I have to thank you soooooo very much for making these talks available. I feel soo honoured, lucky, blessed to be able to sit in Trungpa Rinpoche's presence ~ it truly feels like I am! I am so, so grateful.

What a beautiful page! Thank you so much for all your work. The Chronicles is a treat and there area few of us down here in Adelaide who frequent it with great appreciation.

Cheerful beginning of 2012 to you!

Loretta
Co-ordinator, Adelaide Shambhala Meditation Group

I was not one of the lucky ones to actually know Rinpoche but his teachings and all I learn from the Chronicles site means very much to me. His teachings in audio, video, and written form have helped me so much. I can't learn enough. Thank you.

It is my pleasure to be able to support such a meaningful internet site with my modest contribution. I am Khyentse Rinpoche's student and the first book he recommended to me when agreeing to take me on as his student several years back was Trungpa Rinpoche's Meditation in action. So really appreciate and rejoice in all your wonderful efforts in bringing and refreshing us with many of Trungpa Rinpoche's profound teaching! I have circulated this donation drive of yours to Khyentse Rinpoche's students in HK [Hong Kong].

Just on a feedback note, the "chronicles" website is magnificent....my wife and I also had the good fortune of attending a public talk by Trungpa Rinpoche at "Friends House" in London shortly before he died......you may well have been assisting him on this trip......it had such a deep impact on us...I remember that it polarised opinions greatly, however we had no doubt that he was a great mahasiddha.....and how his work lives on!

The Chronicles has to be one of, if not, the most important activity associated with preserving and promoting the teachings of VCTR. Listening to senior students such as Bob Rader feels so much like experiencing VCTR and the development of Shambhala first hand. It is so apparent how much and how deeply VCTR impacted his students. Sometimes listening to these most blessed students is like receiving a transmission - I get so open-hearted, sad, inspired and my feelings of gratitude for a) VCTR, b) senior students and c) the Chronicles, soars. Of course I had to make a contribution! Putting one's resources (however small) where one's mouth is, is required. I sincerely hope that more of VCTR's senior students begin to teach. Their experiences are so alive, fresh and raw -so vivid they give me goose-bumps! To allow all of that brilliance to pass from the world without sharing it more is a great tragedy.

Again, the Chronicles has my eternal appreciation and gratitude for bringing VCTR and the voices of this students to the wider world.

I just want to show my great appreciation towards your effort on your insightful website! Since I have never met Trungpa Rinpoche in Person, the heartfelt and personal stories with him in the "Brief Encounter" section are definitely making a greater connection with him for me. Thank you again for this great contribution for the community!

What a superb resource the Chronicles has become. For anyone who is inspired by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his dharma legacy, or wants more information about the Vidyadhara, his teachings, and his world, the Chronicles has become the go-to website. Every month you continue to provide wonderful new offerings. Thank you.

The Chronicles is so important for all our hearts and minds, for the well being and upliftedness of our community.

I appreciate you having created this platform. My only comment is this - recognizing that there are a lot of different points of view about what's become of all this - that I hope you continue to reflect and propagate that ungraspable edge that our teacher had, that it was not just about buddhism or Tibet or religion or this practice or that but about our reality as human beings. I was watching the videos of the first summer at Naropa last night, which I attended, and it was so powerful.

I am so pleased to review this beautiful website. It is such an inspiration to remember the power of CTR's teachings. My heart is opened.

The site has given me so much pleasure and inspiration when I especially feel lonely for the vidyadhara. Thank you for this gift to the sangha.

Thanks so much for making these videos available..How wonderful to pass onto generations the unique style of presentation and expression of Trungpa Rinpoche..I was fortunate to meet Rinpoche in Rumtek, and it was a memorable experience...I'm particularly enjoying the early Naropa series and have posted them on www.community.tricycle.com..."Karmapa group"..which I am administrating... Rinpoche was one of my early influences in 1972, when I arrived in India and read his teachings...I was also present for Rinpoche's cremation ceremony..
Quite frankly, I can appreciate even more now Rinpoche's teachings..Its truly a gift that keeps on giving..

We have been Shambhala meditation group for few years. Of course I can not mention who we are, since it might be dangerous to well being of the group.

Although authoritarian regime, are all around, but the modern technology had been on our side. Of course sometimes the Internet is not working sometimes the government is getting on people's messages and put them in jail for one reason or another. No media can express the difficulty that we are going through and no media other than Chronicle of C.T.R can stand in front of all censorship and help us to open our mind/heart, by being able to listen to teachings of C.T.R.

