Dear Shambhala Sangha, Our community has experienced an incredible loss. We write with heavy hearts to share that Lady Diana Mukpo - wife and widow of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, mother, grandmother, accomplished equestrian, and steadfast protector of the Shambhala teachings...

Journey to Taktsang 57 Years Ago

The Sadhana of Mahamudra was completed at Taktsang in Bhutan on September 6, 1968. Here, in his own words, is the story of traveling to Taktsang and receiving the sadhana.

Lack of Credentials

Excerpted from The Way of Basic Sanity, A Brief Overview of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's Perspective on Sutric Buddhism

Jonathan Barbieri on Meeting our Kagyu and Nyingma relatives for the first time

Jonathan Barbieri has taught Buddhist and Shambhala trainings extensively throughout North America for over 40 years. He served as a Shastri, a senior teacher, in the Shambhala lineage for several years. Jon has been engaged in several livelihood pursuits including 10 years in educational non-profits, consulting with cities and counties on workforce development, creating contemplative co-housing...

Tim Olmsted on Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Pema Chödrön and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

These Sons and Daughters of Noble Family lectures showcase the rich dharma heritage of our extended dharma family. They were originally presented live by Karme Choling and hosted by Julia Sagebien & Karme Choling Co-Directors JT Buck & Vegan Aharonian between April and October 2024. The Chronicles is now in the process of making all sixteen of these lectures available permanently here, adding a new episode to this page every few weeks.

It Was the Memory of His Kindness

I read something recently that recalled the evening I heard Chögyam Trungpa speak in Toronto in the autumn of 1971. My memories of that evening come back to me occasionally, and they surfaced again while I was reading Opening a Mountain: Koans of the Zen Masters. The book is a deeply contextualized collection of stories and...

Joni and Rinpoche

Here is Joni Mitchell in conversation with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden after receiving the Gershwin Prize. When asked what themes she might want to explore currently in her songwriting, Joni talked about her connection with Trungpa Rinpoche

Calligraphy Lesson

I loved Trungpa Rinpoche beyond words and admired him more than anyone I had ever met (I was also a little afraid of him).

Father Thomas Keating and Trungpa Rinpoche Talk About Egolessness

This conversation took place during Naropa’s 1983 Christian Buddhist Conference

Stories of Sechen Kongtrül, told by Tulku Urgyen

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's Stories of Shechen Kongtrül, read by Larry Mermelstein.

Myth of Freedom and the Cosmic Joke with Ani Pema Chodron

In this talk, which is presented in three segments, Pema guides us through the beginning chapters of Trungpa Rinpoche's Myth of Freedom.

The Heart of Enlightened Action

Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche teaches on the mahayana at the Berkley Shambhala Center, August 2007. Here are talks One, Two, and Three of the five talk series.

Vajradhatu Seminary Lake Louise

A slideshow of Lake Louise from Charles Marrow

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s Cremation Ceremony

Thirty Eight Years Ago in Karme Choling's upper meadow

Why Now?

Tashi Colman's Review of The Sadhana of Mahamudra, a new title from Shambhala Publications

Announcement from the Mukpo Family

The Mukpo family would like to announce that after many years of living with cancer, Lady Diana has taken the decision to stop treatment and begin the dying process. She is currently with her family and friends resting at home and receiving care. We will continue to send updates as her end-of-life phase progresses. In the...

Devotion & Crazy Wisdom! A Sadhana of Mahamudra Book Launch (in-person & online)

In collaboration with Shambhala Publications and the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library

When Ice Clogged the Harbour

About 10 days before Rinpoche's passing on April 4, 1987, Halifax harbour began filling up with ice...

Meditation Is the Only Way

If you saw two rocks sticking out of the ocean, they would appear to be different from one another on the surface, but if you dove underneath to the sea-bed, then you’d find they were both part of a huge, giant, great rock. So all spirituality in the West and in the East is based on the practice of meditation.

Meditation is the only way to link not only East and West but, perhaps, the whole world, the whole universe. Meditation is the only way which links and which introduces spirituality, and which could make things real and enable people to really see the I-less state–Egolessness. Meditation is the only way to see the profound meaning of Dukkha–Suffering. Meditation is the only way to see the profound meaning of life. It could be switching out a light or pouring out a cup of tea, but there is a great symbol, a great depth of meaning in this, which can only be reached through meditation.

— From remarks made at the Opening Ceremony of Samye-Ling Meditation Center in Scotland, circa 1967.

Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche on Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche: His Lineage and Legacy

In fact all the great lamas consider Trungpa Rinpoche as a real vidyadhara. He is very special. He is a very authentic master and great scholar. What he wrote is mind-boggling.

Richard Reoch

Richard talks about issues of trust, devotion and loyalty, exploring the balance between practice with working in the world, and more.

On the 31st Parinirvana

But the weight of your hand has reached through time, touched my heart and made me Mukpo.

At Waterways Duck Farm

Trungpa stayed with a spiritualist healer called Robert Copley on his duck farm in ST Ives Huntingdon, U.K. in, or around 1962, where I met him. He described his...

When Chögyam Trungpa met Jules Chender

Yuli Shenderoff was born in Russia in 1920 at a time of pogroms against the Jews. As a very small boy, he learned to lie when strangers came to...

Cooking Indian Food at Kalapa Court

The first time I cooked Indian food at Kalapa Court in Boulder was in the summer of 1978. I was absorbed searching for some ingredients in the corner cupboard...

More interesting…

At the 1983 Seminary at Bedford Springs, I took a class in Ikebana. While it was very enjoyable, my work wasn't much to look at, and one day I...

Climbing the Stairs with Rinpoche

The Vajracharya placed his right hand in mine and the fleshy depth of his hand swallowed me whole.

Remembering Thrangu Rinpoche

An account of Rinpoche's final days from Thrangu Tashi Chöling Monastery To all those around the world who have a connection, direct or indirect, with the Lord of Refuge, Khenchen...

Dön Season Retreat

As the  year of the Water Tiger draws to a close, Ocean will host daily Vajrakilaya and Mamo session

Jewel Mountain

Jewel Mountain was made in the mid-1990s and is the first in a series of subsequent films on Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

The Cremation of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche Notes from Nepal, November, 2023

Many years back, at the time of the first visit of Thrangu Rinpoche to Boulder, Colorado at the invitation of Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Trungpa Rinpoche was asked what code word we could use for Thrangu Rinpoche when communicating the logistics of his transportation, arrival at events, etc.

Opening of Thrangu Monastery Canada

Thrangu Monastery in Richmond, British Columbia, hailed as the first traditional Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Canada, officially opened on Sunday, July 25. The centerpiece of the new shrine room...

Dön Season Retreat on Ocean

During the final days of the Year of the Water Rabbit, we will focus our evening practice on Vajrakilya and Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos.