Silence + Celebration: A New Year’s Eve Meditation Retreat (Online) Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023: 6:30 pm-12:00 am through SHAMBHALA LOS ANGELES (ONLINE MEETING)
This New Year’s Eve, can we pause, take a breath, make a cup of tea — or glass of vegan eggnog — and celebrate the sadness/joy of our beautiful world and our precious lives?
If anyone aspires to meditate more this coming year — or to learn how to meditate — it's a good time. It's not too late. Everyone is welcome to join this online mini-retreat as we transition from the old to the new.
Come for the entire evening, or for any part of it, to meditate and celebrate with old friends and new ones.
Throughout the evening we will alternate between sitting and walking meditation with a break to watch a video Dharma talk. There will also be a brief “live” talk closer to midnight.
6:30-8:00 pm: Alternating sitting and walking meditation.
Guided group instruction given at the beginning.*
8:00-9:00 pm Video showing of talk followed by Reflection Circles
9:00-12:00 am midnight Alternating sitting and walking meditation
10:00 pm Brief talk sometime after ten
*After initial group meditation instruction, individual instruction is available upon request in break-out rooms at all times during the evening. No prior meditation experience required.
The Noble Journey: From Fear to Fearlessness with Pema Chödrön
He's no longer our guru after his sex scandal.
(Global Well-Being) We always have a choice, Pema Chödrön teaches us, so we can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly afraid and resentful OR we can let them soften us and make us kinder.
In this talk, Pema provides the tools to deal with the problems and difficulties that life throws our way. This wisdom is always available to us, she explains, but we usually block it with habitual patterns rooted in fear.
Beyond that fear lies a state of openheartedness and tenderness. This talk is a guide on how to awaken our "basic goodness" or true nature and connect with others, to accept ourselves and others complete with our and their faults and imperfections, and to stay in the present moment by seeing through the strategies of the ego that cause us to resist life as it is. "The more neurosis, the more wisdom."
Pema Chodron
When Things Fall Apart
Beloved Buddhist teacher, author, American nun, and mother, Pema Chodron has inspired millions of people around the world who have been touched by her example and message of practicing peace in these turbulent times. The Pema Chodron Foundation is dedicated to preserving and sharing Pema’s inspiration and teachings in order that they might help us all awaken wisdom and compassion in ourselves and the world around us.
Gampo Abbey
Gampo Abbey is a Western Buddhist monastery in the Shambhala Tibetan-ish tradition in Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded by Guru Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1983, it is a lineage institution of Shambhala and a corporate division of the Shambhala Canada Society.
Under the spiritual direction of Chogyam's son and sex scandal plagued failed Guru Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the steppe down spiritual head of Shambhala International, Gampo Abbey is guided by Abbot Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and principal teacher Acharya Pema Chödrön.
May we all be happy. May we all be well. May we all be safe. May we all live in peace and harmony with each other, ourselves, the earth and all that lives throughout time and space ♡ Namaste, Love, Gratitude, and Respect, Dick ♡
The Global Well-Being Synchronized Meditations Community is dedicated to benefiting the earth, all that lives, and all sentient beings, by organizing synchronized global meditations. Everyone and all traditions are welcome.
"All people are united in our pursuit of happiness and our desire to avoid suffering. This is the source of humanity’s greatest achievements. For that reason, we should begin to think and act on the basis of an identity rooted in the words 'we humans.'” HH the 14th Dalai Lama
I can't believe you took me to this creepy cult. - I can't believe I gave them money.
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First, is Shambhala a "cult"? In what way is it not a cult -- with a sexually abusive guru hoarding money and property, misleading people to believe he's enlightened, and "acting out" in an abuse of power and privilege, being worshipped by duped followers? That's what has been alleged. How much better is it now? The abusive guru, son of the previous abusive guru, has threatened to come back and resume teaching, so the religion's (because it calls itself "Shambhala Buddhism" not Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism) rock star member, writer and nun Pema Chodron, has stepped down. And she's not the only one. But what are the guru and high up cult members accused of doing?
Report reveals new sexual assault allegations against Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Vermont Buddhists face their own MeToo moment in 2018 due to Mipham (vtdigger.org)
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New accusers come forward to allege misconduct by the Shambhala leader, who stepped aside from teaching duties last month, in a third report by Buddhist Project Sunshine.