We have been so fortunate to have access to Rinpoche's teaching all around the world. Once Afghanistan were celebrating Buddhism and the great Buddha sculpture was manifestation of Buddhism in that part of the world years ago. Which later on Taliban destroyed it. Sometimes we have open situation,sometimes it is absolutely shot dawn and close. But by the work of Chronicle, the torch of C.T.R's teachings had been passed on to us.

Keep up the incredibly valuable work that you're doing, because its value is inestimable. -Very best wishes, Susie

I appreciate your work and the work of all the people involved in the Chonicles like Julia. I have learned so much from the Chronicles recordings and webpage.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank you for what you have done and are doing with the Chronicles. It is a very precious gift to the world. Love, Chandali

I am sure that I want to continue to support the Chronicles. It is a thread of continuity in what I practice, study and teach. Always.

Thanks for posting Rinpoche's talk "CYNICISM AND WARMTH". It really blew my mind. It never ceases to amaze me how relevant and direct his words can be...this talk was before I was born, yet somehow his words feel uncomfortably personal. Sincerely, Michelle

The recent earthquake is heart-breaking beyond belief. Thank you for doing an excellent job to cover the tragedy. I've come to rely on Chronicles as my first choice for accurate and cohesive information. Yours in the dharma, and the shadows of CTR, who permeates the sun and the moon and air we breathe.

No doubt you are aware of this dimension of your work, however I wanted to tell you that two people have contacted me who live right here in Indianapolis whose link to the dharma and in particular Chögyam Trungpa is being forged through the Chronicles Website.

Hi Folks, I explored New Mexico for 10 years and every day found the untouched earth. What you are doing at the chronicle project is very similar. I am astounded to realize that the quality of your re-masters has such a penetrating quality. Its almost like being under the tents again and being present at the original talks. You are providing an inspiration and a kick in the butt to people to move ahead in their practices. It is like touching the original source again. Congratulations, Marvin

[I want to say] THANK YOU every opportunity I can for all you do at the Chronicles, which I support in every way i can ...

The chronicles have greatly enriched my connection to our best friend, CTR, as well as all our Sangha, brothers and sisters. Thank you for all your work. The Chronicles keep me sane through the rigors of the corporate work day.

Thank you so much for your work keeping the teachings and spirit of the Vidyadhara alive. It means so much to so many of us.

I'm delighted to receive Trungpa Rinpoche's chronicles and audios and I always hear them and pay attention, even write down some notes.

Thank you for your work on The Chronicles.
I have been listening to the classes taught in Boulder last fall. And Pema's commentary on The Myth of Freedom. I never met the Vidyadhara so am very glad to get a taste of his presence through these teachings.

Receiving the chronicles is such a treat and a real blessing. With all my heart, I thank you for bringing such joy to me and probably to thousands of others.

It is way past due, but please accept my deep appreciation for the wonderful work you do to promote the dharma of VCTR through the Chronicles. The teachings are terrific and, most important, very supportive of my practice.

With gratitude,
Kathi Lieb
Evanston, IL

I am nobody from nowhere and do not really warrant having a speaking voice in this discussion- but, I am enjoying this site and all it offers immensely. My connection with this lineage (however it defines itself) is as a person who studied and loved the works of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche for decades as I led an active life in a different wisdom tradition and who finally, at the age of nearly 50, found herself in the Naropa U. MA program in Contemplative Education. I have been there for the past 10 years, as I became an adjunct faculty member after my graduation. I intensely value, practice and use, everything the Shambhala world has generously shared with me. I am adding my voice to this as a person who lives both within and without the mandala. I want to say that I hope that the Shambhala world will always be a big tent, and will always allow sparks to fly in it's interaction with the greater world. There are many, many people who benefit from your existence, your wisdom and your generosity, the very fact that you have these discussions together, that you debate and interact on matters of lineage, dharma and sangha attests to your strength and your openness. Thank you for your transparency and your courage- it is completely fresh and very, very rare.

I've learned a lot from listening to Trungpa Rinpoche directly and I can't express how much I appreciate the site. Hearing his voice is the closest thing to meeting him and I wish I had when he was around.

Thank YOU, Chronicles is an beautifully rich and loving endeavor. I will try to send a contribution soon.

Thank you for re-recording class 7 and giving us the opportunity to hear your wonderful presentation of the Bodhisattva path as taught by Trungpa Rinpoche. The entire series of classes have become an important resource for my study and practice as I delve more deeply into Rinpoche's teachings.

Dear Chronicles,

I am an old student of the Vidyadhara and am amazed how Rinpoche's teachings continue to speak directly to my place and time.

