Most of us here have left Shambhala, but remained Buddhist?

I know a lot of people to passed through Shambhala but continued on a more traditional route. Many left after Trungpa's death. Many after the abuse perpetrated by the Sakyong. Many in-between. A lot of the people I mention found their way towards teachers in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. Some went to pure land. I know a woman who went from being a kasung to become a Jesuit.

How about you? You left Shambhala and then what?

It’s me again. How do I explain to a non-Buddhist therapist that my mother cannot have her feet in both “Shambhala” and “the lineage”?

Isn’t Shambhala basically done or are they trying to lose a backbone some more and reintegrate?

When I brought up CTR had underage wives I was corrected - only one of them was underage and 16

Excuse me while I implode.

Here is an article from the New Yorker on gaslighting: what it is, and its complexities. I thought it was fascinating. I hope the link works.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/so-you-think-youve-been-gaslit?utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_Paid_040124&bxid=646bb0690b80dc721b0fb80e&cndid=74085562&hasha=459f29628c54e4c46eaacf4cdbca0553&hashb=d380af0e67b653316f35459714f1f6439d48c066&hashc=b14419d18bc3c6b38c6dd79e9fe5cc36311374cc4c4ba9d613f22c3bf7f972c6&esrc=MARTECH_ORDERFORM&mbid=CRMNYR012019

As I was researching Tom Rich (a.k.a. "The Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin") Chogyam Trungpa's disgraced dharma heir, I stumbled on something curious.

Patrick Sweeney, Tom Rich's dharma heir, who led Rich's schismatic Ojai faction of Shambhalians after Rich's death in 1990, has been almost completely scrubbed from Rich's official website.

The Duckduckgo search engine cache identifies several instances of Sweeney's name appearing on that site, and they all give 404 PAGE NOT FOUND errors. The evidence in the Wayback Machine indicates that this scrub job was done sometime after March, 2023.

Rich's old biography, archived on March 25, 2023, https://www.vrot.org/bionew.html, identifies Sweeney as his "dharma heir and lineage successor". The current landing page does not mention him at all. https://www.vrot.org/vajra-regent.

A poem written by Sweeney, archived on Sept. 22, 2020, has likewise been removed: https://vrot.org/ISeeYou.pdf

There is only one instance of Sweeney's name on the site: it appears deep in the biography of Rich that his wife Lila wrote in 2000 (see page 17): https://www.vrot.org/bio-of-vajra-regent

I found that interesting, because of the sacred importance lineage plays in the Shambhala universe, and the fierce dedication that the Ojai faction had to Sweeney as Trungpa's legitimate heir. It appears that the close connection between Tom Rich and his heart son Patrick Sweeney is being minimized and erased? Why? By whom? Did Patrick and Lila have a fight?

Any insider information anyone might have is welcome.

I'm very thankful to those who post and warn others about Shambhala and the continual dangers of getting involved. In the last few weeks several people said that Shambhala was not Buddhist. This really hit me. I suddenly realized that I had not separated the two and that was the source of my own angst. How to resolve the real benefits I got from my years of practice and study - with the horror of the abuses I slowly realized were going on- some I didn't even know about until the Sunshine Papers. I thought Chogyam Trungpas teachings and books were brilliant. He had access to training from some great teachers. But he himself descended into alcohol and drug addiction and his life began to become some kind of distortion that harmed and traumatized many people. Now I feel this peace with it. He was not a dharma teacher. He used his training and talents in ways that hooked and then damaged others. And his disciples continued down that corrupt distorted path. I think this site is not the place to discuss Buddhism and this is why many who come here trying to make a case for Buddhism get rejected. This site is to warn people about Shambhala and to itimize and explain the many gross and subtle abuses this organization has cloaked. It's very important to keep doing this. I think sometimes the arguments I see here come when Buddhists come and try to teach or validate Buddhism and this can feel like further denial of the trauma people have suffered in Shambhala. Some people have been so traumatized by Shambhala that they want nothing whatsoever to do with Buddhism ever again. That is their right.

Does anyone know of a list of Shambhala 'e's current legal actions? I think it would be interesting to know how much they're spending on lawyers now. They solicit donations but legal expenses aren't mentioned when they put out their financial statements.

Last week we became aware of suspicious activity on the Drala Mountain Center (DMC) Wikipedia page. A brand new editing account had started "cleaning up" the page, and was found to have deleted at least two references that are particularly damaging to DMC's reputation.

One was the December, 2020 Walrus article, that documents the highly-sexualized environment at DMC (back when it was still known as Rocky Mountain Dharma Center), including cases of pedophilia and rape.

The other was the December, 2019 exposé of the sexual culture at modern-day DMC by journalists from Chapman University in California, which I will discuss in a moment.

(Both references have been restored to the page.)

It is probably not a coincidence that this activity coincides with a recent determination by the Shambhala Global Community Council to have a discussion about Shambhala's "reputation and reputational repair" (see the minutes of the January 13, 2024 GCC meeting, item 11.)

The Chapman report consists of a ten-minute video that investigates what took place during a retreat that a group of Chapman students went on at DMC (then Shambhala Mountain Center) in the summer of 2019. It includes interviews with Chapman students who made the trip, the Chapman professor who organized it, and statements from Shambhala and Chapman officials. It's a tight, powerful piece of journalistic investigation. It won an Edward R. Murrow student Excellence in Video Reporting award in 2020.

