Sacred Communication in Marriage
Student: Could you say more about relationships and marriage? I’m planning on getting married.
Chögyam Trungpa: You shouldn’t expect anything at the beginning, but you should try to work together with your husband or wife. Basically speaking, marriage is a joint effort of trying to solve one another’s problems, and trying to make a creative world. That seems to be the basic point. As long as you are not immediately looking for an ideal, happy life, you can work with marriage. On the other hand, you shouldn’t just forget about the possibility of being overwhelmed by the idea of problems, either. It is a question of intelligence on both sides, and at the same time, there is a need for tremendous awareness and mindfulness. Each communication that takes place between the two of you has to be sacred in some sense. You should regard your partner as a spiritual friend of some type, and try to work along with that. When there is that kind of working basis taking place, I don’t see any particular problems.
The relationship might change anywhere: right at the beginning, or halfway through. It may not always be the same kind of relationship, because each one of you begins to grow up. So it might take a different shape; it might produce different kinds of phenomena. Nonetheless, as long as there is a dharmic connection, a spiritual connection, I don’t see any particular problems.
I’ve been asked by the family of Lady Diana Mukpo to make some remarks today about her life story: who she was, what she did and what her connection is to all of us! It’s difficult to do this...
Ringu Tulku on the Sadhana of Mahamudra & the Four Dharma’s of Gampopa
Thank you to Ringu Tulku and his organization, Bodhicharya, for permission to post this talk.
The Passing of Lady Diana Mukpo
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 and vision - passed away surrounded by family and close friends at her home in Florida on...
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
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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...
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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
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Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's Stories of Shechen Kongtrül, read by Larry Mermelstein.
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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...
Inconceivable Love
It has been twenty years since Chögyam Trungpa left this world.
As an artist, he taught us all to be artists in every moment of our lives, and to give...
Larry Mermelstein
Larry talks about the origins of the Nalanda Translation Committee and working with Trungpa Rinpoche the various translation projects.
The Padmasambhava of Our Time
Arguably the most important figure in the transmission of Buddhism to the West.
Chogyam Trungpa in Mousehole
Chogyam Trungpa in Mousehole
The west Cornish potter and teacher Bill Picard, died aged 92 in 2007. He was a cultured and charismatic buddhist. In the early 1960s, having been...
Trungpa Rinpoche’s Mirror Divinations During the Escape
II. Togden Achö:
Nothing Else
Sometime in the early 80's, I was helping Trungpa Rinpoche with names for the Vajrayogini abhisheka. I think it was my first time doing that, so it was likely...
Grandmother’s Audience
As told by Sarah Cox to Elizabeth Richardson
Born in 1890, Sarah Louise Buffington, was an unusually self determined woman for her generation. With the onset of the First World...
Elocution Lessons with Chögyam Trungpa, Part Two: Form as Practice
If you are paying attention to how you speak and how others communicate, you will find that you are paying attention altogether to the environment, to how you sit or stand, to how you hold your hands, to how you look at people — all those things.
Every Lifetime
I had not seen the Vidyadhara in a while. It was probably 1975 or 1976... and when he was visiting NY I had an interview with him. Among other...
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...
Video Excerpt from When the Iron Bird Flies
This 5 minute clip from the feature documentary WHEN THE IRON BIRD FLIES: Tibetan Buddhism Arrives in the West follows Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche as he leaves England, lands in...
Oxford Refuge for Buddhist Monks
Newspaper clippings from the UK press in 1964 describing CTR's escape from Tibet.
The Earth is Our Witness
As I practiced the Vajrayogini sadhana in front of the sunlit shrine next to the porch, graceful deer bounded through the woods outside, finding a refuge from their fear...
Mindfulness, Compassion, and Daily Life with Judy Lief
Facing Death, Working with Dying, A Fresh Look at Relationships, and Milarepa’s Journey
Tom and Thich Nhat Han
Thay at RMDC
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