Through new publications and especially the Chronicles and the Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week from Carolyn Gimian I feel connected to Rinpoche's presence. The Chronicles just keep getting better and better. Thank you for all of your and everyone's' efforts in creating and compiling the site.

I am new to this site and would like to thank you for the quality that you put forth.

Thanks Chroniclers!

We love the work you are doing especially we relish the videos, photos, and interviews.

Particluarily we have enjoyed the interviews of Let Loose -- Thrangu Rinpoche, Dzongzar Khyentse Rinpoche , Ponlop Rinpoche, and khandro Rinpoche.

Keep up the valuable fabulous wor

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to listen to the talks about CTR in this program and for all of the other materials that you offer about CTR. I have been practicing meditation with some of his students for the past 7 years and unfortunately did not have the opportunity to meet him personally. I feel that the teachings in this programs are so fresh and alive and I feel more connected to CTR as a result. I have forwarded the information about the program and about the Chronicle Project to folks who are a part of a group with whom I meditate in Chicago. I regret that the recording for class seven did not work out. Is there any way of rerecording that talk? I would hope one day to be able to have a CTR discussion group and to use the recordings as the primary resource. If not can I get a copy of the presenters notes or outline? Are there any recordings of CTR teaching about the six paramitas and Buddha-nature that we could use instead.

Thanks again for your wonderful work.

Thank you so much for continuing to inspire so many of us with the Vidyadhara's teachings. I have sent them out to practitioners and non practitioners who all are so grateful for these poignant teachings, that enrich our lives each day.

As usual, I am blown away by all the stuff you and Joanne and the other Chronicle's staff have going on with the website. Wow!!! The quality of the new 'dharma classes' section is mind blowing.

With much appreciation, Dudley Jackson

Rinpoche's teachings available on mp3 through the Chronicle is extremely valuable for those of us who did not have the fortunate karma to meet and encounter him but were brought to the path through publication of his teachings; hearing Rinpoche's voice brings alive the teachings in a profound manner that is deeply penetrating and alive ...

I just want to say how much I enjoyed the report from the first expedition to PEI. It had a little of everything- the Hindi conversation, the issue with the cow's feed, the decorum, the ground of nothing but genuineness with a twist of humor- the Tibetan prince. I promise I'll send you guys a monthly donation in the New Year. This is more satisfying than NPR.

Thanks for your scary Halloween offering on the Chronicles.

This poem reminds [below] me of Rinpoche. It's by [Rafael Jesús González] one of our Berkeley treasures. -Chris

Trick & Treat

Death at the door,
or lurking among the leaves,
death itself is the inevitable trick;
the only treat worth the having,
to love fearlessly,
and well.

© Rafael Jes Gonzalez 2009

(The Montserrat Review, Issue 7, Spring 2003; author's copyrights)

Firstly, thank you so much for your deeply inspiring work!! I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the variety of stories and beginning to taste the magic of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's life and legacy. Inspired by Grant Maclean's work in the articles on 50th anniversary of his flight from Tibet, I have picked up Born in Tibet. I read with absolute fascination the story of the tenth Tulku's life and how it reflects Rinpoche's disdain for spiritual materialism. I'm amazed to read how at 12 years old, CTR was already advanced in this observation and scheming to cut through it even as communism was coming at it from another angle!

So thank you for giving life to this most insightful of teachers.

With much appreciation, Edmund

I just wanted to send a personal email thanking you for the Chronicles website. It is so enriching in my life, so meaningful and sustaining for me. I really appreciate you providing this as a resource free to the public.

One of the things I look forward to in my life is the Chronicles. If you guys weren't doing what you're doing, things would be different. The Chronicles provides much needed perspective.

I just returned from Vienna. Following a sadhana of mahamudra practice intensive (3 full days with 3 sessions of doing the sadhana and watching the Vidyadhara's videotapes from the '75 Boulder seminar on the sadhana) in Vienna at the beginning of this month, we had some money left over and decided that the Nalanda Translation Committee and the Chronicles Project were the most appropriate recipients of donations! Please know - and let your colleagues know - that your efforts are really appreciated all over the globe. Thank you for your important work of preserving the history of Trungpa Rinpoche's teachings!

Best regards,
Karl

I have been meaning to join chronicles for a long time. As someone who often can't get to programs, due to some health issues, it helps keep me in touch with what's going on. I don't know if you think of it that way, but it does serve that function. I particularly feel indebted to Julia's Dispatches series. Where else would I hear people like Richard Reoch, Judith Simmer-Brown, and Fleet Maull discuss in person issues such as how they came to Shambhala, and how they feel about current events?

