The Passing of Lady Diana Mukpo

Lady Diana gave a talk in Boston in the mid-1980s, and afterwards responded to a question about childrearing. I don't remember the question, but her response was very matter of fact: "I want my children to grow up independent and to make their own choices, except" -- pause -- "if they decide not to be Buddhist, I'll break their arms and legs." It was a joke and not a joke at the same time.

La vi solo tres veces y nunca hablé con ella. No era necesario. Su presencia era imponente: humilde y grandiosa a la vez, poderosa y tierna, discreta y magnífica. Como una reina madre. Algo andrógina, femenina y fuerte. Presencia auténtica. Gracias gran dama y señora. Desde el espacio has sido el mayor soporte para mantener el reino. No nos abandones, ahora. Mantente en tu lugar y cuídanos. Como siempre.

Envío mi más sincero agradecimiento , aprecio y admiración a Lady Diana Mukpo por encarnar las enseñanzas de Shambhala a lo largo de su vida y por su generosa entrega a ellas y a todos los seres sintientes. Que tu hermosa luz se alce en el espacio de la Bondad Fundamental como un faro en la niebla, iluminando con tu compasión y sabiduría nuestras vidas. Que la confianza del áureo Sol del Gran Este despunte y una lluvia de bendiciones llegue a todos los seres. Buen viaje Lady Diana Mukpo , with love......

Goodbye, Farewell to Lovely Lady Diana. Thank you for your generosity and for providing the needed stability and continuity in our community and may may you continue to bless all beings with your love. Very good job! I appreciate you and will remember you as inspiration
Much love to you, loved ones, friends, sangha, and, family

I would like to offer this song in tribute to Lady Diana's incredible strength and wisdom as the wife and life companion of the Vidyadhara, something only she could have accomplished. This song is an adaptation of a poem by the Vidyadhara which he personally asked me to adapt to music and which later Lady Diana granted permission for us to release as a recording. We offer this music to her as a tribute to her life and her generosity.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/wedding-song/336404483?i=336404541
https://open.spotify.com/track/2IvMJn8jiXmC4996DPQ0RL?si=baf7827579f04d8f

Lady Diana’s book deeply impacted me and helped me celebrate the teachings and the life of Trungpa Rinpoche. It also helped me process some of the goings on and the context of many things in and around our global sangha. I had the privilege of being in her presence at the consecration of the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya in 2001. I did not meet her or interact with her but her presence was profoundly regal and so tender at the same time. I appreciated seeing her seated with Mr. Levy and the presence they held together. I also had a sense of her wit and humor just by her countenance, and it made me feel connected with both her and the Vidyadhara, who I never met in bodily form. This experience left a deep imprint in me. I am indebted to her and grateful that our lives intersected.

At Encampment 2013 at DCL I received the "there are no mistakes-smile" from her, when she was Tonsung Wangmo during the practice. Still grateful for meeting her. She was full of bravery!

I would had liked to share with her time and space. I always thought i would do that in the future but impermanence is the strongest law, maybe in other life. Thanks for your bravery dear Lady Diana

I remember one other occasion--it was in Halifax--but I cannot remember precisely when or where it took place, but Lady Diana entered wearing a black and gold beaded and striped dress, announcing that she was the "queen bee"
!

Not everyone knows that when she was pregnant with Taggie, Trungpa R. sent Diana back to Scotland to get his son Osel. At first it seemed that the couple with whom Osel was staying was willing to part with him, but then after Diana arrived they seemed to change and didn't want to let him go. So away from Rinpoche, although in contact, Diana struggled for 2 months before they would finally release Osel, so that he could rejoin his father! Her persistence in the face of such difficulties revealed the courage and great heart of a queen.

I’m rereading some of “Dragon Thunder” - about her experiences with Trungpa and beyond. Even though a lot has occurred in the Shambhala world, my life has definitely changed for the better in the long run! Meditation and taming the mind is the most powerful thing one can do for sustainable mental well-being! Condolences to the family! Ki ki So So Ashe!

A great priviledge to be born in the time of a great Buddha and his consort, wife and dharma partner. Thank-you for your love and devotion to CTR and RIP Lady Diana.

My deepest condolences to the family. Lady Diana Mukpo, just thank you 🙏🏽
May you be in light.

