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...

20 Years of Tributes from the Mahasangha

Contribute your poems, stories and tributes to this ongoing collection

Cosmic Pancake

Our ordinary approach to reality and truth is so poverty-stricken that we don’t realize that the truth is not one truth, but all truth. It could be everywhere, like raindrops, as opposed to water coming out of a faucet that only one person can drink from at a time. Our limited approach is a problem. It may be our cultural training to believe that only one person can get the truth: “You can receive this, but nobody else can.” There are all sorts of philosophical, psychological, religious, and emotional tactics that we use to motivate ourselves, which say that we can do something but nobody else can. Since we think we are the only one that can do something, we crank up our machine and we do it. And if it turns out that somebody else has done it already, we begin to feel jealous and resentful. In fact, the dharma has been marketed or auctioned in that way. But from the point of view of ati, the ultimate view, there is “all” dharma rather than “the” dharma. The notion of “one and only” does not apply anymore. If a gigantic pancake falls on our head, it falls on everybody’s head. In some sense it is both a big joke and a big message. You cannot even run to your next-door neighbor saying, “I had a little pancake fall on my head. What can I do? I want to wash my hair.” You have nowhere to go. It is a cosmic pancake that falls everywhere on the face of the earth. You cannot escape–that is the basic point. From that point of view, both the problem and the promise are cosmic.

— From “Maha Ati,” ” in Journey without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha, page 137.

The Simplicity of This Moment

The world is not perfect, not black and white. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche could be seen as a madman or a scholar. It's pointless to try to come to an...

Cooking Rice with Marty Janowitz: Conversation with Patty Livingston

Marty talks with Dr. Patty Livingston about her work in anesthesiology and pain management, as well as her ongoing work in Rwanda training anesthesiologists.

Inconceivable Love

It has been twenty years since Chögyam Trungpa left this world. As an artist, he taught us all to be artists in every moment of our lives, and to give...

Two Moments

I met Rinpoche in person only twice, both in the mid-1980's in Berkeley. Once I waited in a reception line to meet him. When I finally came to the...

Climbing the Stairs with Rinpoche

The Vajracharya placed his right hand in mine and the fleshy depth of his hand swallowed me whole.

Loss

My mother moved to Boulder when I was a baby and became a student of Chögyam Trungpa. I loved "my Rimpoche" ever since I can remember, long before I...

The Big Thud

I'm unsure what year this was, probably the late summer or early fall of 1986, but it was the last time Rinpoche was to be in the States, and...

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi Connections

On the anniversary of his passing

The Future of Dharma in the West

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche on the Future of Dharma in the West at the 2010 Khyentse Foundation Board Meeting from Khyentse Foundation. This address took place in France, during the...

Under Fire

On the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Vidyadhara’s Crossing of the Brahmaputra

Living Life Fully

Available from Amazon Finding ourselves imprisoned within the four walls of our minds, and then making the journey beyond these self-imposed limitations is what Bill Karelis's book, Living Life Fully:...

Surmang Diary

Encounter with Damchu Rinpoche We got a call from Surmang Foundation Regional Director Tsondru Tsering inviting us to his house for lunch I've known Tsondru and his family since 1992,...

The Karme Choling Rock Garden

“The Japanese would be very proud of this!” -CTR

From BORN IN TIBET to FROM LION’S JAWS

From BORN IN TIBET to FROM LION'S JAWS