Regarding the Prajna stories

I particularly appreciated the entries you posted today from Cindy Grieve, the last refugee [Laurie Huck], and the two kasung -- esp. Randy who Rinpoche wanted to cook Armenian food for him. What a riot!

I think Cindy really nailed it when she wrote:
"Prajna had a special energy- an intangible palpableness- closely connected to the earth but clearly part of the sky. The building may be lost but the dralas abide."

It was where the Dorje Dradul brought together heaven, earth, and man on the spot and invited the dralas to partake of his feast of dharma.

The stream of resources you've been providing is nothing short of stunning.

Bravo to Dr. Julia Sagebien and the Chronicles for their continued integrity and skill in chronically the amazing display of phenomenon they have arisen in relation to the Druk Sakyong, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche.

Whatever opinions each of us may have about Dr. Ray, we certainly know more about him, his views and his activities from listening to this informative and revealing interview.

Dr. Sagebien has a wonderful, surprising interviewing presence that seems to allow those she interviews to clearly articulate their experiences at a deeper than conventional level. Barbara Walters pales in comparison.

May the success of the Chronicles continue.

In the shifting sands of dharma development in the west, these chronicles may be the best preservation of the original heart essence of Trungpa's contributions that will endure for future practitioners.

Thanks much! I and many here in Colorado regard the Chronicles as one of the most crucial spearheads in preserving the legacy, teachings and blessings of the Vidyadhara. You are electronic tertons!

Hi from Mexico where we have been enjoying a different life and helping to establish a Shambhala Centre in San Miguel de Allende.

I wanted to write to thank you for all your efforst with the Chronicles. It's an amazing resource. I listen not only for the teachings and connections to VCTR, but to the sangha. It's so wonderful to hear the voices of friends and have them be a part of our life again via MP3s.

I have yet to do so but will soon click that support box....

I would like to offer a contribution to the stories if that would be appropriate. I never met his body but sure encountered his mindstream when in the archives...Best regards to all there.

* * *

Dear John, Thank you so much. This is very heartening to hear--especially from a professional archivist.

Yes, we would love to have your stories. I think your experience would be very interesting and quite unique. Please write something or record something -- text, audio or video. I'm sure it will be a great addition to our colle

The Chronicles is a like a field of mind stopping landmines.

I noticed in the comments that some folks were a bit miffed at the fact that issues around the Regent and various letters were posted. As someone who was not around to experience this directly at the time, looking at these issues does help one trust the openness of the community and allows one to take a closer look at things that otherwise only end up being second or third hand reiterations of old memories that are charged with emotion and bias. The clarity that is offered the inquisitive student in presenting these documents is invaluable. This is not a culture of blind faith. I am on my own journey of renewing interest and commitment to the Shambhala mandala, and doing so without such resources available could only lead to a lack of properly established trust.

So keep it up.

Jack's slideshow is a wonderful treasure!! Thank you Chronicle Project!! Thank you Jack!! It is such a pleasure to go back to the "early days" and feel the energy, vastness and brilliance of the Vidyadhara's mind through Jack's storytelling abilities.

I became a student of the Vidyadhara back in '81 (Paris, France). For the first time in my life, something in this ur-weird world was not weird, but good, and made sense. '85 seminary, ngondro (the old version, rising in the cold dark while the child was still sleeping at four in the morning to practice, month after month, mala clicking...)

And then Vajradhatu seemed to recede like an endlessly outgoing tide, replaced by unfamiliarity such that connections with sangha loosened and disappeared--Nothing to counter the call of parenting and training + earning a living... Only discreet photographs of the Vidyadhara glowing in the corners of my consulting room.

This is a wordy (I'm sorry) introduction to saying what inspired me to write to you.

Which is Newcomb Greenleaf's essay on the Heart Sutra. It zoomed right into me. I could feel the breath of the Vidyadhara. Timeless stillness. So taut and completely open.

This is sangha that I recognise, that resonates, that ignites my curiosity all over again.

And I don't want to be unfair---there have been many wonderful things on the Chronicles which reminded me of the Vidyadhara. However this has a quality of aliveness which makes my hair feel like it could be on fire all over again.

Thank you.

Just wanting you to know that the Niland slide show is extraordinary and wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Spending the last two hours listening to Jack's voice and studying these wonderful images has brought me back to the feeling of those early years - the uncertainty, the aliveness, the vastness of Rinpoche's world. Thank you Jack for sharing these stories - you are a holder of wonderful teachings for us all. What boldness to actually corner Rinpoche and make him draw. You were the perfect person for the task!

