Dear Shambhala Sangha, Our community has experienced an incredible loss. We write with heavy hearts to share that Lady Diana Mukpo - wife and widow of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, mother, grandmother, accomplished equestrian, and steadfast protector of the Shambhala teachings...

Journey to Taktsang 57 Years Ago

The Sadhana of Mahamudra was completed at Taktsang in Bhutan on September 6, 1968. Here, in his own words, is the story of traveling to Taktsang and receiving the sadhana.

Lack of Credentials

Excerpted from The Way of Basic Sanity, A Brief Overview of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's Perspective on Sutric Buddhism

Jonathan Barbieri on Meeting our Kagyu and Nyingma relatives for the first time

Jonathan Barbieri has taught Buddhist and Shambhala trainings extensively throughout North America for over 40 years. He served as a Shastri, a senior teacher, in the Shambhala lineage for several years. Jon has been engaged in several livelihood pursuits including 10 years in educational non-profits, consulting with cities and counties on workforce development, creating contemplative co-housing...

Tim Olmsted on Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Pema Chödrön and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

These Sons and Daughters of Noble Family lectures showcase the rich dharma heritage of our extended dharma family. They were originally presented live by Karme Choling and hosted by Julia Sagebien & Karme Choling Co-Directors JT Buck & Vegan Aharonian between April and October 2024. The Chronicles is now in the process of making all sixteen of these lectures available permanently here, adding a new episode to this page every few weeks.

It Was the Memory of His Kindness

I read something recently that recalled the evening I heard Chögyam Trungpa speak in Toronto in the autumn of 1971. My memories of that evening come back to me occasionally, and they surfaced again while I was reading Opening a Mountain: Koans of the Zen Masters. The book is a deeply contextualized collection of stories and...

Joni and Rinpoche

Here is Joni Mitchell in conversation with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden after receiving the Gershwin Prize. When asked what themes she might want to explore currently in her songwriting, Joni talked about her connection with Trungpa Rinpoche

Calligraphy Lesson

I loved Trungpa Rinpoche beyond words and admired him more than anyone I had ever met (I was also a little afraid of him).

Father Thomas Keating and Trungpa Rinpoche Talk About Egolessness

This conversation took place during Naropa’s 1983 Christian Buddhist Conference

Stories of Sechen Kongtrül, told by Tulku Urgyen

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's Stories of Shechen Kongtrül, read by Larry Mermelstein.

Myth of Freedom and the Cosmic Joke with Ani Pema Chodron

In this talk, which is presented in three segments, Pema guides us through the beginning chapters of Trungpa Rinpoche's Myth of Freedom.

The Heart of Enlightened Action

Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche teaches on the mahayana at the Berkley Shambhala Center, August 2007. Here are talks One, Two, and Three of the five talk series.

Vajradhatu Seminary Lake Louise

A slideshow of Lake Louise from Charles Marrow

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s Cremation Ceremony

Thirty Eight Years Ago in Karme Choling's upper meadow

Why Now?

Tashi Colman's Review of The Sadhana of Mahamudra, a new title from Shambhala Publications

Announcement from the Mukpo Family

The Mukpo family would like to announce that after many years of living with cancer, Lady Diana has taken the decision to stop treatment and begin the dying process. She is currently with her family and friends resting at home and receiving care. We will continue to send updates as her end-of-life phase progresses. In the...

Devotion & Crazy Wisdom! A Sadhana of Mahamudra Book Launch (in-person & online)

In collaboration with Shambhala Publications and the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library

When Ice Clogged the Harbour

About 10 days before Rinpoche's passing on April 4, 1987, Halifax harbour began filling up with ice...

What Is a Warrior?

In the Shambhala tradition, we talk about being a warrior. A warrior, in this case, is not someone who wages war. A Shambhala warrior is someone who is brave enough not to give into the aggression and contradictions that exist in society. A warrior, or pawo in Tibetan, is a brave person, a genuine person who is able to step out of the cocoon–that very comfortable cocoon that he or she is trying to sleep

— From “The Kingdom, the Cocoon, the Great Eastern Sun,” in Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala pages.6-7.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche 2023 parinirvana commemoration, Surmang, Tibet

Wenchen nuns and Kyere monks participated at Wenchen nunnery, led by Karma Senge Rinpoche, assisted by Damcho Tenphel Rinpoche, who are the nephew and brother of Chogyam Trungpa.

Fearless Compassion

To think of Trungpa Rinpoche it is not just to remember an extraordinary man, but to be drawn into the depth and vastness of his mind, to glimpse a...

In The Beginning with Rinpoche

The year was 1971. I had just left NYC with my wife-to-be, after ending up a two-year stay as director of a new age enlightenment and communication center. It...

Qualities

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...

When Gerald Red Elk Met Chögyam Trungpa

After I made the introductions, Gerald Red Elk presented some gifts to Chögyam Trungpa, who was seated. He unfolded some gems: a turquoise stone, which he said represented the nature of the universe; a red stone, which he said represented the nature of the gods; a green stone, representing earth; and a purple stone, representing medicine.

Banana Leaves, Butlers, and a Miracle on Mapleton Avenue

The household was a whirlwind of activity, packed at all hours of the day and night with family, guests, Kasung, and household staff. It was chaos wrapped in a pervasive atmosphere of precision, joy and humor ...

How I Met Rinpoche

Part One of a Conversation with Ani Pema Chödrön.
Training of an American Buddhist Nun. The following conversation between Pema Chödrön and Walter Fordham took place in Halifax on 10 December 2003.

Celebrating 900 Years of the Kagyu Lineage

Photograph by James Gritz James Gritz reports, December 11, 2010: We are here in Bodhgaya working from dawn to late at night on the film of the Karmapa and the Kagyu...

Grief On The Path Of Dharma: A Panel Discussion

This panel discussion took place on September 26, 2024 at the Boulder Shambhala Center, with panelists:  Miriam Tarcov, Jon Barbieri, Bryan Welch, and Colin Stubbert; moderated by Judy Lief. Presented...

A Brief History of Tassajara

From Native American Sweat Lodges to Pioneering Zen Monastery

Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche in Boulder

By Roland Cohen Boulder Colorado, Friday, August 13, 2010: Organized and hosted by Dzigar Kongtrul, Rinpoche and his sangha (Mangala Shri Bhuti), the ceremony was held at the old Boulder...

Elocution Lessons with Chögyam Trungpa, Part Two: Form as Practice

If you are paying attention to how you speak and how others communicate, you will find that you are paying attention altogether to the environment, to how you sit or stand, to how you hold your hands, to how you look at people — all those things.

Fifty Years Ago

On the anniversary of Trungpa Rinpoche's arrival in India, Carolyn Gimian looks back over the past 50 years.