From Hugh Curran

Dear Friends,

As some of you may know I was one of three invited speakers (to represent the University of Maine Peace & Reconciliation Studies Program)  to give a talk at a Conference on Tolerance and Peace in Malta in October, 2019. My presentation has been, in the past couple of weeks, published in an On-line Open Access Book. This Open Access Book also includes a number of excellent presentations by more than a dozen contributors. My own contribution is found in Chapter 13 (Tolerance and Nonviolent Practices) and includes a discussion on nonviolent aspects of the Independence movements in Ireland and India.

 

The on-line version of the book has been published without charge. The print version will not be available until Feb 28, 2021, at a cost of $115.(ISBN: 9788770222082; e-ISBN: 9788770222075 ) Presumably a paperback version will be more reasonably priced, although you can read, at no cost, the Open Access Book which includes easily opened individual chapters at the following link:

https://www.riverpublishers.com/research_details.php?book_id=780

 

Note from the Editors:  Paths to a Culture of Tolerance and Peace: Editors: Basma EL Zein,  Ahmed Al Jarwan,Global Council for Tolerance and Peace (GCTP) , Malta:

 

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that I would like to share with you the great news that the First GCTP book “Paths to a culture of Tolerance and Peace”  is officially online .

https://www.riverpublishers.com/research_details.php?book_id=780

peace book image.png

Thank you so much and best wishes,

Basma

 

A Letter from Lady Diane Mukpo- July 16, 2020

Office of the Druk Sakyong Wangmo

 

To the Shambhala sangha,

I write this letter in a difficult time for our community as well as our world. Turmoil engulfs us internally and externally as across society people wake up to the ways the institutions that surround us have failed those who they should serve. Our community is no exception, and the last three years have been a painful reckoning with where we have fallen short of our aspirations.

I spent 17 years of my life with the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and was present for nearly every step of his journey to bring his sacred heritage from his lost homeland to ours. One day, shortly after we moved to Boulder, I said to Rinpoche, “I love you more than anyone in the world.” He responded by saying, “I love you second best.” When I asked who came first, he said, “I will always love my guru Jamgon Kongtrul most because he represents the dharma.”

For two decades, I watched as he devoted every fiber of his being and life force to what he felt was his duty: to share what he brought over the Himalayas with us in these faraway lands. He believed teaching the dharma was his reason for being on this earth, and this permeated all his actions.

During his life as well as after his death, tens of thousands of people contributed to building the sangha that he inspired and guided. They lifted tents so that mountain fields could become sacred teaching environments, cooked meals for one another, washed sheets, windows, and dishes as a service to their fellow practitioners, worked tirelessly to build spaces in cities across the world, and dedicated their precious time and money to our community.

Now, what was built by all that exertion is in peril.

We must be honest. It is in peril because of us. In our zeal to see only what was nourishing and profound about the world we were creating, we failed in our duty to listen to and protect the vulnerable among us. This was a collective failure of leadership that stretched across eras, and we cannot brush it aside.

I know that this letter will be read by some of those who were abused by teachers or fellow practitioners in our community, or who were subjected to harm and dismissed when they tried to express what had happened to them. To you, I say: I am sorry. We failed you, and there are no words that can fix what you experienced. You deserved better.

Now, our community finds itself at a crossroads. The heartbreak, anger, and disappointment that we have collectively experienced has fractured us and left us frozen about how to move forward – or for many, whether we should at all. For some, this pain is new. For others, it has been carried for years or decades. One thing is clear – for our tradition to continue, it must change, and so must we.

The work of addressing the cultural and institutional patterns that brought us to this point cannot be carried out by one person, nor any small group, no matter how well-practiced or devoted they may be. It is a collective responsibility that all who wish to see the Shambhala tradition emerge from this crisis now share. The wisdom that is at the core of that tradition is owned by no one. Everywhere it has arrived, it has adapted and changed to meet the intelligence of those who have been entrusted with it.