The students who went on the retreat at DMC had been told nothing of the controversy swirling around Shambhala at the time. They only found out a few days into the retreat, when some students started googling about this beautiful mountain retreat they were on. They were understandably shocked. When they brought their concerns to the attention of the teachers leading the retreat, the significance of the crisis was minimized, one teacher going so far as to deny some of the allegations. Some of the students started feeling unsafe, not just because of the allegations they were reading about online, but because the attitude of their Shambhala teachers reeked of cover-up.

Meanwhile, one of the teachers was engaging in "playful" (but highly sexualized) innuendo with the female Chapman students, which made them very uncomfortable. One in particular was terrified when she was forced to dance with him at a "talent show" while he sang a song that referenced her racial heritage.

The Chapman students went to the DMC leadership to strongly protest this behavior. Michael Gayner, DMC's director, apologized to the students and the offending teacher was fired.

(In my opinion his behavior was not in the least exceptional amongst seasoned Shambhalians, but I digress.)

The matter was swept under the rug until the Chapman news item came to light in December 2019. Michael Gayner was forced to make the following statement, which acknowledged the students' concerns and apologized that they were made to feel uncomfortable and apologized for the "demeaning and racist encounter." It was published by Lion's Roar magazine.

We understand and respect the decision of Chapman University to cancel this year’s program.

Most importantly, we want to apologize to the student who was subjected to a demeaning and racist encounter with one of the assistant teachers for last year’s retreat. We would also like to apologize to all the students for the way the teacher’s behavior tarnished and interfered with the purposes and intent of the retreat. We respect the way the students and journalists at Chapman University have come together with the motivation to end such instances of harm and protect their fellow students.

We want to be clear that we do not tolerate abuse in our community at SMC. The teacher in question was immediately dismissed from his position on the night of the incident and was removed from the property the following day. We conducted an investigation following the program, which resulted in his being permanently banned from teaching at SMC. At the same time, we’ve heard from the students that several inappropriate comments and interactions preceded the event that ultimately led to this teacher’s dismissal. We acknowledge that SMC should have had a better grievance procedure in place by which these red flags could have been safely brought to our attention.

The Chapman news report also pointed to reports of abuse that have come forward about the larger Shambhala organization in the last two years. SMC is committed to not minimizing or rationalizing allegations of harm. We have openly communicated to our community, participants, and the general public about reports of misconduct in Shambhala. However, in this instance, SMC failed to communicate this information to the Chapman students. For this we are sorry.

We recognize that there remains work for us to do in order to create a culture that fully represents our values and intentions. Over the past year, we implemented several initiatives at SMC to prevent misconduct and better respond if it occurs. This work includes a new code of ethics to be signed by all teachers, guests and staff, a new grievance procedure, and numerous staff trainings on power dynamics, bystander intervention, and sexual violence prevention.

The important thing to note about Gayner's statement is that it does not mention anything sexual about the harm that the Chapman students experienced on their program. It uses the words demeaning, inappropriate, misconduct. And yet, the whole thrust of the Chapman exposé was the sexually-charged atmosphere at DMC! It is odd that Gayner did not make any reference to that.

I mention this because in a conversation I had with a fellow Wikipedia editor, they thought that this was about an incident of racism. They had not watched the Chapman video, so if you just went by Gayner's statement, you would come away with a completely incorrect impression of what this is about.

Furthermore, the Lion's Roar article that encapsulates Gayner's statement makes no mention of sexual harm either. They provide a link to the Chapman video, but again, you would have to actually watch it to understand what the issue is, and the casual online scroller might not take the time.

I thought that was interesting. Lion's Roar has tried to place itself in the vanguard of reporting about the Buddhist Project Sunshine reports and their aftermath, but here we have clear evidence of them obfuscating the truth and changing the relevance of one of the key incidents in DMC's recent history. Whether this happened by design, or through editorial carelessness, is difficult to say.

By the way, Gayner's statement no longer appears on the Lion's Roar website; it was removed sometime after December 2023. To read it, you would have to consult the Wayback Machine's version, which you can access here.

I've gained so much being here with all of you. Believe it or not despite I left in 1989 ( I had joined in 1978), I still believed that I was a coward for not continuing on and finishing the practices given us after seminary. The script was that in order to become egoless you had to have the courage and determination to confront your neurosis through these practices. I left the community because of the Regents horrifying acts, sleeping with young men and not telling them he had Aides. And because half of my local community still supported him!!! But the other half left in disgust and anger. Many went to other teachers. I was very ill so I moved far away and I went to the mountains and nature and animals. For me I found a lot of healing in immersing myself in becoming an advocate for horses and parrots. I loved birds and had a large aviary where they flew free. But so much of my experience of Dharmadhau just churned underneath unresolved and tormenting me. How do you all get out and begin to find some healing? What helped you?

This was left as a comment on another post, giving it more visibility here:

"There have been two sexual assaults at the Drala Mountain Center since its financial dissociation from Shambhala. One recently and one  just settled out of court. It’s still happening. These incidences aren’t in the media. The culture hasn’t changed. What’s terrifying is well meaning secular people are working there and attending retreats assuming a change has occurred. Absolutely no doubt it will keep happening there. It doesn’t matter if the Sakyong is there or not the culture still exists."

I noticed also that the DMC wikipedia page has been recently whitewashed, to remove all of the details about the sexual assaults and to spin the place in the most positive possible light.