Buddhist Project Sunshine, an advocacy group that has exposed allegations of sexual misconduct at Shambhala International, has issued a new report with accusations of abuse from three more former members.
The main accuser, referred to by the pseudonym “Ann” [Ani?] in the report, declined to speak with Tricycle about her accusations. Lawyers for Shambhala, [sex cult leader] Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and the governing body known as the Kalapa Council did not return emails seeking comment.
[Shortly after this article was published, Shambhala International issued a forceful rebuttal of the allegations. See update below.]
Previous reports released by Buddhist Project Sunshine (BPS) in June and February [2018], respectively, have launched Shambhala’s #MeToo movement and forced Shambhala to respond to what they called “abhorrent sexual behavior” in the organization—both from the Sakyong and other leaders—as more and more anonymous claims were published.
The Shambhala leader stepped down from his teaching and administrative roles last month after accusations that he locked a woman in a bathroom in Chile surfaced. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has also resigned from his trustee seat at Naropa University and as Naropa’s lineage holder pending the outcome.
In July, all nine members of Shambhala’s governing Kalapa Council have announced that they will step aside because they “need to dissolve to make order for real change.”
Don't bother me, I'm in seclusion and seeking counseling or something. Go away.
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Wickwire Holm, a Halifax, Nova Scotia-based law firm, is looking into the claims, and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has said that he “fully supports” the investigation, which is also addressing institutional cover up.
Buddhist Project Sunshine was started by Andrea Winn, a leadership coach and second-generation Shambhalian who says she was forced out of her Toronto sangha in 2000 after disclosing that she had been abused in the organization as a child.
In the report released today [Aug. 23, 2018], Carol Merchasin, a retired employment lawyer who offered her expertise to BPS to investigate the claims and who completed several levels of Shambhala training in the 1980s, recounts Ann’s experiences:More
He's the "king" of Shambhala, after all, so all anyone can do is step down.
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Pema Chödrön steps down as senior teacher at Shambhala
Famous author Pema Choldron
The Buddhist nun’s announcement follows Shambhala International leader Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche’s decision to resume teaching after stepping away [to avoid ruinous prosecution on during scandal] due to [rape and other appalling] sexual abuse allegations.
The American Buddhist nun and bestselling author Pema Chödrön has stepped down as an acharya (senior teacher) at Shambhala International in response to the group’s handling of the allegations of sexual abuse against Shambhala lineage holder Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
Spiritual classic: When Things Fall Apart
Pema Chödrön, who had remained a part of the organization after the Sakyong stepped away from teaching and administrative duties, decided to resign after the Sakyong announced that he would resume teaching and a transitional board of directors invited him to lead an upcoming event in France.
In her letter to the board, released publicly on January 14, 2020, Pema Chödrön wrote, “I have decided to step down as an acharya. As you know, I haven’t actually served as an acharya for a long time, and I have been considering retiring for a few years. And now, the time has come.”
She said she was “disheartened” at the Sakyong’s decision to start teaching again:
I experienced this news as such a disconnect from all that’s occurred in the last year and half. It feels unkind, unskillful, and unwise for the Sakyong to just go forward as if nothing had happened without relating compassionately to all of those who have been hurt and without doing some deep inner work on himself.
Then came the letter from the Board informing the Shambhala community that they have invited the Sakyong to give the Rigden Abhisheka [an initiation ceremony] in June, and I was dumbfounded. The seemingly very clear message that we are returning to business as usual distresses me deeply. How can we return to business as usual when there is no path forward for the vast majority of the community who are devoted to the vision of Shambhala and are yearning for accountability, a fresh start, and some guidance on how to proceed? I find it discouraging that the bravery of those who had the courage to speak out does not seem to be affecting more significant change in the path forward.
Welcoming the Unwelcome (Pema Chodron)
On June 28, 2018, the advocacy group Buddhist Project Sunshine released the second in a series of reports detailing sexual abuse and misconduct by Shambhala teachers and staff, including senior leaders and the Sakyong. On July 6, 2018, the Sakyong announced his decision to step away from teaching and administrative duties, and the Shambhala board of directors resigned, putting in place the interim board. The new board hired the law firm Wickwire Holmes to investigate the claims and on February 3, 2019 released to the Shambhala community the full report, which confirmed some of the allegations against him.
