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...

SUPPLICATION TO THE EMPEROR

You are a rock
You are our foundation
You can cause a landslide
You can shake the earth
You are all the elements
You burn
You quench thirst
You sustain
You are the creator of turbulent fresh air
You sit like a mountain
The world is your throne
The world is helpless
You and your Kagyu lineage
Are the only living monarchs on earth.

Inter-cosmopolitan politics
International Ballistic Missile
Internal Revenue Service for rich hippie spiritual shoppers
In the Age of Darkness
ones ownYour multiple all-pervasive macro-precision dharma insight is so penetrating:
Amidst a flock of black sheep
A flock of black pigeons
A depressed herd of buffaloes
Shaggy polar bears munching vegetables
Black cloud hovering above polluted cities
Aluminum-rim black leather executive chairs
Nouveau-riche articulation getting into the silk and satin world
Ex-Catholics reentering because of the promise of the Mother Church
Sleepy Jews learning to play the Kabbalah puzzle
Hocus-pocus Hindus trying their best in the Armenian evangelical jinglebell

Tea parties’ old den of Theosophy filled with chatter of the new Messiah
Oakwood-paneled meeting halls with deadly pamphlets advertising
“That” or “This” trip in their elegant language:
This dungeon of dark tunnels where millions are trapped
Comparing their entrapments as better than others’.

O Dawn of Karmapa
Are you Avalokiteshvara?
If
Are
Are you
You are
So you
You must be
Come forth
The Dawn of Karmapa
The only living monarch on earth
Be kind to us
We wait for your lion’s roar
Tiger’s claw
Gentle smile
Ostentatious display of your presence.

You did
You will do
You are doing it
So do it
O Dawn of Karmapa.

— First Published in FIRST THOUGHT BEST THOUGHT, pages 60 to 61; now in TIMELY RAIN, pages 31-33. Composed September 9, 1974 on the occasion of the first visit of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa.

Old Dog Wags Its Tail

It was April in Halifax.
It was misty and cold.
There was black ice in the harbour.

Sarah Coleman’s Reflections on the Vajradhatu seminaries

Sarah Coleman takes us on a tour through the thirteen three-month seminaries led by Trungpa Rinpoche in the 1970s and 80s. From Teton Village, to Rocky Mountain Dharma Center, Sarah gives us her raw impressions of the place, the teachings, the students, the era, and the teacher.

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...

The Kiss and the Pimple

In 1981, even though we were not tantrikas yet, the Vidyadhara invited some members of the Nalanda Translation Committee French Section, which was established in Montreal three years before,...

Research Expedition to Prince Edward Island

“We should research PEI,” Rinpoche announced one evening after dinner in early September 1984. It was a golden period in the Mill Village retreat. Rinpoche was generally in a jolly mood—full of mischief and good humor.

The Usual

During 1985 and 1986 I attended Rinpoche weekly. Upon entering his room, there was often a vast sense of space. This particular day, not unlike other days, he wanted...

An Oryoki Moment

It seems that Rinpoche wanted to know who the young lady was who knew all the chants by heart and ate so beautifully.

From Now Onward

I was seventeen. July 1973. My brother Neil brought me to hear Rinpoche talk...

Remembering Thrangu Rinpoche

An account of Rinpoche's final days from Thrangu Tashi Chöling Monastery To all those around the world who have a connection, direct or indirect, with the Lord of Refuge, Khenchen...

The Pop-Up Mandala

Reposted from the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project On that first afternoon, Ferry Beach was still just a conference center. Its buildings sat right at the edge of tall grasses that...

Matthieu Ricard on the Anniversary of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s Parinirvana

Here is Matthieu Ricard talking about his teacher, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. This video message marks the anniversary of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoches's passing. Thank you to Matthieu Ricard for sharing...

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche on Humbleness and Heroism

Thank you to the Westchester Meditation Center for making this video available on YouTube!  

Irrepressible Teachings, Ngedön School, and The Next Ten Volumes of The Collected Works

SUMMER 2016: The last two weeks of July have been dominated by the political conventions to nominate the Republican and Democratic candidates for president and vice president of the United States. The polarization of the two parties ...

Guru and Student in the Vajrayana

I have written the following in response to a number of requests, including some from the press, for my take on the present situation in the Rigpa Sangha over Sogyal Rinpoche’s behaviour.