Sadness that we have lost our Sakyong Wangmo, joy that I ever had the good fortune to know and serve her, and warmest condolences to Mitchell, Tagtruk, Gesar, Chandali, Ashoka, and David, as well as the grandchildren - those that knew her and those that never will.

One of my fondest memories of Lady Diana is when she presided over the 2000 Magyel Pomra Encampment at Dorje Denma Ling. She was royal, elegant, mischievous, and outrageous. To her, it seemed, we were a large but close-knit family on the vast playground of the warriors. From a surprise haircut for the Sergeant Major to asking people to identify disembodied eyes, tongue and heart, she kept surprising us and having great fun while also holding the seat of the Makkyi Rabjam with great dignity and solemnity and honouring the forms that he had created.

The supplication to the Mother Lineage was obviously written for her. Wishing a smooth transition and a joyful reunion for our mother and Queen.

With deepest gratitude and love,
Sally Walker

Poem to LDM by CTR

Instructions in stroke practice and the touch of her hand on mine was transformative.

The first words the Vidyadhara said to me were: "My wife's from South Africa."

Hamba kahle, Indlovukazi!

Go well, great queen!

My lady from another time
Bridging all regalia East and West
We adore you for eternity.

I did not get to know Lady Mukpo with great certainity, yet I was taught as a young boy that the fruit is an indication of the vine. My teachers were with her, and so they were her, and so I am with her.

May the thunderclouds haunt us evermore.

AHO!
Chris

OM MANI PADME HUM, dear lady Diana!

from Johanne

May the merit of your Sakyong Wangmoship bring peace to the world and lungta to future warriors.

May the merit of your Sakyong Wangmoship bring peace to the world and lungta to future warriors.

Sad to hear of her passing. She sponsored our stallion Schroeder for a short time in FL and was helpful on his path to Grand Prix. RiP.

happy and sad all thoughts vanish like an imprint of a bird in the sky. CTR

Thank you for being an example as a Lady in the true meaning.

🙏🏻✨🙏🏻

I went to Samye Ling as a 17 year old guy from the nearby town of Dumfries in 1968. I met Trungpa there and received instructions from him. I remember Diana and Sakyong Mipham being about. She was a lovely and lively lass who grew into the transmission of the dharma in the West with and supporting her husband. I joined Vajadhatu in 1981 in Edinburgh and am am still a student of Sakyong Mipham. I am sad to hear it was her turn to go.

I am very sad and cried when I read this message. I still consider me as a Devotee of the Vydhara and member of the Warriors Assembly. Dear Lady Mukpo, I have never met you but I heard stories about Your work your noblesse and your inner and outer beauty.
May you be a bloss for mankind!
Joachim from Former Munich Sangha.

I am grateful for you courage for embarking on journey and staying true to your own interest.

🧚🏽‍♂️My love for you, lady Diana Mukpo 🪷🐣

Our hearts are saddened at hearing of Lady Diana’s passing. Partner in life to the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she was a great inspiration to him in the establishment of court vision and the propagation of the Shambhala teachings and the buddhadharma. We remember with praise her keen mind and determined spirit, her tough and tender qualities, and her general outrageousness. We, the sangha, are the beneficiaries of her faith and insight into the message of basic sanity and unconditional confidence. Ki Ki So So. May she dwell in Great Eastern Sun brilliance!

The Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin Library and Archives community extend our condolences to Lady Diana’s husband, children, and grandchildren as we join with the greater sangha in honoring her life and example.

Lady Lila Rich

It was my first Weekend program in Trungpa's world, an Amara program, with Mitchell in Vienna 1983, when I met her. A whole evening celebrating and making jokes. Me, being a young spiritual searcher, being irritated and fascinated. I will never forget her laughter and her unshakeable sharpness and surprising kindness. What a good fortune having met you, a wonderful manifestation of the mother lineage! With gratitude and my best wishes for the great transition.

Cœur triste, larmes nostalgiques

She was the definition of gentle and tough. Held her seat, on a horse and in the world. Fearless with Rinpoche’s directness and the sangha’s projections. If she was perfect, she wouldn’t be human. I had a few exchanges with her over the years, a few disagreements from a distance, and a lot of respect. Just the sound of her voice could soften my heart. I often thought of her in hospice care, and I miss her already. Thank you Diana. As I’ve heard said in England, ‘well done her!’

