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Brief Encounters

Brief Encounters

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

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.

Tribute to Jean Claude

Jean Claude van Itallie died on September 9, 2021 in Manhattan. He was a central figure in the experimental theater movement for decades and an early friend and student...

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).

Supreme Lord of Compassion

by Steve Roth A glimpse of Avalokiteśvara During the 16th Karmapa’s 1980 third and final tour of North America, he visited Santa Fe, New Mexico and performed the Black Crown Ceremony....

Peony

I stopped talking. He was silent. We both looked at the peony.

Four Calligraphies from the 1973 Seminary

Many of Trungpa Rinpoche's students have original CTR calligraphies framed and displayed in their homes. Rinpoche often called for paper, ink and brush to mark birthdays or weddings, or to commemorate important events. Here is Abbie Halpern's story about four such works by the prolific Chögyam Trungpa.

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...

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

From Now Onward

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

When Chögyam Trungpa met Jules Chender

Yuli Shenderoff was born in Russia in 1920 at a time of pogroms against the Jews. As a very small boy, he learned to lie when strangers came to...

The Karme Choling Rock Garden

“The Japanese would be very proud of this!” -CTR

Chogyam Trungpa in Mousehole

Chogyam Trungpa in Mousehole The west Cornish potter and teacher Bill Picard, died aged 92 in 2007. He was a cultured and charismatic buddhist. In the early 1960s, having been...

Chögyam the Translator

"...he used to amazing effect the fact that no one expected him to speak syntactically perfect English. Subtle, complex, and mind-opening ambiguities, as well as multiple shades and layers of meaning emerged easily from his often slippery sentence structures."

Richard Arthure on Meeting Chogyam Trungpa

Richard Arthure on meeting Chogyam Trungpa. Video by Bill Scheffel.

As if by Accident

An Excerpt from Ellen's upcoming memoir: Buried Rivers: A Spiritual Journey into the Holocaust

Memories of Chögyam Trungpa

He replied, “The path is the goal.”

A Dowsing Lesson

You just had to tune your mind to the object of desire

A Half Hour in His Company

I was not part of Naropa in Boulder, but one day I smoked a cigarette on a bench next to Boulder Creek with Trungpa Rinpoche. I knew who he...

Every Expression a Teaching

Today when I was meditating, I remembered a small incident with the Vidyadhara.

At the Redneck Bar

Out in the parking lot ... a man approached from out of the gloom with a rifle in his hand that he trained on Rinpoche

Trungpa Rinpoche and Alan Watts

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

A Tour of Biddulph Old Hall

Rigdzin Shikpo takes us on a tour of Biddulph Old Hall in Staffordshire, England. Biddulph Old Hall is the site of some of Trungpa Rinpoche's early teachings in the UK.

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.

1978: Children’s Day at the Court

On the first several Children's Days in Boulder...

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi Connections

On the anniversary of his passing

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...

We Can Run!

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...

Like a Foreign Country

[Rinpoche] said there would be economic problems and earthquakes, that the weather would become more extreme because the dralas would not be protecting the situation, and that it would be harder and harder to practice genuine dharma because of the level of aggression in the country.

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.

A Kiss Is But A Kiss

In the summer of 1975 I went to Karme Chöling in Vermont for a seminar with Trungpa Rinpoche on “Meditation and Prayer in the Buddhadharma.” Someone suggested that I...

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.

The Court

Then, seemingly out of the blue and certainly not to my liking, Rinpoche announced on Christmas Day that he would like to invite my mother to dinner ...

Servant

One evening in 1971, at the Four Mile Canyon house

Being Tara

Unique and extraordinary visual dharma instructions from Trungpa Rinpoche

The Do-Gooders

I lived at Tail of the Tiger from November 1971 until the spring of 1972 when Rinpoche asked me, along with Ken and Helen Green and their small son Mithra,...

Lying To My Guru

"Did you understand anything?"