The Vidyadhara taught Jack Niland a new way to see, and helped him turn that vision into art, an art that has shaped the look of Vajradhatu and Shambhala, and marks the beginning of the lineage of Dharma Art and Shambhala Art. Being Tara tells this important story, interlaced with Jack's own acid-laced oddyssey to the dharma. It leaves me most curious about the weekend that followed this introductory slide show.

Absolutely loved the Jack Niland show. Deeply informative, strange, inspiring, scary, penetrating, puzzling, and altogether enjoyable. Jack is the only possible vessel for this particular transmission. He knows how the eye works. Well done.

WOW - and please pass my appreciation on to Jack for the slideshow. Thanks for all your efforts.

Brillant stuff from Jack Niland - i've been taking notes - hope he can come to Europe soon. best for the new year

Dear Jack,

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed being regaled by you and the dharma art world that you know so well and helped to create for us all. It is a FABULOUS presentation. Our guru's complete being shines through quite nicely. Seeing more of his doodles and sketches is just terrific. The way he characterized the Buddhist and Shambhala principles in terms of the mandala layout is brilliant and amazing. So many wonderful and simple insights, demonstrating quite nicely how ati can be too simple for so many of us, who tend to make everything so complicated. Please continue to present much more of this teaching. It is essential, powerful, transmissional, and fun. Thank you also to Jeff for putting together a very elegant and clear presentation. I hope our paths may cross again soon.

With all best wishes

Jack Niland's slideshow is very very captivating, beyond interesting, Being Tara.

Every time I listen to a talk, or read an article from the Chronicles I feel closer to the world of CTR. I am left feeling more aware of why I continue down this very long, difficult, and sometimes delightful path. The Chronicles is my breakfast companion. It is the way I start my day, and I can't think of a better way to go out into the world. Thank you for all your hard work, dedication to bringing the dharma into our homes. May this year bring you many blessings. Please double my donation. Cheers

Thank you so much for this mesmerizing presentation of Dharma Art by Jack as only he can manifest. It was so tantalizing. Would love to see and hear more. Jack's experimental leap landed beautifully!

CHEERFUL NEW YEAR TO ALL..........

Dear Chronicles,
This is by far the most tangible, productive, and inspiring project happening in the Shambhala Community. Thank you for putting our hearts into words and capturing our memories before it's too late. I hope you get the support this project deserves, and needs. In the mean time, thank you for taking this on.

I have just renewed my membership on line.

I want to tell you how much I appreciate the site as a whole. Particularly I'm pleased with the down-loadable version of the Dispatches. That's a nice new feature -- now you can commute with me.

Another satisfied customer. [I] commuted with you and Khandro Rinpoche today.

* * *

Thanks Charlotte. Glad to hear you like the podcast feature. We're getting a lot of possitive feedback from people who have enjoyed listening to Dispatches in their car, in the supermarket lineup, walking, wherever. To podcast dispatches, visit the our podcast page. -WF

i am greatly in support of what you are doing
having never met CTR in person
but meeting him in books
it is exciting and delightful to "meet him" through the archives and his students

Thank you for doing this service! I travel in my work and it is so good to find myself in some hotel somewhere and to be able to log in and listen to an interview about Dharma. It gives me a chance to remember some more deeply held priorities in the midst of a fast-paced world.

Thank you for making all of this available. It is comforting to be able to go on the Chronicles website and extract these potent juices of the Vidyadhara's heart and mind.

Rainbows around the sun;
Kasung marching;
Khyentse Rinpoche with no shirt.

Barbara Stewarts' mind
wandering from
past to present.

Comments from
a veritable who's who
of Buddhism.

Quite a tribute;
Fit for a king;
Jolly Good Show

I was just doing my weekly cruise of the site and it hit me....The site makes it sound as though CTR is dead and gone....And so I am writing to let you know CTR is still waking people up... in their dreamtime. I know, because I met him this way years after his "death". When I took refuge with Moh a few years ago, it came out in my interview that I was there because of these dreams ....Moh told me he had granted Refuge to at least 100 people who had all been touched by him in this way, in the past few years. The number will be higher by now. It would be good to track what the Vidyadhara IS doing to liberate sentient beings. He is still very active and I am grateful.
sincerely, Jigme Kunga

It's raining here today, and even the weather contributes to the unbelievable loss we all felt that day and to the ever unfolding experience of him to this day.

Thank you for creating this forum.
With much much love,
Ellen

Just a note to let you know how important The Chronicles are for me as a devoted new student. The articles, the dispaches and photos are a source of joy and inspiration every time I listen to them. It's invaluable work and I appreciate it immensely.
All the best,
Barbara