On duty with Chogyam Trungpa and Lady Diana at Bhumipalibhava -KCL the Vidyadhara taking care of Yumtso's infected ear, me holding Yumtso snout, the Vidyadhara trusting me, Lady Diana on the couch next to CTR - I am completely new student, wondering why Lady Diana was gently hitting my precious CTR with couch pillows; w/ no pretence giving her the eye. For the first time in my life I experienced my spiritual family. I love you Lady Diana, your strength, dignity - bringing life and the sacred journey together without pretence. Ani Chodron

Thank you for your shining.

May you be in warmth and light.

L.

I don't suppose it's well known, but Lady Diana remained a director of Konchok Foundation until the end of her life. Since I'm also involved with Konchok Foundation, it was in that capacity that I had periodic contact with her over the past twenty or so years. She continued to have a strong interest in developments at Surmang, and, of course, had never forgotten her own visit there with her family.

From their side, the Surmang leadership were quite well aware of her importance to the continuation of the dharma legacy of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who continues to be regarded as a monumental figure in Tibet.

Lady Diana was always interested in receiving updates about Surmang. I would have sent them to her regardless, there was no need for her to thank me. But she did occasionally send me thank you notes, unfailingly gracious in tone. Certainly beyond anything I had done to deserve them. I came away feeling that she didn't regard generosity of spirit as something that one had to conserve else you might run out.

Thank you, Diana, for the grace and courage you showed in the face of adversity. Your heart was very much appreciated.

Condolences to family and friends. Thank you for your presence, teachings and support of the Dharma.

Lady Diana’s presence has been such an anchor for so many people in the Shambhala community, including me. As a new student, meeting her at a book signing and reading Dragon Thunder, opened my understanding of how the ancient wisdom traditions and the culture I felt so drawn to made sense. She conveyed the humanity and richness of the story of her life together with Chogyam Trungpa, which made the teachings more real and accessible for me. Hosting her at the Providence Shambhala Center, and being welcomed into her home and getting to know her better are such joyful memories. Lady Diana’s dignity, warmth, precision, and sense of humor inspired me in how to be. May her journey be peaceful and with ease, and may the emotions of letting go flow gently for her and her family.
Love love love

I served Lady Diana as a Kusung here in Halifax in the late 1980s in the Kalapa Court on Young Avenue. My shifts were usually Friday nights which consisted of pizza and a movie. It was a very relaxed time with Lady Diana, Mitchell and little David and Ashoka and Chandali. I remember lots of laughter and good cheer! Even at fun times, Lady Diana manifested with sparkle and elegance. I look back fondly!
I send love and sympathy to the family!

I just recently read some of the book you wrote on being the married to Rinpoche. Your blessing to share the magic of the dharma with the world touches me and I hope that there can be other people like you who are unafraid to go against the conventional way of life yet who are the very teachers of the true way. Please come back as another one of the brightest lights in the endless darkness

My heart-felt thoughts and prayers are with all the members of Lady Diana's family and with all those to whom she was a close and powerful influence throughout her wide-ranging and extraordinary life. In the words of the Bardo Thötröl, translated by The Vidyadhara, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, "This mind of yours is inseparable luminosity and emptiness in the form of a great mass of light, it has no birth or death, therefore it is the buddha of Immortal Light."

A Ho!
It's time to fly in the expanse of sky of spacious Mother!

Thank you Lady Diana

Shambhala est en deuil. Nous avons perdu Lady Diana, une femme, une reine, une guerrière. Puisse son exemple et son souvenir continuer de nous inspirer.
KI KI SO SO

Mis condolencias a la familia y toda la Sangha.

From the two occasions I met her, at encampment and Warrior Assembly, what stands out was her kindness and inscrutability. No way to pin her down easily. I felt I was in love afterwards. Thank you, Lady Diana!

I prostrate to the Precious Sakyong Wangmo. Her being that radiates the brilliance and gentleness embodied by the Shambhala Lineage even now.

About a week ago, I began to be deeply aware of her. Having not experienced either acceptance or nurturance from my personal mother, suddenly I felt that coming to me from you - spontaneously and each time I looked at your picture I felt my heart ease and open.

No negativity, no judgement just pure motherly love. As I write this tears well up in my heart. I shall miss you instructions.

Thank you Lady Diana, even though I barely knew you, for this unexpected gift of love and prajna.