I just read this book in one night. I couldn't read it before. Too terribly painful. Now ready. Saw parallels between this community and Vajradhatu/Shambhala community. For me slowly one veil after another of denial is removed. Each time I descend into shame guilt and profound grief. Why didn't I see it??? I feel so angry and most of all angry at myself. I want to use what I've learned constructively. I just take this energy and tell myself: ok today how can you be kind and compassionate to others even in some mundane way? (Let people go first in traffic, smile at folks in grocery store, pet dogs... ) I feel sad. 13 years of my youth, energy, and finances went into Shambhala. Even though I left long ago it's so painful to realize my own stupidity... this book is important

For some reason I can't post this where it belongs, so I'm trying a new thread:

u/daiginjo2, I have to admire your dogged persistence and the firmness of your refusal to see what to many of us seems plain. Your suggestion (in a later post) that

There probably is some record there somewhere, but, you know, it would be in paper form, and probably exists in some basement archive somewhere.

does remind me of the passage in the opening of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (with apologies to those who are not fans):

"But the plans were on display . . ."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the display department."
"With a torch."
"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But look, you found the notice, didn't you?"
"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard."

Levity aside, you say:

I think we must conclude that he had mastered a great deal of most of them, and much more besides.

True, he would have been off to a good start, but he would have had NO recognized qualifications. And:

He would have already known Tibetan, of course, but also, I would guess Sanskrit and Pali.

Sanskrit is not by any means part of the standard curriculum in the Tibetan scholarly system. The chances that he knew a significant amount are remote, so say the best. As for Pali, he is as likely to have studied Italian.

You say that you

find it hard to imagine that, at 24, and having been a student all his life, Oxford would not have considered his status to be basically that of a postgrad.

I, however, find it hard to imagine that they would: broken English, no recognized qualifications... If indeed they were impressed by his intellect sometime after he arrived, there would have been many a hoop to jump through first. For obvious career reasons, academics do not like to take on students who can't be shown to have a good chance of success. Having myself taken on a research degree in a subject remote from my first degree, I can assure you that I had to do some serious hoop-jumping, and would not have stood much chance if the academic staff of the department concerned had not for some reason liked me and fought my corner with the University authorities. But, like your opinion, this is just speculation.

To keep things in one place I comment now on what you said more recently:

Again, feel free to believe that the entire Spalding Trust connection was made up out of whole cloth by Shambhala. It's not inconceivable that this is the case, I guess. It's just that nothing I've seen would lead me to believe that. It strikes me as quite a stretch.

The Spalding thing is a fairy castle spun out of mist. I quote here from my blog post:

In contrast with Simmer-Brown’s talk of a “Spalding Visiting Fellow in Comparative Religion”, we have a description from someone who was there at the time. John Maxwell, in his contribution to “Only the Impossible is Worth Doing” (Dzalendra Publishing, Rokpa Trust, 2020, ISBN 978-0-906181-26-3, pp. 34-35), writes:

The Spalding Trust agreed to finance the passage of the two lamas to England and to provide some financial support for one year… it was hoped that the money would be sufficient to finance both lamas.

… It soon became apparent that the grant from the Spalding Trust was insufficient to finance accommodation in Queen Elizabeth House and they moved to a cheaper flat at 104 Banbury Road.

Also pointing out that

Akong Rinpoche took a job as a hospital porter at the Radcliffe Hospital to supplement their slender finances.

All somewhat less grand than Simmer-Brown’s flight of fantasy, is it not?

Need I say more? Perhaps you should read my post at https://lunidharma.blogspot.com/2023/11/did-trungpa-attend-oxford-university.html, unfortunately not yet indexed by Google (mea culpa).

Hi all.

I’ve been lurking here for a few years because Trungpa’s books were one of my introductions to Buddhism around 20 years ago.

I’ll skip over a lot, but since then I became a devoted student close to an incredible teacher, and I gave the best part of 10 years in service of that organisation. That person also helped me immensely.

However, there have since been a lot of accusations directed at them, and after a period of not being able to face it, I finally began to entertain the possibility. This resulted in a long period of depression, followed by years of self reflection and confusion.

Part of me thinks I was swept away in this culture that made my life seem remarkable, part of me thinks I was just looking for a new safety blanket. If I’m more gentle with myself, I do think there was a lot of benefit along the way. But I can’t ignore what’s been alleged.

Most of my close Sangha don’t talk to each other any more. The ones that will talk about it generally say something about resting in the nature of mind, people’s karma, or the guru’s blessings.

But the thing is, all of it kind of feels like bullshit now. I still have a lot of trust in principles like emptiness, love, impermanence and self discipline, but I just can’t bring myself to go see any teachers, and so much of the institutional and cultural going’s on around the Dharma now makes me feel like human beings behaving strangely as a way to cope with the mysteries of life. I can’t handle the hubris.

So in a way, I feel like I’ve matured. In another way I feel very lonely, but it’s been persistent and I wondered if any of the old timers here had any similar experiences? Did you take a leap with a new teacher, keep trusting the one whose made mistakes, or just walk on your own?

Thanks for listening.

