Chris Pleim, a devoted student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, has died. Chris had just completed a two-week retreat at the Phagtsok Gedun Choling Temple on Whidbey Island studying the Yeshe Lama by Jigme Lingpa with his teacher, Kilung Rinpoche.
He is survived by his brother, Jon Pleim, and his many sangha brothers and sisters in the Shambhala and Pema Kilaya sanghas.
IN-PERSON SUKHAVATI: Thursday, Jun 26, 06:00 PM Eastern at the Boston Shambhala Center
Derek Kolleeny will be officiating the Sukhavati Ceremony in person at the Shambhala Center, 646 Brookline Avenue, Brookline, MA. Everyone who can attend in person are warmly invited, there will be a reception following the ceremony.
ONLINE SUKHAVATI: Shambhala Boston will host this hybrid event.
Topic: Chris Pleim Sukhavati Ceremony
Time: Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 868 1476 4746
The room will open around 5:30 for gathering.
Post a Tribute to Chris Pleim
Tributes
Chris was a piece of work, mostly in a good way. Among other things, he was a rock solid, devoted practitioner, and a hell of a lot fun to hang out with. And while he devoted most of his time in later years to advanced study and practice, he was also part of the gang that kick started the Profound Treasury Retreats, which continue to benefit practitioners new and old. So thank you for that, Chris. I know you are well prepared for your journey.
I met Chris at meetings of the Boston Chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild, ca. early 1980. Chapter meetings were often in the shop space he shared with George Crawford and others (Joe Pagano, Fred Mudge). Always a lot of fun, and happy to share knowledge about our trade. An excellent piano rebuilder!
My dharma path (different school of T. Buddhism) wasn’t the same as Chris’s; I was always impressed by his devotion to his teacher and sangha.
Although it was a bit of a physical struggle for him, he attended several Boston PTG meetings in the past year, always with wit and intelligent commentary.
I’m sure you’ll have a successful passage in the bardo, my friend.
sweetheart Chris.
Travel well. See ya in the front lines.
I love ya brother
we will always have El Topo.
js
Chris played the hichiriki in our gagaku orchestra. He was a gagaku student of Suenobu Togi Sensei. He carried a humble
yet noble character and a ready sense of humour. Having played gagaku at the Kami Shrine empowerment and at the Stupa Consecration he will be missed at such celebrations.
I am sad to hear of your passing on dear Chris and wish you many blessings and joy on your journey.
Dessie
Chris embodied the transitional (not contradictory) state: a man's man who wore women's silk, a wild child who held samaya, a piano tuner with a keen intellect. We shared a time of transition in the sangha as well, from creating a new practice center in Newton Corner to living through the illness and death of our teacher. Some saw him seething, others saw a glow. My image of him will always be that noted by Julia Sagebien one day as he sat in the sunlight: You look like a golden Nordic faun.
That he was. Chris was always quietly shining in the in-between places. I am grateful to him and like to think he will be comfortable being uncomfortable in whatever bardo he finds himself in.
I remember walking on Boylston Street with Chris sometime in the 70's, outside the new Boston Dharmadhatu. We were talking about death for some forgotten reason. He said very definitely that he wanted to die sitting in front of his shrine.
I hope that actually happened. He was a light.
Dear Chris-
Thank you for gently introducing me to the lucidity and warmth of Shambhala level 2 and much more when I lived in Boston. I was attending a Kilung Rinpoche retreat in Quincy a while back with Chris. At the break, Chris, Michael Fagan and me went for a walk outside.
I forget what we were talking about when I turned suddenly to Chris and said apropos of nothing “a yogin should not associate with a samaya corrupter even for an instant.” Chris paused, looked at me and then broke into a broad smile and repeated that line as though savoring it. I think it was one of the few times I may have surprised him.
I will miss you, Chris - enjoy the bardos!
Chris directed one of the best Level I Shambhala Trainings I ever witnessed. Just bri)liant.
I loved being around him.
I met Chris 40 years ago, briefly dated him when I first moved to Boston in 1985, and soon decided that he was a drunken, sexist jerk. But Chris, ever gregarious, continued to contact me. Years after I'd moved to California, he attended a dharma program that lasted five consecutive summers in a nearby town and he called wanting to borrow my bike to get to and from his hotel. Over those years, we grew closer and closer. In the last couple of years, a time of increasing loneliness for him, he called me at least weekly.
As for so many of us, suffering sanded off Chris's rough edges, softening his heart. He lost adored friends, Binny and Stavros, his older brother, a woman he called the love of his life. He got cancer. His knees gave out. He drank more and more and eventually stopped trying to quit.
Despite all his quirks, Chris was fun loving, funny, intelligent, scholarly, musical, athletic, deeply devoted to Trungpa Rinpoche who he always referred to as "the boss", and well versed in the Dharma. He was a teacher, a musician, and a skilled craftsman. He laughed easily and was one of the friendliest people I've ever met. Turns out, he was possessed of a deeply loving heart. I felt loved by him and love for him and will forever miss him.
