Work with the Present Situation
The Buddhist tradition teaches the truth of impermanence, or the transitory nature of things. The past is gone and the future has not yet happened, so we work with what is here–the present situation. This actually helps us not to categorize or theorize. A fresh, living situation is taking place all the time, on the spot. This noncategorical approach comes from being fully here, rather than trying to reconnect with past events. We don’t have to look back to the past in order to see what people are made out of. Human beings speak for themselves, on the spot.
Oscar was a long-time strong buddhist practitioner and a devoted student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He lived at Karme Choling for many years during the 1990s and was a staff member of the Practice and...
Tribute to Oscar Garcia
Oscar was a long-time strong buddhist practitioner and a devoted student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He lived at Karme Choling for many years during the 1990s and was a staff member of the Practice and Education Department.
Then he was an integral member of the group that began the St. Johnsbury Shambhala Center...
The Three Yana Journey
While in Halifax to confer the Vajrayogini abhisheka in June 2024, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche very generously offered this public talk for all who are practicing or interested in the buddhadharma.
Tribute to Alice Haspray
Alice Haspray, beloved wife of Richard, mother of Noah, grandmother of Oscar, and teacher, colleague, and friend of many of us, passed from this life on Tuesday, August 20th at 5:45 pm
Suddenly Without Warning
This book is about love and it is about grief. It is about being a parent and it is about losing a child “suddenly and without warning.”
Grief on the Path of Dharma
Presented by the Foundation for Enlightened Society
With Miriam Tarcov, Jon Barbieri, Bryan Welch, & Colin Stubbert
Moderated by Judy Lief
Remembering Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche
Our beloved guide, Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, left his physical body behind on June 22, 2024. As with all great teachers, his passing has magnified his presence in the hearts and minds of his students, making this a moment of profound sadness and inspiration.
When the sun of dharma, the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, disappeared from view,...
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 Thrangu Rinpoche:
With great regret, we would like to share some sad news with you.
On May 5, 2023, the fifteenth day of the third Tibetan month of the...
Tribute to George Howell
A student of his own sensitivities, George was gentle and forgiving, inviting intimacy with his simplicity. When others spoke, he afforded them space and listened intently. Precise and measured in his words, he had a gift for transforming complicated interpersonal exchanges into straightforward situations. George was patient, quiet and kind, and though he navigated life unassuming...
Midsummer’s Day 1980
A Glimpse of Midsummer's Past
Western Thangka Painting: An interview with Jack Niland
"If you want to rule a kingdom, you have to have a kingdom, and a kingdom is a culture, and a culture is art." - CTR 1971
The Passing of Ato Rinpoche
We deeply regret to learn the sad news that Very Venerable Ato Rinpoche passed away yesterday, May 18, 2024.
Call for Book Donation for Three Yanas Retreat
Good morning!
Your friends at the Foundation for Enlightened Society are running a book drive of dharma texts to distribute to participants of the Three Yanas Retreat this Summer at Drala Mountain Center.
Texts that would be particularly helpful include Profound Treasury volumes, Seminary transcripts, and any other books or texts that could be helpful to new students embarking...
Review of Pith Instructions from my Teachers
James Gritz has written a profound Dharma book, which he organized in the form of a spiritual memoir.
The Passing of Randy Hester
Randy spent his life communing with the mystical, exploring the myriad dimensions of consciousness, and on April 12, 2024, at 9:35 pm, he finally transcended, leaving his old and broken body behind. After 12 years struggling with Parkinson’s and dementia, his final days were increasingly without struggle. In the last week when it was clear he...
19 Years of Offerings to the Vidyadhara
Contribute your poems, stories and tributes to this ongoing collection
Tyler Dewar
Barry talks with Tyler Dewar about his training as a Tibetan translator, the experience of traveling with HHK and his party from Dharamsala to New York, and his work as one of His Holiness's English language interpreters.
Anne Burchardi
It has been a great honor for me to contribute to Chögyam Trungpa's legacy in some small way, by co-teaching the Tibetan Tradition Course at Naropa University in the...
Called on the Carpet
As the maintenance man at Naropa Institute in the summer of 1980 I shared the job with work-study partner Harold Turner of setting up and taking down for the...
Meeting the Best Friend That You Will Ever Have
When I was around 13 years old I was very stubborn. One of my first real gestures of rebellion towards my parents was to refuse to go to church...
The Apple Stem
This story takes place at Karme Choling meditation center in Vermont around 1982. There were two of us working in the graphic design department. I was the assistant. We...
A Lover Not a Fighter
It was 1976 and I was attending a public seminar at Karme Choling conducted by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. A close friend and I first met Rinpoche in 1971 and my...
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...
Elocution Lessons with Chögyam Trungpa, Part Two: Form as Practice
If you are paying attention to how you speak and how others communicate, you will find that you are paying attention altogether to the environment, to how you sit or stand, to how you hold your hands, to how you look at people — all those things.
Slide Show Commemorating the Life and Activities of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa
Lama Tenam has compiled these photos to pay tribute to the life and activities of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa. The selection includes several photos of His Holiness with Trungpa Rinpoche.
Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche at Shambhala Mountain Center
I just spent a magical afternoon with Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche. He came to Shambhala Mountain Center to see the Great Stupa and we hosted him in classic Vajradhatu...
Children’s Day Candlelight Ceremony
At the Halifax Shambhala Centre, 20 December 2018
What We Learned from Yönten
Part One: A Costly Delay at yak Monastery
May 26, 2013
In the late winter of 1959, after discovering that Surmang had been overrun by Chinese troops, Trungpa Rinpoche visited Khamtrül...
Creating a Drala Culture
The Vidyadhara set about designing a world, not by introducing something foreign, but by literally turning our conventional world inside out, revealing essence.
Karme Choling’s 50th Anniversary
From September 17th through the 22nd, KCL will feature a variety of online events for the whole community.
-
Mahamudra Elixir: Nature of the Dynamic Mind – Continuedby Elizabeth Callahan
Please register no later than October 15th. This series focuses on key points in Moonbeams of Mahamudra with a special emphasis […]
-
Visualizationby Jakob Leschly
Jakob will cover what we mean by sacred outlook (or pure perception), the conditions for such insight, and the role and practice […]
-
The Kagyu Lineageby Jonathan Barbieri
Please register no later than September 21st. Lineage is the unbroken transmission of wisdom and skillful means that is passed […]
-
The Citadel of Awareness with Anam Thubtenby Anam Thubten
In person at the Halifax Shambhala Centre, and on Ocean Please register no later than October 17th. This awareness can be veiled […]
-
Mahamudra Aspiration of Rangjung Dorjeby Gerardo Abboud
Rangjung Dorje’s Mahamudra Aspiration is an extraordinarily pithy and comprehensive text. Not only does the text elucidate the […]