EDIT UPDATE: Turns out that at the Feb 27 hearing the judge was so frustrated that he ruled that he would establish a discovery schedule himself ASAP, which is unusual. At the prior Sep hearing he had already expressed displeasure with the delays and lack of procedural progress while Shambhala put all its chips on the VT Supreme Court declaring that the new law protecting children from sexual assaults was unconstitutional. In Sep the judge even allowed the parties a full 30 days to submit a discovery schedule even though routine procedure allows for just 14 days. The parties still did not submit anything at all until late January. It's unclear exactly what they submitted, but one can surmise that it was a combination of excuses and objections. So the judge apparently just said F IT, I'll ORDER A DISCOVERY SCHEDULE! Note that both sides are entitled to discovery. For Shambhala, they'd gravitate towards items that seek to minimize the extant of harm caused like medical evaluations and expert opinions about effects on life/social interactions. The plaintiff would target witnesses to both the assault AND the Shambhala hierarchy that suppressed and ridiculed attempts for an investigation and accountability. But the potential flash-point might be discovery about Shambhala finances and its capacity to pay an equitable judgement-and because of the timing, that might possibly bleed into the Potrang given that ALL events plus organizational insurance coverage (if any) was in effect while the Potrang/MJM ran the show (thus a possible reason why Alex Halpern is STILL on the KCL Board). Given Shambhala's well-established legacy of infighting and territorial squabbles, it would not be at all surprising if the delays were a consequence of the well-established animus between Shambhala and the Potrang that still has its deep pocket loyalists.

The case seems to be stalled at a snail's pace sufficient to irk the judge. Last Sep the judge ordered the parties to get moving on an aggressive discovery plan. During a Feb 27 status conference hearing the judge admonished the parties to complete discovery "ASAP". Not reading anything sinister or nefarious into this one. Finding and deposing plaintiff witnesses after so many years is challenging and nobody should expect Shambhala to willingly make the process easier. They don't just need witnesses to the instance(s), but also to the very egregious failure to respond and intentional ridicule promulgated by Kasung over decades. Personally, now that "Kasung" is back on the Shambhala curriculum taught by leaders responsible for creating a culture of abuse and denial, no idea why Plaintiff's attorney doesn't subpoena one or more of that crew ASAP given Shambhala should be able to produce. Start with Dennis L. Southward, after all, he was the Grand Poo-Bah responsible for cover ups and is now a headliner in Shambhala's new Kasung curriculum implying that Shambhala can "produce" him. He's clearly no longer in the Dapon Witness Protection Program where he lived following many reports in 2019-2020 of his role in prioritizing Mukpo and high level teacher protection over proper reporting and legal processing of incidents up to and including statutory rape.

No, this isn't a post about Chogyam Trungpa's notorious sexual promiscuity.

This is related to the discussion we have been having about Trungpa's involvement at Oxford University. The claim that he attended St. Anthony's College at Oxford and there studied comparative religion and psychology (and Japanese flower arranging, amongst other disciplines) is a keystone of his credential as a scholar who was well-versed in the Western literary, historical, and cultural canon. I won't rehash the important research that other members of this group have been doing to deconstruct that myth; you can read their work here:

The Absent Oxonian

and here:

Trungpa at Oxford University? Really?

I wanted to focus on the photograph that is frequently displayed to "prove" that Trungpa attended Oxford: the famous Trungpa Oxford class photo.

The photo is owned by the Shambhala Archives so I won't post it here (so as not to run afoul of DMCA rules), but you can find it all over the Internet. Here it is on the Konchok Foundation's website (that's the organization that is named after Sakyong Mipham's late mother, Konchok Palden). Here it is captioned, The Vidyadhara’s [i.e.Chogyam Trungpa's] class at Oxford.

https://konchok.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/oxford.jpg

Here is a slightly better-quality version of the photo, taken from The Library of Chogyam Trungpa, which captions it Trungpa Rinpoche, second row, second from the right, with classmates at St. Antony’s [sic] College, Oxford, 1963. I'd suggest that you open it in a new window so that you can refer to it as I discuss it.

https://library.chogyamtrungpa.com/app/uploads/2022/09/Scan10172-e1671132612478-1024x632.jpg

Here's why I'm super-interested in this photo: Apart from Trungpa and Akong, I think I recognize some of the people here. I'm going to argue that this is not, in fact, a photo of students at St. Anthony's College, but a gathering of a very different nature. I suspect that anyone who has a connection to Trungpa or his Shambhala meditation brand will be surprised by my findings.

First, locate Trungpa in the photo. If you're not familiar with his pre-Joke-shop-crash look (that is, prior to May 6, 1969, when he had a catastrophic car accident-- driving drunk and without a license-- maiming himself for life and injuring his young female passenger), look for the guy in robes with round glasses, 2nd row up, 2nd from the right.

The man standing on the far right edge of the photo is, I believe, Rowland Denys Guy Winn, the Fourth Baron Saint Oswald. I base this identification on his similarity to several grainy photos I have seen of the baron in the U.K. newspapers in the early 1960s when he was a government official. The Fourth Lord St. Oswald (1916-1984) was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. A Conservative, he served as government whip in the House of Lords and later was a Member of the European Parliament. He was also a member of the Foreign Affairs Circle, of which more in a moment.

I think that the man sitting on Trungpa's right is a younger member of the Winn family (possibly the 5th Baron, but he seems a little young for that). I base this upon this photo of the 6th and current Lord St. Oswald, Charles Rowland Andrew Winn, who is the 4th baron's nephew. The resemblance is striking.

The man standing next to Lord St. Oswald appears to be Geoffrey Stewart-Smith (1933-2004), a Conservative Member of Parliament who was a leading figure in the British far-right. A fierce anti-communist, he lobbied for British involvement in the Vietnam War and other regional conflicts that had socialist or Soviet involvement. He went so far as to call his Parliamentary colleagues "traitorous" because of their ignorance of the Communist threat. Interesting chap, you can read his obituary here.

