Naropa University and the Ri-mé Society are honored to host Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche’s historic return to Colorado.

The Passing of Paul Shippee

Paul Shippee November 15, 1937 - August 31, 2023 Paul Shippee, an original first-generation American student of Suzuki Roshi and of Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a highly innovative and creative early-sangha pioneer, an enduring and devoted Dharma practitioner and a friend and close dharma-cohort to so many of us, has died. May his adventuresome and ingenious spirit, his...

Tribute to Ruth Whitehead

Dr. Ruth Holmes Everett Whitehead, ONS, died on August 29th, 2023 in Halifax. She was born on October 10th, 1947, in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, to Ruth Holmes Humphreys Everett and Hobart Ray Everett, Sr. Ruth’s funeral will take place in the Main Shrine Room of the Halifax Shambhala Centre, 1084 Tower Road, Halifax, at 10:30 am (Atlantic) on Friday, September...

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 Lesly Benditsky

Sukhavati Ceremony for Lesly A sukhavati ceremony for Lesly is planned for this Saturday, August 19, at 3:00 pm Eastern (4:00 pm Atlantic) in the KCCL (871 Young Ave) Mahasangha Shrine Room and online in Ocean's Main Shrine Room. All are welcome. With deep sadness we announce the passing of our dear friend and fearless warrior Leslyn (Tzipora)...

Tribute to Adana Barbieri

Adana Barbieri died peacefully on the morning of August 2nd, 2023 surrounded by her family and local dharma community. On Saturday, August 19th, at 4:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, a memorial service led by Judith Lief will be held at the Boulder Shambhala Center. This will be for people in person and on Zoom. ZOOM LINK FOR ADANA'S...

Tribute to Nancy Castlebury

As dictated by herself to her husband who wrote down this obituary: Nancy Louise Castlebury left this world on such-and-such a date , after a brief but spirited skirmish with the evil-doer Maya (that is, illusion.) She was the last surviving member of her birth family: her father, James Crain Jr., and her mother, Loualice Elizabeth Georges,...

Passing of Bart Leonard

Dear Sangha, Bart had been fighting liver and bile duct cancers since last fall. He had been in the hospital since Monday, July 17 and it quickly became clear that he was not going to recover from this episode, and after a few days he entered hospice. Bart passed away on July 28, around 6 pm surrounded...

Susan Dreier’s Passing

Susan Dreier, an artist and a long-time member of the organizational leadership of Vajradhatu and Shambhala, passed away peacefully in her apartment on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, MA, on April 4, 2023, several years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She was 75 years old. Susan was born on October 18, 1947, in Washington, D.C. to John...

Opening Celebration of Karma Changchub Ling (KCCL)

Auspiciously, KCCL’s opening celebration took place on June 4th, which was Saga Dawa Day, the annual commemoration of the Buddha’s birth, realization, and parinirvana

Into the Mirror

A Buddhist Journey through Mind, Matter, and the Nature of Reality

CTR Material Uncovered in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University

Thank you to Charles Manson for uncovering this material and sharing it with Trungpa Rinpoche's students

Buddha Wasn’t a Buddhist

Working with others is a question of being genuine and projecting that genuineness to others. The work you do doesn’t have to have a title or a name particularly. It is just being ultimately decent. Take the example of the Buddha himself–he wasn’t a Buddhist!

— From “Becoming a Full Human Being” in The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology, page 142.

Reggie Ray

Supplication to Chogyam Trungpa to Remain Lord and master, Friend of our hearts' desire, We call upon you to be near. In the nirmanakaya, you appeared in our world Proclaiming the Lion's Roar That every...

The Family Business

In 1977, I happened to be seated next to the Vidyadhara for several hours at an afternoon reception. An unbroken stream of people came up, knelt and spoke to...

When Gerald Red Elk Met Chögyam Trungpa

After I made the introductions, Gerald Red Elk presented some gifts to Chögyam Trungpa, who was seated. He unfolded some gems: a turquoise stone, which he said represented the nature of the universe; a red stone, which he said represented the nature of the gods; a green stone, representing earth; and a purple stone, representing medicine.

We’re Going to Test Your Realization

During the time just prior to the cremation of H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa I was fortunate to meet Trungpa Rinpoche at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. As an American...

Trungpa Rinpoche and Alan Watts

Here is Sam's account of Trungpa Rinpoche's friendship with Alan Watts.

Four Moments of Truth

I was living in Boston at the time of the Vidyadhara's 1986-87 illness, and we in the sangha there had been doing intense practice because of this on and...

How Naropa Got Its Name

In the summer of 1973, Trungpa Rinpoche gathered a few of his more academically minded students to discuss the creation of a new college

Interview with Phil Karl

The following conversation between Phil Karl and Walter Fordham took place at the Trident Cafe and Booksellers in Boulder, Colorado on March 16, 2002.

Celebrating 900 Years of the Kagyu Lineage

Photograph by James Gritz James Gritz reports, December 11, 2010: We are here in Bodhgaya working from dawn to late at night on the film of the Karmapa and the Kagyu...

Like a Dream, Like an Illusion . . .

After a two-hour wait in the line at the Kathmandu airport for our visas, Trudy and David Sable and I tried to connect with the promised driver from Tek...

84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

The Kangyur, or translated words of the Buddha, includes more than 500 sutras and 1,100 tantras. The Tengyur contains more than 4,000 treatises and commentaries by Indian and Tibetan masters...

Installation of the Vajradhara thangka in The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya

We want to let you all know that the installation of the Vajradhara thangka in the Stupa went very well.

The Escape’s Place in History

For those of us with a connection to Trungpa Rinpoche and his teachings, the significance of his escape from Tibet has been about the Dharma: because he survived, the...

Oxford Refuge for Buddhist Monks

Newspaper clippings from the UK press in 1964 describing CTR's escape from Tibet.