The Perfection of Patience
Once there was a great teacher called Petrul Rinpoche. He did not belong to any monastery but traveled everywhere about the country, without any attendants or baggage. One day he went to visit a certain hermit who had been living alone in a hut for many years; in fact he had become quite famous….Petrul Rinpoche began asking him why on earth he had come to live in such a remote and wild part of the country. He knew the answer to that one, and explained that he had been there for twenty years meditating. “At the moment,” he said, “I am meditating on the perfection of patience.”
“that’s a good one,” said his visitor, and leaned forward as if confiding something to him: “a couple of frauds like us could never manage anything like that.”
The hermit rose from his seat “You’re the liar,” he said. “What made you come here? Why couldn’t you leave a poor hermit like me to practice meditation in peace?”
“And now,” said Petrul Rinpoche, “where is your perfection of patience?”.
Karme Choling, 1978. We were all excited that Rinpoche was coming to give a teaching program. I was 22 years old. I’d been on the staff at KCL for a year and had just joined the Kasung. Rinpoche stayed...
What Trungpa Rinpoche Accomplished
Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche reflects on Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's life and teachings
The Enlightenment of the Buddha
These three talks on the enlightenment of the Buddha were given at Karme Choling in December 1975.
How I Met Rinpoche
Part One of a Conversation with Ani Pema Chödrön.Training of an American Buddhist Nun. The following conversation between Pema Chödrön and Walter Fordham took place in Halifax on 10 December 2003.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s Cremation Ceremony
Thirty years ago today, May 26, 1987, hundreds of the Vidyadhara's students gathered in the upper meadow of Karme Chöling for their teacher's cremation. This slideshow presentation of Ray Ellis's...
The Samadhi of the Guru
This is a 2007 recording of Susan Edwards reading her piece, The Samadhi of the Guru, on KGNU Radio in Boulder with music by Thomas Lenk.
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Lodro Dorje and Larry Mermelstein: Part Two
Lodro and Larry discuss the wealth of teachings and published material, and the depth of practice within the sangha.
Sam Bercholz
In my view, the history of Chögyam Trungpa in the West is analogous to that of the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava, who was principally responsible for bringing the...
Tea Offering
In 1982, I was encouraged to join the Dorje Kasung, partly, I was told, because it provided good context, structure, and occasions for direct encounters with the Vidyadhara. In...
Meeting Rinpoche
In the autumn of 1969, I was living in Berkeley, California. I had been introduced to Zen meditation by a friend and began practicing meditation either at the Zen...
No Place To Go
Setting: Karme Chöling 1972
Trungpa Rinpoche and I are sitting side by side. There's a long period of silence. Out of the blue, he looks over at me and says:...
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Quick Charcoal
I met Rinpoche in 1971, becoming a student of his soon after, and for life. During the course of it, he assigned to me an eclectic array of different tasks and challenges. One of these was to make portrait sketches of him as he ...
Lunch is served
I was on staff as a cook in the Vidyadhara's household in Los Angeles in 1979. It was a joint ITS (Intensive Training Seminar) and ATS (Advanced Training Seminar)...
It’s Much More Interesting Than That
During the 1985 Seminary at RMDC, now Shambhala Mountain Center, the Vidyadhara was hosting a number of guests at Prajna for cocktails, followed by a dinner. I was on...
An Interview with Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche
This interview was recorded at Pema Osel in Vershire, Vermont on August 9, 2010, during Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche's tour of North Americ
Letters of The Current Situation
The Current Situation (TCS), as it was known, grew into a bitter dispute that seemed unresolvable, and over the course of the next three years, generated a flurry of letters and official statements, several of which are presented on this page.
Memories, Dreams and Reflections of the 16th Karmapa
Black Hat, Black Mountains
I met the 16th Karmapa in 1976 when he was invited to a farmhouse in the Black Mountains of Wales. If there is one event which...
On Shambhala and the Samaya Connection
Not long ago I heard someone say that people who disagreed with decisions made by the Sakyong or Shambhala International were people who didn’t practice and therefore, we shouldn’t pay attention to them.
Father Thomas Keating and Trungpa Rinpoche Talk About Egolessness
Father Thomas Keating and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in dialogue at the Naropa Christian Buddhist Conference, 1983
Pure and All Pervading
KTGR: In the Sadhana of Mahamudra, in the verse that begins, “In the mandala of mahamudra / Shines moonlight, pure and all-pervading …,” Trungpa Rinpoche perfectly conveys his enlightened intention. This verse is incredibly profound.