Stewart-Smith was the founder of the Foreign Affairs Circle, the British arm of the World Anti-Communist League, a Cold War disseminator of propaganda to counter Soviet and Chinese Communist expansion, that had the support and involvement of controversial figures like Japanese crime lords, Nazis, brutal South American dictators, and (curiously) Reverend Sun Myung Moon. The WACL (and its successor organization the World League for Freedom and Democracy) eventually fell into disrepute because of their tendency towards anti-Semitism.

The most fascinating figure in this picture is the lady with the lap-dog, seated, third from the left (next to Akong). This, I think, is Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood (1913-2000). Born in Manitoba, she married into the British aristocracy and eventually became an outspoken opponent of racial integration, immigration, and Jews. She was a member of the openly fascist British National Party. She enthusiastically supported South Africa's apartheid system and associated with war criminals. She was also an important member of the Foreign Affairs Circle.

If my assumptions are correct, then this is probably not a photo of Trungpa's Oxford classmates. And I think the stated date of 1963 is wrong too. I think that this is a photo of refugees from Communist-dominated countries who were invited to take part in a "memorial service" that took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 31, 1967. The theme of the event was to commemorate the (supposedly) 80 million people who had died due to global Communism.

The keynote speaker at the service was a Tibetan monk named Chogyam Trungpa.

I could be wrong about the picture, but Trungpa's hob-nobbing with icons of the British far-right is a documented historical fact. This casts Trungpa's later project of "Creating Enlightened Society" in a somewhat new light, doesn't it?

Below is the text of a news item that ran in the Guardian newpaper on October 26, 1967, announcing the event. You can also read the newspaper clipping here.

​

Anti-Communist service to remember '80M dead'

The representatives of 20 "captive or divided nations" will hold a service at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on Tuesday evening [October 31, 1967] to commemorate "the estimated 80 million people who have died as a result of the Communist political experiment between 1917-67".

This is the estimate of Geoffrey Stewart-Smith, secretary of the Foreign Affairs Circle, which is running the meeting.

The nations taking part are Albania, Bulgaria, Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, Russia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Cuba, China, Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, and Zanzibar. The non-Communist flags of all these nations will be flown, and says Mr. Stuart-Smith, they had quite a time finding some of them, particularly those of Tibet and, strangely, Imperial Russia.

The Foreign Affairs Circle is, says Mr. Stewart-Smith, an organization which is unfashionable in believing in self-determination for white skinned as well as black skinned people: and then he explains that is a joke. The two principal members are Lord St. Oswald and the Dowager Lady Birdwood, there are 2,000 members in all, and the organization is not religious, not denominational, not political, just anti-Communist.

The Russian Orthodox, Polish Roman Catholic, and Estonian Lutheran Churches will take part, a Byelorussian choir will sing "Almighty God," a Latvian mixed-choir will sing a warrior's lament, Pasternak's poems will be read, and the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa of Tibet will give an address.

Here is a non paywalled article on an issue troubling Naropa University on its lead up to its 50th anniversary.

https://bnnbreaking.com/world/us/naropa-universitys-unsettled-legacy-grappling-with-the-shadows-of-its-founder

Here's a link to a better article, but paywalled, that interviews students and the University President on the issue,

https://www.dailycamera.com/2024/02/24/a-continual-reckoning-as-50-year-celebration-nears-students-grapple-with-naropas-unaddressed-past/

Compare the lies of omission biography of trungpa that Naropa University advertises to new students,

https://chogyamtrungpa.com/about/chogyam-trungpa-biography/

To more journalistic and thorough investigations of his background,

https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/

https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Eleventh-Trungpa-Chogyam-Trungpa/11231

Here are some excerpts from the Daily Camera paywalled article,

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the man who founded Naropa University in Boulder in 1974, was accused of physical and sexual violence against women and having sex with students.

Today, some students at Naropa feel the university has ignored that part of its past. Some say this creates an atmosphere on campus where abuse would be more likely to happen and less likely to be condemned.

“The lack of acknowledgement and the dismissal of Trungpa’s actions that faculty and professors have done, causes harm to the students at Naropa and those who have been silenced in the face of neglect and sexual abuse,” junior Tara Toepke said.

Naropa President Charles Lief said the university is aware of the allegations against Trungpa.

“Because the allegations did not involve conduct that fell under the purview of the university, and there were no official law enforcement investigations, we have no basis to determine whether the allegations are true or false,” Lief said in a statement. “Nonetheless we believe all such allegations should be taken seriously, and we’re committed to ensuring that any concerns that arise today are met swiftly with compassion and addressed through the appropriate channels.”

Trungpa was accused of physically beating and sexually assaulting women and girls, having sex with his students and abusing substances including alcohol, tobacco and cocaine.

Trungpa married one of his students, Diana Mukpo, when she was 16 and he was 30. She wrote in her book, “Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chgyam Trungpa” that “when we were first married, Rinpoche told me that it was normal for Tibetan men to beat their wives.”

Charles Lief's claim of seriousness is undermined by the University's lack of any acknowledgement of trungpa's harms in the biography it promotes.

​

Naropa is gearing up to celebrate 50 years since Trungpa founded the university, and pictures of him are being set up around campus. For Toepke, seeing his face celebrated everywhere on campus is upsetting.

