In this episode, Julia talks with Larry Mermelstein and Lodro Dorje about supporting the Kagyu and Nyingma paths within Shambhala.
In Part 1, they discuss (among other topics):
- the treasury of teachings and commentaries by Trungpa Rinpoche that are available to vajrayana practitioners within Shambhala,
- the nature of the path that Trungpa Rinpoche introduced to his students,
- the way in which the Shambhala teachings and the traditional vajrayana practices are mutually supportive,
- the tremendous contribution that teachers, such as Tenga Rinpoche, Thrangu Rinpoche, Khenpo Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and others have made to the practice stream within the Shambhala community,
- discussions that the translators had with Trungpa Rinpoche about potential practices that students might enter into after completing Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara.
In part 2 they discuss the wealth of teachings and published material available to practitioners, and the depth of practice within Vajradhatu/Shambhala. They point out that hundreds of people have been doing these practices for 20 or 30 years, including 2,700 individuals who have received Vajrayogini abhisheka. They also talk about the ways in which vajrayana practices and Shambhala practices are mutually empowering and enhancing. Further, they discuss the need to reinvigorate a sense of community within the vajra sangha, and to invite other Buddhist masters to nourish and deepen our understanding of these practices.
Readers’ Comments
I would like to thank you for the wonderful discussion with Larry and the Loppon. The subject matter is very interesting, and listening to those two, I always always always hear of things, I did not know, and my curiosity licks its lips.
And, on a personal note, having listened to these gentlemen, many many times, in many many different situations, it is “wonderful”, as I said above, to hear their voices yet once again. Made me smile.
: ) Thanks a lot
Thomas Liphard
(nope, not dead yet)
I did find Julia’s interview with the Loppon and Larry disturbing – as if the message was “Shambhala, Kagyu and Nyingma are all intertwined through all these elaborate practices that only a few of us really learned guys understand, so really there’s no problem calling it ‘Shambhala Buddhism’.” That’s just not the way many of us heard it from the boss. Something that we thought had applicability to all human beings got watered down into a Tibet-centric buddhist sect, the very mentality that CTR was rejecting when he came to our side of the world. My opinion obviously, but I’m far from alone. -Dan Montgomery
