriorsofhumanity.com.

David Fraioli is an actor/writer in Los Angeles. He has been studying and practicing Shambhala Buddhism since 1999. He moved to LA five years ago from New York, and is a Meditation Instructor in the Shambhala lineage.

Being born and raised in Sioux Falls, SD aspired Dustin Cox to reach greater heights.  Dustin got his degree in graphic design in Minneapolis, MN.  He than packed his bags and headed to the west coast.  Warriors Of Humanity is his first project since his move to California.

Some thoughts on the occasion of opening a new Shambhala Center

by Alice Goguen Hunsberger

photo by Irini Rockwell

As we prepare to open the doors of our new Shambhala Center here in West Chester next week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what we can do to not only cultivate the community we already have, but to also create a welcoming environment in which the basic goodness of all people can be recognized and uncovered.

The key here is all people – not just those who are already part of our community, or those who naturally feel comfortable coming to visit us for the first time. When I talked to my mother about this recently and asked her for advice, she told me of a quote that is a summary of Trungpa Rimpoche’s teachings:

“First sweep your house. Then invite your guests. Then take off your roof.”

This is, of course, speaking about our own minds: first you cultivate your own mind, then you invite in the teachings, then you open up and let go of all your prior assumptions. This is the path to enlightenment. But could we also look at this as a model for running a Shambhala Center?

What does enlightened society look like, and how can we think about bringing that about in our own society at the Shambhala Center? We’re very busy sweeping the house right now, taking care to prepare the environment of the new center correctly, and cultivating a sense of community with one another. We also try to invite our friends in, applying the principle of basic goodness to our interactions, making great effort to listen carefully and to be kind. We study together and meditate together, and we share our insights and inspirations.

But what does taking off the roof of a society or community consist of?

With fortuitous timing, I was also sent this article, Speaking Up and Speaking Out, published in the Shambhala Times last month. In it, Sai Wei tells us of the Chicago Shambhala Center’s Open Mic nights, titled Speak Up Chicago, and the youth community that has formed as a result and the questions they have been asking:

“Within Speak Up, we offer up something that expands the vision of what Shambhala can be. Shambhala can become more than a meditation center. There is an energy that magnetizes the space, where we continue to challenge the older, more senior folks in creating new ventures, new horizons to reach for. […]

What is Shambhala exactly then? What are we? These questions come up in the face of our existence. Because the fact remains obvious:  Shambhala is dominated by middle class, college educated white people. Why is it so hard to attract people of color or poor people? Even I, a fairly whitewashed, middle class Asian American college student, feel uncomfortable in the Shambhala Level classes because I am constantly surrounded by white people. And I am committed to and deeply inspired by the Shambhala vision. […]

What exactly attracts only white people to Shambhala? Maybe because it’s so squeaky clean and articulate, and offers an image of Eastern wisdom that Westerners long for. But what if that’s problematic? […] Is the very culture and language that we have adopted too sophisticated and wordy for the average high school dropout? What if people speak in different ways? How can we foster diversity in Shambhala? It seems our existence forces us to expand the vision of what Shambhala means, because it means different things to different people now.  Speak Up Chicago is a testament to a different kind of Shambhala.”

photo by Tony Henderson

Is there some way, after we’ve swept our house and invited all our friends, that we can take off our roof?  What can I do to challenge my preferences for scheduling community events that appeal mostly to middle class, college-educated white folks like myself? How can I make different types of people feel warmly invited? How can we, as a community, diversify? How can we welcome new kinds of activities at our Center while still making sure the root of basic goodness and meditation is firmly planted in all that we do?

PODCAST: Meditation in the City

Offering Meditation In The City – the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York’s very own podcast.

In this podcast episode, Acharya Eric Spiegel discusses a different mentality about things falling apart; what if instead of approaching endings with anxiety and hesitation, we saw them as opportunities to experience brightness, lucidity and freedom? As things fall apart, new possibilities arise.

Click the link below to listen to this month’s podcast, and look forward to more coming soon!

Since 1980 Acharya Eric Spiegel has been active in the growth and development of the Shambhala Meditation Center in New York. In addition to teaching the traditional syllabus of the Shambhala Community, Acharya Spiegel teaches on understanding the transitions of life and death, and on relating with the power and energy of wealth from a sane, empowered view point – and on the general lack of insight into this topic that pervades our culture. Eric has also been involved in the Stonewall Community Foundation, and the Queer Dharma and Diamond Metta groups.

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If you enjoy Meditation in the City, throw us a buck or two (or five, or fifty!). Any amount will help support this podcast. It’s easy, just click this link!

Podcast production by sonamgray.com

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