“I feel very sad and angry and hurt and confused,” Toepke said. “It’s not what we stand for, people like this. It’s hard to witness injustice happening right in front of you but not many people are saying things or doing something about it.”

​

Senior Elijah Delaney said there are cycles of students who enroll at Naropa each semester unaware of the allegations. Eventually, Delaney said, they learn more about Trungpa through other students or online and feel upset, lied to and betrayed by the university.

Delaney was no different. After enrolling at Naropa, Delaney came across information online about a Halloween party at Snowmass Colorado Seminary in 1975 that included allegations of drinking and violence.

Rosal said there’s no statement from the university about online controversy surrounding Trungpa. Because of this, conversations happen every year where students find out and feel like Naropa was hiding something.

“It can be really discombobulating, especially if you have a history of trauma, to know that this person’s portrait is up in our gallery, and his seat is in our meditation hall,” Rosal said. “There’s a lot of feelings to move through. and there’s not a lot of support or resources.”

Trungpa as founder still plays an important role in a student’s experience at Naropa. His readings and teachings are incorporated into classes, and many professors are former students of Trungpa.

“I was a little saddened to have to discover some of the problematic behaviors through either word of mouth or doing a deep dive on the internet,” Gula said. “I wish there was more openness.”

Some students have organized to take action. The Chögyam Trungpa Taskforce advocates for Naropa to publicly acknowledge what happened in the past with Trungpa, and Naropians Heal was created as a space for students by students to share stories of pain and survival with one another to promote healing. It also advocates for mandatory training on consent, appropriate classroom facilitation and right use of power.

​

I have been reading Shambhala publications for many years and don't pay particular attention to what authors or Rinpoche it is composed by; the writings are a venue for meditative mindfulness. A huge turn off of the entire Shambhala endeavor is the idea of lineage of knowledge through a bloodline; the revolutions of the 19th and 20th centurues have purged this antiquated concept. The monarchy of England and any others left is laughable. Anyways, living in the neighborhood, I was thinking of just popping in to the Seattle Shambhala Center to meet folk but was clicking on their website and they have the Sakyong guy! What a farce! That dude is supposed to be a teacher but can't even reconcile his own desire (a noble truth) from his sexual scandal. The entire Shambhala thing seems bunk.

drala mountain center is probably one of the worst places you could work for or support. they overwork and underpay their employees, and when employees ask for support they get fired. the kitchen here is severely mismanaged, and continues to operate without anyone who was actually certified to safely run a kitchen. due to being severely understaffed the few employees are expected to work for 12 hour days, for minimum wage. the management here also has continued to cover up workplace sexual harassment complaints, going as far as firing an employee then offering them a $1000 “severance” only if they signed a multiple page document that included not being able to sue or report dmc for anything. dmc has gone to hell, it’s an unsafe environment that doesn’t respect humans, especially women despite being run by women now. if anything happens to you there they won’t contact law enforcement, and will attempt to brush things under the rug. don’t believe that drala mountain center isn’t shambhala anymore, they undeniably still are.

Information from, Embracing the Past and Future: Shambhala's Plan for the Next Seven Years

Subject: Embracing the Past and Future: Shambhala's Plan for the Next Seven Years

Dear Shambhala Community,

Our future together as Shambhala is at a pivotal moment. Now is the time to lean into our most heartfelt aspirations and imagine who we will be and what we will offer to the world. Our teachings and practices offer a path that cuts through the suffering, speed, aggression and materialism of this age and offers the vision and practices of enlightened society. Shambhala has the opportunity, if we act now with intelligence, compassion and determination, to continue to inspire and train future generations of Warriors.

We have more than simply survived the crises of COVID, misconduct and abuse of power. We have worked directly with these challenges, making overdue changes to the ways we address and prevent harmful behavior. We have transformed our governance to be truly community based and are moving forward with an unwavering commitment to inclusivity, accountability, transparency, and care.

We are no longer an organization centered around and led by a single individual teacher, but one based on community, and led by community members. Our traditional revenue sources have shifted dramatically, and strategic planning is essential for Shambhala Global Services (SGS) to know how to best focus on what best serves our community. We must work together to create a new financial and services model that skillfully serves the needs of our members, sustains our organization and provides opportunities for Shambhala to bring benefit to the world.

In 2023, our US Centers were hit with an enormous increase in insurance premiums, forcing our organization to examine how we are structured in the US and how we will pay for the high cost of insurance. Continuing to respond to these challenges, in 2023, SGS streamlined operations and made significant cuts in order to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. With these cuts, SGS was able to decrease expenses by 185K all while seeing an increase in revenue of 65k. For 2024, SGS projects a continued improvement to its bottom line, with a steady increase in revenue through its various streams but also a continuing deficit, projected at ~270 for the year.

Our financial reserves, set aside by the Shambhala Board to support an organizational transition process, cannot sustain our organization over the long run. We must simply find new ways to fund our organization, while ensuring that our investment levels in Shambhala Global Services are skillful and reflect community wishes.