Tamcho Kartso

May Lady Diana's transition be peaceful. I extend my condolences to her family.
With a deep bow of respect,
Susan Phenix

My deepest condolences to the family. May she rest in peace.
Sending all my love to the family

Lady Diana was an inspiration for me in a number of ways. Most obviously, we shared a first name and I also had a deep passion for horses. I began to have some insights into how equestrianship was essentially another form of meditation practice and hoped it would become part of the Shambhala training curriculum. Lady Diana always embodied for me a very straight-forward, sharp, kind, insightful and dignified presence and I will cherish her for being such a significant participant in supporting the introduction of Shambhala Buddhism into our Western culture here in America. It becomes clearer everyday that now it is up to us all. KI KI SO SO, Lady Diana, may our paths continue to cross always!

Lady Diana, I loved your strength and courage. It was not easy or simple to be Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's wife. You lived a life of encouragement for many people. You didn't succumb to the chaos or confusion that such a young sangha sometimes created. We all grew up together, we all became the path that opened the door.
As Rinpoche said "The notion of fearlessness, absence of fear, is the absence of habitual patterns. Otherwise you cannot become warriors at all."
You had dignity, lungta and your presence had tenderness. You have experienced and communicated natural goodness.

Lady Diana nous a démontré que l'amour, l'intrépidité , la générosité étaient présents dans toute vie ordinaire, celle d'une femme, d'une mère et d'une grand-mère. Merci pour cet exemple d'amour et de compassion.

My deepest condolences to the family. May she rest in peace.

I never met Lady Diana, but I do well remember when Jerry Granelli once told me, you are now part of the Mukpo family. I feel the loss, my condelences to the family.

Thank you for being with us and the manifestation of a western Khandro.

I had the honour to coordinate a WA with her as the teacher - she was so gentle and I felt so supported. She was like a mother for me…
She did more than embody the following quote — she showed me that the Shambhala teachings are profoundly real: The warrior who is perky is not caught in the trap of doubt.
Thank you so much

I first really got to know Lady Diana when she lived for a year in Northern California around 1975. I was dating a woman who was caretaking at Diana’s house. Gesar was about 3 and Ganesh the dog was everywhere. I easily connected with Diana as she was so available, funny, direct and honest. We both worked to try to navigate Gesar’s occasional outbursts, which took a lot of patience and strength.
Ever since then, when she and I occasionally met, we would resume our easy conversations which I appreciated for the clarity and dignity she always embodied.
I miss her so! Her presence will be missed but her legacy and example will live on. Fruitful journey, Diana!

Lady Diana was a good mother and a stalwart support for Chogyam Trungpa, her husband and teacher. Her goodness was consistent and uncorrupted.

Thank You Lady Diana : )

From the heart, deep love and prayers for all of you beloved MUKPO family and the Sangha.

"A Ho!
It's time to fly in the expanse of sky of spacious Mother ! "

Exert of a DOHA spoken spontaneously by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso Rinpoche during a flight in 1998.

I first met the young ( forever young) Diana at Samye Ling when she was wondering about marrying Chogyam Trungpa . We agreed it would be interesting - and it certainly was -as she has written. But above and beyond that, without her enduring fierce love and support for him, we would probably be without Shambhala. Well Done Diana!

I was in a relationship with Diana in Cambridge, where we both were students. We briefly studied Tibetan together with Ato Rinpoche, and hitchhiked to London, where we visited each other's mothers. She was extremely spontaneous and uncompromisingly herself in all situations. During that period, she travelled up to Scotland several times with Danny Russell to see Trungpa Rinpoche. After they got married they stayed with me briefly in my rooms in Magdalene college, sleeping on my mattress on the floor.
My neighbour in college, John Canti, tells me that she was the one who first introduced him to Buddhism. He found her waiting outside my room and invited her for tea. John and I became best friends. We went on to study with Kangyur Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, do long retreats in France and work on translations of Buddhist texts.
For me, remembering Lady Diana vividly as a wild sixteen-year old, and having only heard or read about the rest of her remarkable life, it seems so poignant that now she has left us.

Sending sincere condolences and prayers 🙏🏼🕯️💐🙏🏼

Lady Diana was an amazing teacher; she had a beautiful way of explaining the dharma. I felt honored to receive her teaching at Level 5 in RI. My condolences to her family.