Recently, a group of 125 students in Europe asked the Sakyong to continue teaching, and he and the board said they agreed to the request.
Ani Pema said in her letter, “I understand that the Board’s decision to invite the Sakyong was based on the compassionate intention to benefit the 125 people who wish to take the abhisheka in order to continue on their path. But for me, personally, to have the very first indication of how we are going to manifest be that we are returning to business as usual is shocking and also heartbreaking.
“Hopefully, it’s not too late to reverse this trend.”
Did I have sex with our guru? How dare you!
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, became one of the first Westerners to ordain as a Buddhist nun in 1981 under Shambhala founder and [and very suspect sex guru] the Sakyong’s father, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche [as the documentary about him, Crazy Wisdom, hardly tries to hide].
[Was Pema encouraged or induced to have sex with Trungpa like so many other females at the time were? That's unthinkable! Well, it's thinkable, but how DARE anyone ask it out loud!]
Make her stay. I order it.
In 1984, she established Gampo Abbey, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in North America, in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Since then she has become perhapsShambhala’s most high-profile teacher, writing several bestselling books, including When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Publications, 1996),and recently appearing in an hour-long interview with Oprah Winfrey, where she spoke about the [rape, sex abuse, and financial irregularity] issues at Shambhala.
As Pema Chödrön sent her letter, senior teacher David Schneider also announced that he was stepping away from his acharya role. He wrote in a public statement:
What do you mean she's leaving anyway?
“I did not myself see the things initially alleged against the Sakyong; but I did observe, and I was part of, an unhealthy, selectively hierarchical system of privilege and power, one that led to many people getting hurt, women mostly. I personally tried never to cause harm, but I am sure that through the years, I have done so. This will have come from my stupidity, greed, and concupiscence [sexual arousal, lust, boners]. These qualities, and actions arising from them, are a source of personal shame and of karmic consequence. I can only hope to find forgiveness.”
Pema Chödrön closed her letter by thanking the other acharyas for “the admirable work they have done to stabilize the community’s finances and to establish a new and more efficient code of conduct,” adding, “Nevertheless, I do not feel that I can continue any longer as a representative and senior teacher of Shambhala given the unwise direction in which I feel we are going.”
Update: Ani Pema Chödrön would like to clarify that in her letter to the Shambhala International board of directors, her reference to “retiring” was meant to refer to her role as an acharya in the Shambhala community. She is not retiring from teaching. Source
Accused sex abuse leader Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche (robertivanc/tricy.cl/2J76pUP)
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New Shambhala sex abuse revelations
That's my boy. Like father, like son!
Shambhala releases a report detailing
dozens of new sex allegations... Tricyclelooks back at the events of this week in the Buddhist world.
Nothing is permanent, so
everything is precious. Here’s a selection of some happenings -- fleeting and otherwise -- in the Buddhist world this week.
List of Shambhala Sex Abuse Allegations Grows in New Report
Los Angeles community is falling apart.
Shambhala International [a hypocritical cult claiming a Tibetan lineage based on abusive sex guru Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, star of the flamboyant documentary expose "Crazy Wisdom" and father of current leader/king Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche] released a new report this week.
It contains dozens of claims of sexual misconduct and abuses of power
within the [spiritual consumer, somewhat militaristic, money-making] organization, demonstrating just how widespread this behavior
may have been.
The document contains allegations of harm from 55 people
who spoke to An Olive Branch, a Zen Center of Pittsburgh initiative,
which wrote the report after Shambhala hired them to set up a “listening
post” to gather statements from community members.
I'll listen to your heart in my bedroom.
An Olive
Branch did not substantiate the claims, which accused Shambhala leaders,
teachers, and staff in 67 different incidents of harmful behavior and
included allegations of child abuse, racial harm, physical and emotional
abuse, inappropriate relationships, sexual harassment, sexual assault,
and rape.
The report was made public by Shambhala’s Interim Board, which took over following the July 2018 resignation of the group’s governing body, the Kalapa Council.