I feel that it is important to say this clearly and without hesitation: Shambhala is all of us. It is the community of warriors, teachers, meditators, and workers who have devoted their sweat and tears to its propagation across decades and generations. Now, we must decide how to care for that inheritance so we may pass it along to others, just as it was given to us.

Throughout the history of our sangha, authentic dharma has been offered by our teachers in many forms. The insights gained on zafus, benches, and teaching chairs have transformed people’s lives and given them tools to work with their minds and contemplate the nature of reality. But that is understandably of small consolation to those who were hurt, and who left exhausted and disillusioned.

Chogyam Trungpa once told us to “never give up on anyone.” But that is not a license to evade responsibility for harmful behavior or abuses of power. When we harm others, consciously or not, we must be brave enough to face the consequences of our actions, and if we cannot do so, our positions of leadership are not inviolable. None of us is above a reckoning with that pain.

I recognize that this includes me. And I know that some of you who are reading this may feel that my own proximity to power and authority over the years makes me a questionable spokesperson for change. All of those who have held leadership positions must be willing to account for the moment we are in and how we arrived here. I am no exception to this. But this brings me to the purpose of this letter.

When the Vidyadhara died, he passed on responsibility for his legacy and sangha to a number of people. While it is undeniable that he hoped the Shambhala tradition would be carried forward by his son, he left me with control over the copyrights for all his writings, practice instructions, sadhanas, translations, and termas. I believe that this was intended to provide checks and balances in case there were difficulties in the future. After his death, in my role as the Druk Sakyong Wangmo I periodically gave authorization to sangha members who wished to practice the Werma Sadhana.

I will now be making all of that material available to those who wish to carry his legacy forward, outside of any single line of strict control. In the coming months I will be convening a representative group of practitioners across generations and eras to discuss how we can provide opportunities for all those who wish to receive those materials in the future to do so. My hope is that ultimately the sangha itself will become empowered to craft a path forward without replicating the dynamics that brought us to this painful point.

When I reflect on the Vidyadhara’s life’s work, I am struck by the array of meditative forms and teaching streams that he created to help people cultivate a relationship to the dharma. He established programs for dharma art, offered traditional Karma Kagyu-Nyingma practice instructions, invited teachers from the Zen and Kyudo worlds to share their traditions, and created a new language for Tibet’s spiritual warriorship tradition, which he called Shambhala. In addition, he built relationships with scholars and meditation masters from across the world, many of whom were instrumental in the founding of our community from its earliest days.

I hope that those who now hold these wisdom traditions in their hands – all of you – can bring them into a new era and help to shape the society that contains them.

I would like to make it clear that I am not seeking to assume administrative or spiritual leadership of the sangha, nor attempting to establish a new hierarchy through a closed process. Rather, I plan to use what power I do have – those over the Vidyadhara’s copyrights – to support those who wish to create an independent path for students to receive training in the forms and practices he taught, and to develop new environments in which they can be shared. I hope that by conferring these authorizations to a new generation, I am carrying out the responsibility that was entrusted to me by my husband before his death.

The contours of what our community choses to do with the treasures it holds is not mine alone to decide. But by opening up space for new possibilities, perhaps our collective wisdom will illuminate the way forward.

Some of this work is already being done, and has been for some time. People who were trained or raised by the Shambhala community have struck out on their own, and are currently serving as teachers in their own communities, whether local or otherwise. I find this encouraging and note that many of these environments are thriving as they commit themselves to addressing spiritual power dynamics that, if left unchecked, can breed abuse.

There can be no mandate for every teacher or sangha affiliated with our tradition to pledge allegiance to one central body. Many will wish to continue as they are and build on the work that they have been developing, on their own, without becoming too tied into any larger group. I hope to be able to give authorization for some of those teachers to share the Vidyadhara’s writings and termas so they may have additional resources to offer their students.