I first met Lady Diana when she was pregnant with Taggy. Only 17 years old, and she was a goddess! She had golden hair and her skin was like pearls.  We, on the other hand, were savages - and we showed up at her house and demanded entrance.
And she did everything for Rinpoche - she was his kusung, his cook, his sometimes driver. She dressed him, kept him informed, looked after his schedule, monitored his well being. He trusted her completely.  As the populace grew, Lady Diana would come in and out of our lives as we all navigated our way through our new burgeoning world of schedules and disciplines and practices and families and livelihoods.  There were times when I really needed her help and she was always there for me. Many years after Rinpoche died, I did some horse things with her. It was so much fun and she absolutely emanated the old Kalapa Court. Really amazing after so many years. I saw she had always held the keys to the inner and secret courts. My daughter today said it feels like the end of an era. I think she is right.

❤️🌞🕊️

I loved reading her book Dragon Thunder. Really respect her!

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I have never met Lady Diana Mukpo but I wish I had. May be next life.
She must have been an incredible lady for she was a wife to one of the Supreme Bhudhist Masters/ Gurus from Tibet.
My prayers for her and her family 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

It was a cold, very snowy icy night in Boulder while attending Lady Diana
that she sent me out in a huge strange car I had never driven to buy her three ripe avocados from a distant store. She frequently encouraged bravery in us, intentionally, I think. Well, I did it.

See below:

Tall and strong, easily amused and easily pissed off when we met, when everyone was going to here him teach and you were too tired to go. We sat together in Four Mile Canyon house and listened to the little stream that bubbled nearby and built a fire in the fireplace. Lots of life has happened between then and now. Now this ends for you, not for me yet but maybe soon. You became the royal person that you always were and I'm so grateful for your example as a genuine Warrior Woman Lady, example for our world of would be warriors. Travel well, rest and come back to us soon.

Grateful for all your activity, especially for the many Warrior Assemblies you led and the work with OpenTori in recent years. I will think of you in Werma and help those your carry your work forward

The world has lost a beautiful light. Goodbye and good journey to her, with love and gratitude for her life in the dharma. 💟☸️💟

I have so much appreciation for this bold woman I never met, for standing together with and by one of the greatest Buddhist masters of our times along with the most amazing dharma legacy they have left the world. So sad to hear she's left us.

An absolutely incredible woman, Lady Diana Mukpo, an incredible inspiration to me, and so many others. Thinking of you and your dear family Much love ❤️ ❤️❤️

Following in your footsteps with love and gratitude

And with that, her soul plunged into hell.

She was an incredibly kind woman. We met through our love of horses and dressage when she and Rinpoche lived in Nova Scotia . I am deeply saddened by her passing.

So much love for you! Thank you for everything.

Our Tiger Mama
Our Lion Mama
Our Garuda Mama
Our Dragon Mama

Om Ami Dewa Hrih

We met when you and Rimpoche first came to SF Zen Center in the spring of 1970. Jack Weller picked you two up at the airport. You were so young, beautiful and mischievous. RIP

Sorry, just one question, is it right where it says "She is survived by her HUSBAND Dr. Mitchell Levy"?

I was most fortunate to have shared a remarkable life with Lady Diana – at a distance, of course. Many brief meetings – some defining moments. But still unexpectedly close, for me - in what life permitted me to share with her. A longing to answer that one haunting question that led me and so many of us to her husband, Trungpa Rinpoche, who, indeed, introduced us to reality.

And it was there that I shared this refreshing and most brilliant life with her.

So, thank you, Lady Diana, for all that you held, protected and carried for me and all of us.

May your journey remain brilliant and wise; may gentleness and kindness surprise you along the way; and may our paths cross again soon – in whatever form that may take.

Thank you, Lady Diana Mukpo.

Moonlit leaf ascends
Silent drift toward the bright sky
Ethereal flight

Lady Diana was instrumental in bringing Trungpa R. to North America. From the age of 16, in less than a decade, she rose to the occasion of being a queen of strength and bravery, carving out her own path in the equestrian arts that complemented that of the Shambhala buddhadharma. She was always fearless in the face of so many unknowns, because her love and faith in Trungpa Rinpoche's teaching was great. Especially in the early 70's, she put up with a great deal of chaos and very little privacy even at home before the mostly hippie sangha began to tame their minds. Not many mothers could do so. In many ways, Trungpa R found his match in Lady Diana.

L O V E