Birthmark

One day in the early 70s Rinpoche was sitting at his desk, and I pointed to his birthmark. He had a soft brown birthmark on his left forearm. I said something clueless like, “Is that a birthmark?”

Three Spiritual Icons of the Early 20th Century

I was a student in the Gurdjieff* work in San Francisco and London in the early 1960's. During that time I also attended a number of Krishnamurti** talks in...

Banana Leaves, Butlers, and a Miracle on Mapleton Avenue

The household was a whirlwind of activity, packed at all hours of the day and night with family, guests, Kasung, and household staff. It was chaos wrapped in a pervasive atmosphere of precision, joy and humor ...

In the Kitchen at BPB

In 1981 or 82, when I was living at Karmȇ-Chöling in the position of head cook, I still couldn't figure out whether I was connected enough to Rinpoche to...

The Big Thud

I'm unsure what year this was, probably the late summer or early fall of 1986, but it was the last time Rinpoche was to be in the States, and...

Nothing Else

Sometime in the early 80's, I was helping Trungpa Rinpoche with names for the Vajrayogini abhisheka. I think it was my first time doing that, so it was likely...

Climbing a Staircase

During the Vidyadhara's last visit to England in 1986 I served many times as a kasung around Rinpoche's activities. As a long time city resident and car owner I...

Please Give Me Space

I'd like to share my story of a personal teaching that the Vidyadhara gave to me in the early 1970s. Its import has grown for me over these many...

Road Trip to Crestone

BOULDER, early summer afternoon, 1982 - The reception for the Vajradhatu and Nalanda staff in the back garden of Kalapa Court is a familiar scene: uniformed servers offer heavy...

As a Parent, All You Can Do Is…

In 1975 I brought my son Ben to an interview with Trungpa Rinpoche. I got him as dressed up as I could manage from Berkeley CA's pathetic department-store...

Chogyam Trungpa: The Early Years

The Early Years in Colorado This is an account of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's early years in Colorado. It is based on interviews with people who were involved with his initial...

Compliments to the chef

In 1986 at the Vajradhatu Seminary, I signed on as the breakfast cook at Amakulo, the building used primarily as a family center. One day, the dinner cook became...

A Penny for Your Thoughts

During the 1984 Kalapa Assembly in Bedford Springs, the Vidyadhara requested that I visit with him. At one point during the visit there was a long silence. I asked...

At Suzuki Roshi’s Funeral

In this seven minute audio clip, Sam Bercholz describes the events surrounding Roshi's funeral, including Rinpoche's comments about appointing a dharma heir, and ...

First Drive / First Passenger

Unlike most young men of my generation I was not particularly focused on getting my driver's license when I turned 16. Just by chance and lack of money for...

Laughter and Relief

At the 1981 Seminary at Lake Louise, as the physician I was called to see Rinpoche one morning. The staff were alarmed because he had vomited several times. As...

On Rinpoche and Roshi

In this episode, Henry Schaeffer and Sam Bercholz cover a lot of ground in 18 minutes, including Rinpoche throwing his mala over a fence in Oakland, Roshi blessing ...

No Man’s Land

In No Man's Land, Robert Merchasin talks about an extraordinary day in September 1971, and reflects on the lasting impact the events of that day have had on his life.

Hare Krishna

Rinpoche was teaching a college course at C.U. (University of Colorado Boulder) that had been arranged by Brian Grimes. This was probably fall semester 1971. After class one evening...

My First Buddhist Event

I was dating a girl in western Massachusetts. She was a practicing Buddhist. She invited me to go to Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's funeral in Vermont. Being a person versed...

The Day I Shook Hands with my Guru

Note: This story takes place in Boston in March of 1982. The talk mentioned is the same one that was videotaped and titled "Creating Enlightened Society." It was a beautiful...

The Mala

At the 1973 Seminary in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Rinpoche had to fly out to California for a few days for the release of "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism." Since the...

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...

More interesting…

At the 1983 Seminary at Bedford Springs, I took a class in Ikebana. While it was very enjoyable, my work wasn't much to look at, and one day I...

