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
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.