Hypocrite Sakyong with black lesbian cover?
This was after the advocacy group Buddhist Project Sunshine released the second
of three reports revealing sexual misconduct allegations against senior
teachers, including Shambhala headSakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
In a statement that accompanied An Olive Branch’s report, the Interim Board
said, “The Shambhala community can no longer deny or ignore sexual
violence, harassment, and other forms of structural violence...
“These
reports are shining light on longstanding systems of harm and abuse
within Shambhala. We have an opportunity to demonstrate how a community
can see itself clearly, learn from its mistakes, and act decisively to
better itself.”
The new report comes after Wickwire
Holm, a law firm that Shambhala hired to investigate abuse claims,
released in February 2019 the findings of its investigation, which
determined it was “more than likely” that Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche engaged in sexual misconduct in two cases. More
Report alleges sexual misconduct by leader of Shambhala... Buddhist "Project Sunshine" [to shed disinfectant light and add transparency] released its second report today, containing allegations of sexual assault and clergy sexual misconduct by Sakyong...
Some people like attachment or are very comforted by their shenpa and suffering.
(SoundsTrue) Pema
Chödrön talks about suffering, its causes, and one antidote applicable in daily life. There is a simple meditation practice known as tonglenthat can serve as medicine for "ordinary people like ourselves." We use life's difficulties as a way to befriend ourselves, accept the past
we have rejected, and widen our circle of compassion. From Good Medicine.
Shenpa [Tibetan, "sticky attachment"] is the urge, the hook, that triggers our habitual tendency to close down. We get hooked in that moment of tightening when we reach for relief. To get unhooked we begin by recognizing that moment of unease and learn to relax in that moment.
You're trying to make a point with a coworker or your partner. At one moment her face is open and she's listening, and at the next, her eyes cloud over or her jaw tenses. What is it that you're seeing?
Someone criticizes you. They criticize your work or your appearance or your child. At moments like that, what is it you feel? It has a familiar taste in your mouth, it has a familiar smell. Once you begin to notice it, you feel like this experience has been happening forever.
Taste of shenpa: "Ashes in Your Mouth" (Megadeth): "Now that we've rewritten
history,the one thing we've found out, sweet taste of vindication, it turns to
ashes in your mouth!" Something worse than shenpa?Songs about shenpa.
The scandal-ridden Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
The Tibetan Buddhist word for this is shenpa. It is usually translated "attachment," but a more descriptive translation might be "hooked." When shenpa hooks us, we're likely to get stuck. We could call shenpa "that sticky feeling." It's an everyday experience. Even a spot on your new sweater can take you there. At the subtlest level, we feel a tightening, a tensing, a sense of closing down. Then we feel a sense of withdrawing, not wanting to be where we are. That's the hooked quality. That tight feeling has the power to hook us into self-denigration, blame, anger, jealousy, and other emotions leading to words/actions that end up poisoning us.
Remember the fairy tale in which toads hop out of the princess's mouth whenever she starts to say mean words? That's how being hooked can feel. Yet we don't stop -- we can't stop -- because we're in the habit of associating whatever we're doing with relief from our own discomfort.
This is The Shenpa Syndrome. The word "attachment" doesn't quite translate what's happening. It's a quality of experience that's not easy to describe but which everyone knows well. Shenpa is usually involuntary, and it gets right to the root of why we suffer.
30 Years of Buddhism in America
Someone looks at us in a certain way, or we hear a certain song, we smell a certain smell, we walk into a certain room, and boom. The feeling has nothing to do with the present and, nevertheless, there it is. When we were practicing recognizing shenpa at Gampo Abbey
[Nova Scotia], we discovered that some of us could feel it even when a
particular person simply sat down next to us at the dining table.
Shenpa
thrives on the underlying insecurity of living in a world that is
always changing. We experience this insecurity as a background of slight
unease or restlessness. We all want some kind of relief from that
unease, so we turn to what we enjoy --food, alcohol, drugs, sex, work, orshopping. In moderation what we enjoy might be very delightful. We can appreciate its taste and its presence in our life. But when we empower it with the idea that it will bring us comfort, that it will remove our unease, we get hooked.More
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