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...

What Space?

We did not have a place to house CTR for the 1974 ITS (Intensive Training Seminar). Peter Hull and I looked around and found a brown trailer in...

A Message

One day in the sitting room of the Kalapa Court on Mapleton Avenue, around 1977-78, I was attending Rinpoche as a Black Guard. He asked me to take a...

Turn it yourself

It was one of the early Level Fives and there were a huge number of participants, mostly from the buddhist community, but there were a lot of new people...

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)...

At Waterways Duck Farm

Trungpa stayed with a spiritualist healer called Robert Copley on his duck farm in ST Ives Huntingdon, U.K. in, or around 1962, where I met him. He described his...

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...

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...

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:...

The Architect

I had just finished an interview with Rinpoche, and started to get up to leave...he said "You can stay.....if you want." I sat back down and in was led...

Every Lifetime

I had not seen the Vidyadhara in a while. It was probably 1975 or 1976... and when he was visiting NY I had an interview with him. Among other...

First Teaching

It was around 1975 or 1976 and I was a student at the University of California at Santa Barbara. I had been very interested in Buddhism since my early...

At a Campfire

At a campfire with the participants of the 1981 Magyal Pomra Encampment VCTR said "Things are familiar and strange." I said I understood the familiar part, but why strange...

Your Guess is as Good as Mine

I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Trungpa give a lecture in Chicago in the 1970's. I don't remember the exact year. I was accompanied by a friend, Terry...

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...

Scattered Pearls

Early 1980's: There was an outdoor patio party at the Kalapa Court in Boulder, for the Court staff. I attended, as I was on the kitchen service staff. I...

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,...

You Knocked Over the Musician!

The 16th Karmapa's second visit to the San Francisco Bay Area occurred during the Chinese and (that year) Tibetan new year's celebrations. On the big day the Karmapa hosted...

Kasung Log: Bringing Them Around

In the late 1970s the Vidyadhara was making fairly frequent visits to Boston Dharmadhatu. Energy was sparking and new people were popping up almost daily. One of these was a...

James Yensan

In this 4-minute video, Jim Yensan recalls the sense of trust he experienced as a student of Trungpa Rinpoche.

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.

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 ...

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...

Interview with Chris Levy: Audio Recovery Technician

Shambhala Archives audio technician, Chris Levy, talks about the audio recovery project, and his ten-year experience of working with Chogyam Trungpa's audio library.

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...

Loss

My mother moved to Boulder when I was a baby and became a student of Chögyam Trungpa. I loved "my Rimpoche" ever since I can remember, long before I...

Absolutely Suicidal

Valentine's Day Edition One day in Boulder, circa 1978, Larry Mermelstein had a very interesting conversation with Trungpa Rinpoche about relationships. Here for Valentine's Day (okay, we're a day late),...

Cooking Indian Food at Kalapa Court

The first time I cooked Indian food at Kalapa Court in Boulder was in the summer of 1978. I was absorbed searching for some ingredients in the corner cupboard...

How To Speak the English Language

Elocution lessons with Trungpa Rinpoche Soon after arriving in India in 1960, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche began to study English with the help of Freda Bedi and later John Driver, both...

Climbing the Stairs with Rinpoche

The Vajracharya placed his right hand in mine and the fleshy depth of his hand swallowed me whole.

The Shrine Blessing

About 15 of us were doing the first dathun at the Abbey in January, 1986. The place was abuzz because Rinpoche was coming up to Halifax for the shrine...

The Fibre Glass Buddha

Many people meeting the Vidyadhara for the first time may have felt awkward and out of place. Some may even have felt as deeply ambivalent about the situation and...

Qualities

My stories of the Vidyadhara are pretty uneventful. As a kasung, as personal guard, I got to be around him many times, and I lived in the Court in...

My Very Short Life in Tibet

Here's a short one from Michael Chender in the spirit of Alan Sloan's My Very Short Life with Milarepa Very early on, I was looking to see if maybe I had...