With almost 130 Centers and Groups worldwide, and 7,000 members, Shambhala has weathered the storm. Now is the time to breathe life into our vision for the future and focus on how our community and organization can flourish, nurturing the seeds we've planted and embracing new beginnings

Shambhala Long-Term Strategic Planning Committee

Mark Blumenfeld
Susan Engel
Daniel Naistadt
Peter Nowak
Bob Stevens
Susan Ryan
Tara Templin

Buddhist institutions (about Buddhism as a set of beliefs I do not dare talking) create the material conditions of possibility (in form of physical places, buildings, rituals, set of norms and regulations, conventional types of relationships like teacher / student, MI, etc...) for the crimes to happen. Crimes are ingrained in the institutions themselves. They are dirty secrets that, if denounced, mean an exclusion from the community. In some cases, the only community that you have belonged in your whole life (I'm thinking about native or "brats", but also about solitary people that find the institution in times of personal crisis or social adjustment difficulties). Solidarity with abusers and victim blaming is inseparable from belonging to the institution. Sex abuse is an old secret that lies behind the foundation itself of the Buddhist social normality.

Untold: The Retreat

Untold is a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. On Untold: The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year. People rave about them. But some go to these meditation retreats, and they suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality. And on the other side, they’re not themselves anymore. Untold: The Retreat launches Jan. 24.

Two episodes out so far. I've found both well produced, powerful, informative, with lots of relevance to my experience in Shambhala.

The Kasung, a reminder,

• Vancouver Shambhala's description of the Dorje Kasung
• An Open Letter to the Shambhala Community from Long-Serving Kusung
• UNCOVERAGE Episode 9 The Garden Party - Kasung stand guard while trungpa assaults minors

Former Kasung are holding a year long program under Shambhala Online to relive their glory days.

• Victory Over War: A Fresh Look at the Root Dharmas of the Dorje Kasung Path
• Program FAQ

Quoting from the FAQ

Is this course under the authority of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche?

No, it is initiated by and for Kasung who feel their Kasung practice heart and DNA beating, and is nonpolitical, for anyone regardless of who you are studying with at the present.

Is this course reinstating the Dorje Kasung organisation?

No, the course does not intend to change our current status of not having a Kasung organisation, posts or positions, no command, it is not about that at all. It is about getting together and freshly reviewing the original seeds of Kasung teachings.

​

I made my first post here detailing the situation with my mom.

Since that post I have not spoken to my mother outside of her sending handwritten letters. It’s made my sibling and I re-examine our childhood trauma and times she was missing and the role Shambhala played in that. My sibling, who has maintained limited contact, is at the point where they need FMLA to seek intensive outpatient treatment for anxiety and depression secondary to this unresolved trauma.

The last communication we were told via a letter that she doesn’t remember the timeframe or details of her absence or our trauma exposure, needed to go through her old journals and then she could talk to us. She also said there was a secret that she now thinks we need to know now, but didn’t give any hint. It’s obviously not something we need to know NOW or she would have told us. She sent Xmas presents but that was it. This is the first Xmas and birthday without her and I’m now 43 y/o. My sibling reached out last week to ask when my mom would be ready to talk. She said maybe March. And she’s bringing like 20 family members to where to we live in May. It’s delusional.

I think I may be just DONE with the situation. My sibling is pretty much there. She has yet to acknowledge our experience and has dragged her heels as they has been going on since end of may 2023.

It is heartbreaking that whatever sangha she belongs to is not telling her to make it right with her kids. But I guess that how it all works. No clue what’s up with her and suckyong. Her adherence to him will remain a deal breaker.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Summary: Naropa University is attempting to transfer a building to another Buddhist organization, Nalandabhodi, but the sale has been temporarily halted because of plans to demolish the building. Boulder city officials have paused the sale, claiming landmark status (the building dates from 1963, long before Shambhala became established in Boulder).

Nalandabhodi, for the uninitiated, is the institutional organ of Dzogchen Ponlop, son of the 16th Karmapa's bursar, who has historically been very close to Shambhala and who poached away many Trungpa students who were dissatisfied with Sakyong Mipham's doctrinal innovations.

It's interesting that Naropa president Chuck Lief, a Trungpa stalwart, is so keen on selling this building at this point in time.

Full article is here:

https://www.dailycamera.com/2024/01/12/boulder-officials-demolition-of-naropa-building/

Author By Olivia Doak | odoak@prairiemountainmedia.com PUBLISHED: January 12, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: January 12, 2024 at 2:10 p.m.

City officials paused the development of a new community Buddhist meditation space in Boulder to determine whether the building on the site can be demolished due to historical significance.

The Landmarks Board decided on Wednesday to stop demolition on a building owned by Naropa University until March 7. Naropa is seeking to sell to a potential buyer who intends to turn it into a Buddhist meditation space. The building is located across Naropa’s main campus at 2111 Arapahoe Ave.

The pause on demolition could cause the buyer of Naropa’s building to back out, potentially leading to loss of community space and loss of $2 million for Naropa to invest in programs for students.

“We’ll think about it and hopefully we’ll be able to see a way forward,” buyer and Boulder resident Rick White said.

The Landmarks Board can consider any building for landmarking if it is more than 50 years old. If a building is landmarked, it is recognized as historic, it can’t be demolished, and any changes to it must be approved by the board. The pause, or stay-of-demolition, allows the Board to explore alternatives to improving the building without demolishing it.

Naropa President Charles Lief said the building, built in 1963, does not meet criteria for landmarking and would be extremely expensive to bring up to code. Naropa has been unable to find a buyer willing to work with the building without demolishing it.

Naropa first put the building up for sale a few years ago and found a buyer in the fall of 2020 who wanted to build 10 units of residential housing. An application for a demolition permit for the building was submitted to the city. At that time, the Landmarks Board decided the building was worthy of further investigation and issued a six-month pause on demolition the following October.

