Naropa's Ocean of Dharma Conference

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The first full day of the conference was rich and multi-dimensional. In the morning, participants could listen to Richard Arthure, John Baker, Sam Bercholz, and Marvin Casper talk about the process by which Rinpoche's early books were edited from talks, or they could attend a discussion on Vision in Action with Gaylon Ferguson, Robin Kornman, Fabrice Midal, Melvin McLeod, and David Schneider. The afternoon panel discussions were Expressing the Inexpressible: Publishing Vajrayana Teachings with Lodro Dorje, Judy Lief, Melvin McLeod, and Phil Stanley, and Brilliant Sanity: Buddhist language in Psychology with Jane Carpenter-Cohn, Marvin Casper, Karen Kissel Wegela, and Scott Wellenbach. Day two ends with the second keynote address by Fabrice Midal--the leading Trungpa Rinpoche student who never met him.

High speed access: Click on the photo for streaming audio, or download the mp3 file.

Dial-up access: Streaming or download

The conference began tonight as six hundred plus people gathered on a rainy Friday night in Boulder for Lady Diana's keynote address. The room was filled with familiar (if somewhat older) faces, and everyone is delighted to see old friends.

Lady Diana's talk is tender and intimate, and her answers to the questions at the end are very direct and personal. This is definitely worth hearing from beginning (Martin Janowitz's introduction) to end (Lady Diana's reading from Dragon Thunder).

Ocean of Dharma
Chögyam Trungpa

Spoken Words
Written Words
Beyond Words

October 20-22, 2006
Naropa University
Boulder, CO

Chögyam Trungpa: Spoken Words, Written Words, Beyond Words, the first in the Ocean of Dharma conference series, asks how Chögyam Trungpa (1940-1987) used language to challenge and provoke Westerners to probe their experience, engage in contemplative practices, and explore new worldviews. This conference is an exploration of the power, and limitations, of language in our human endeavor to understand and change ourselves and our worlds. How might spoken utterance in itself challenge conditioned viewpoints and open the world afresh? What is the relationship between the spoken word and the written word, with the challenges, losses and gains of recording, preserving, and then translating the spoken word onto the page through transcribing, editing and publishing? These topics will be explored in the context of the work of this pioneering Buddhist teacher. This conference will bring together students of Trungpa, those who experienced his teachings firsthand, with scholars of modern culture to reflect upon his literary legacy.