I’ve been asked by the family of Lady Diana Mukpo to make some remarks today about her life story: who she was, what she did and what her connection is to all of us! It’s difficult to do this...

Ringu Tulku on the Sadhana of Mahamudra & the Four Dharma’s of Gampopa

Thank you to Ringu Tulku and his organization, Bodhicharya, for permission to post this talk.

The Passing of Lady Diana Mukpo

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 and vision - passed away surrounded by family and close friends at her home in Florida on...

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...

Purification

Purification is learning to relate with the problems. Does a problem exist or not? Is the problem a problem, or is the problem a promise? We are not talking about how to get rid of problems or impurities here, as though we were suddenly surrounded by piles of garbage that we want to clean up. That is not the point. The point is to discover the quality of garbageness. Before we dispose of our garbage, first we have to examine it. If we approached purification as simply trying to get rid of our garbage, we would do a great job of emitting spiritual pollution into the atmosphere.

— From “The Tantric Journey” in Journey without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha, page 122 to 123.

Sherab Chödzin Kohn

The exemplary story of the birth of a guru is that of Padmasambhava. He is born on the calyx of a huge lotus flower in the middle of a...

Vana Jakic recalls Trungpa Rinpoche

Vana Jakic talks about her interactions with Trungpa Rinpoche in England in the 1960s.

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.

A Half Hour in His Company

I was not part of Naropa in Boulder, but one day I smoked a cigarette on a bench next to Boulder Creek with Trungpa Rinpoche. I knew who he...

Chogyam Trungpa in Mousehole

Chogyam Trungpa in Mousehole The west Cornish potter and teacher Bill Picard, died aged 92 in 2007. He was a cultured and charismatic buddhist. In the early 1960s, having been...

A Dowsing Lesson

You just had to tune your mind to the object of desire

As a Parent, All You Can Do Is…

In 1975 I brought my son Ben to an interview with Trungpa Rinpoche. I got him as dressed up as I could manage from Berkeley CA's pathetic department-store...

We’re Going to Test Your Realization

During the time just prior to the cremation of H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa I was fortunate to meet Trungpa Rinpoche at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. As an American...

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...

Ten Reasons to Read Diamond Highway

Tony bridges a threshold in the growing body of literature on the life of the Vidyadhara and his students.

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.

Dharma Art—Genuine Art

A letter written on the occasion of the Naropa Institute’s first summer program, July 1974. The term dharma art does not mean art depicting Buddhist symbols or ideas, such as...

Celebration at the Court: One Parent’s Perspective

By Michelle Munro When I left work at the Halifax Shambhala Centre Friday, Shambhala Centre Director, Yeshe Fuchs, encouraged me to go to the celebration of the birth of Jetsun...