That buyer also hired a consultant, Pinyon Environmental Inc., to conduct an evaluation of the property. Pinyon Environmental’s August 2020 report on the building said that it had no historical significance worth landmarking.

“2111 Arapahoe Avenue is not currently a Boulder local landmark, nor is it within the boundaries of an existing historic district,” the report said. “Based on a review of its characteristics with reference to the areas of significance for Boulder landmarks, it is unlikely that the building would qualify for landmark status due to its lack of demonstrable connection to historic events, major alterations to its architectural design and lack of connection to its surrounding environment.”

Ultimately, the first buyer got “cold feet” due to the Landmarks Board’s mandated six-month pause and left the project, Lief said.

Landmark officials expressed sympathy toward Naropa at its hearing Wednesday for having lost a previous buyer due to the process and risking losing an existing buyer.

White intends to purchase the property to create a Buddhist meditation space that will be operated by Nalandabodhi, an international Buddhist organization, complete with a library, spaces for classes and two apartments for visiting teachers. With Naropa being a Buddhist-founded and inspired university, Lief said the new building and its occupants would be a mutually beneficial and compatible neighbor to have.

“This is a really good fit, and I really enjoy that, but this job on the Landmarks Board is to make sure we explore everything we can do (for the building),” board member Renee Golobic said.

The building is a two-story structure built in 1963 that was a doctor’s office before Naropa acquired it in 1999. The Board is considering it for landmarking due to its midcentury modern architecture and connection to the first pediatrician’s practice established in Boulder and the architect who built it.

“I would like to explore every single possibility before (the building) might be lost,” chair and board member Abby Daniels said. “I would be very intrigued by (completing the two-month pause) sooner so Naropa would have a decision.”

The board scheduled a hearing for March 6 to consider approving a demolition permit or starting work on designating the existing building as a historic landmark.

Lief said the Board’s decision is a reasonable outcome.

“I do think that they’re accountable to the whole city … and I think a shortened stay is fine,” Lief said.

Naropa purchased the building in 1999 as the university was expanding and needed more space for faculty and administrative offices. It also housed two neuro-psychology research labs and in the last few years housed the student mental health counseling center.

However, as Naropa’s online programs expand, the space is no longer needed. Lief said Naropa is looking for ways to invest in a couple of student programs, and the money from the building sale can fund it.

“We really need the capital in order to invest in some new programs for our students,” Lief said.

Lief said the money from the building sale would be used to invest in expanding its interdisciplinary online bachelor’s degree and hire the faculty it needs to apply for an accreditation for its graduate psychology program. Lief said five states, not including Colorado, have passed legislation making such accreditation required for students to practice in those states.

With Naropa having the largest graduate psychology program in Colorado, Lief said, Naropa needs to find the funding to apply so its program can remain strong.

White said it’s discouraging to have a delay, and he intends to go through with the sale unless there’s a lot of conflict with the city.

“I appreciate how much the Board has engaged with the issues. I think the economics of the project are really compelling, the nature of the community benefit both to Naropa and the subsequent building are well served by allowing demolition,” White said, adding, “I appreciate the consideration they’ve given this, and I think it’s a very reasonable outcome.”

White said the development of a Buddhist meditation space, or any structure for religious practice or practice of a tradition like Buddhism, benefits the community. It creates diversity of thought, a place to develop values and access for people who don’t have a lot of money to explore contemplative practice.

“It’s part of what makes Boulder distinctive, and especially as we become such an expensive community, we risk shrinking what is already limited diversity,” White said.

White said that Boulder has become “an interesting place” for Buddhism in America. Naropa was founded in Boulder in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, and there are many Buddhist communities in Boulder, he said. It seems whenever Buddhist leaders come to America, White said, they come to Boulder.

“Boulder is unusual in that it has this connection to Buddhist history,” he said.

A new Buddhist space would connect Boulder to that history, White said. Lief said he doubts the Board will ultimately decide to landmark the building because they rarely do so if the owner is strongly against it.

“They will almost never go against an owner’s wishes, and we are going to be crystal clear that we will be objecting to any landmarking of this building going forward,” Lief said.

Full Email Below:

From: John Smith

Subject: Shambhala Surveys for 2024 Coming Your Way Soon

Dear Friend,

In the coming days, you will be receiving a survey that is part of a broader initiative to improve our shared understanding of the Shambhala community. Greater societal awareness helps all of us in the Shambhala community understand how we are doing as a society and organization, our general state of health and well-being, what we are doing well, and what we need to improve. This is the third year we have conducted these surveys, so we are able to track changes over time.

Your participation is critical in helping all of us to get an accurate picture of our complex and ever-changing community. All members and friends will be receiving a members survey, and those with Shambhala centre or group leadership roles will also receive a leaders survey.

Please watch out for these surveys in your inbox early next week. The sender will be “sur-veys@shambhala.org”.

We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance for your participation.

The Societal Mirror Team

Faradee Rudy, Shambhala Global Services

Janet Bronstein, Process Team

John Smith, Shambhala Global Services / Process Team

Peter Nowak, Shambhala Board

Susanne Vincent, Process Team

Zinnia Maravell, Process Team

What's the tea? There's gotta be tea, right? Like I don't want to disparage anyone but there are some pretty big claims about the lineage. I've heard allegations of labour issues and more coming out of this organisation too. So what's the story?