Many sangha members, however, are understandably unwilling to carry on with business as usual, but do not wish to see the unique forms, customs, and practices of what has been known as Vajradhatu or Shambhala over the years disappear entirely from their lives. I find myself in this group, and it is this group to whom I would like to offer as much support as I can.

None of this is happening in a vacuum, of course. In recent months, it has become clear that Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is choosing to work with a smaller group of students, provided they are willing to continue with their samaya and the other vows they have made to him. The actions that many had hoped would take place through this crisis do not look likely to occur. I recognize the depth of commitment that some of members of our sangha have to him, and I respect their decision to remain on their journey. My aspiration is that we will continue to see ourselves as part of a broader family and not become inhospitable to or alienated from one another.

I recognize as well that many newer students have questions about Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his personal conduct. Those questions are valid. Nobody is beyond scrutiny, and there is much about his behavior that we have emulated in ways that have been unhealthy and dangerous over the years. However vast his mind may have been, he was still a human being.

But as someone who spent years by his side, I want you to know that I never met anyone who was kinder, more devoted to others, and more unfathomably brilliant than him. Without doubt I can say that what he brought into the world, he did so because of a bone-deep commitment to the awakenment of sentient beings. I feel incredibly lucky to have spent the time with him that I did, along with a profound commitment to his life’s work.

For his heart transmissions to survive, we will need to hand the shrine room keys to a new generation of leaders and teachers. Over the years, I have met countless members of our extended family of practitioners, both young and old. I know that we have tremendous resources to draw on, and I believe fully that our sangha can rise to the challenges we face.

At the heart of my husband’s work in his later life was the idea of an “enlightened society.” It informed and guided so much of his teaching and creativity. So much of his energy was spent building a sangha that didn’t shy away from celebration or participation in the world, but could do so from the ground of meditation practice, basic goodness, and appreciation of sacred world. It is now our responsibility to recognize where we have stumbled, and to move forward in a way that does not repeat past mistakes.

But we might also remember how fortunate we are, as well as what our tradition and community has to offer when it is at its best. To give up entirely on our sangha would be another mistake, and a grave one.

For those of you who do not want to give up, I will be doing everything I can to ensure that you have every resource that is in my power to provide.

Yours in the dharma,

Diana Mukpo

 

New Book Announcement

We are pleased to announce the publication of The Vajra Sandwich by Yeshe Tungpa John A. Perks. It is available for reading or PDF download on the Publications page. The book is a Collection of Texts and Commentaries to Elucidate the Significance of Samaya for Western Students of Vajrayana Buddhism.

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A poem by Sir Eido in Australia

ALL THIS DEVASTATION

(a monkpunk tale)

by Sir Eido Boru OCBM

a Celtic Buddhist Bard

 

FIRE!  FIRE!

burning so bright

in our Ozland

one hell of a sight

lives and homes

have been saved

by our firefighters

ever so brave

now our army

and our Navy

doing great acts

of personal bravery

burnt out towns

now simply ash

on the charred grounds

mums and dads

and kids too

saving koalas

and kangaroos*

here come our mates

to help us out

the Yanks # and others

bringing their clout

donations of everything

are flowing in

on trucks and planes

and food in tins

school kids selling cakes

and women all the clothes

they can make

sporting folk tossing in

all their games’wins

now this bloke from Western Oz

gave 70 million

just because…

he is an Oz

I sit and breathe in tearful meditation

I have witnessed

 all this devastation

I love my fellow man

watching them

make a stand

WE WILL WIN!

 

*Millions of animals have been lost

#three American water bombing aircrew died defending Oz

A letter from Diane Mukpo

Diana Mukpo’s letter re: Shambhala

February 19, 2019

Dear Members of the Shambhala Community,

I write to you today with a very heavy heart. This is an incredibly painful time for all of us. However, in many ways, I feel that the situation we find ourselves in as a community was inevitable. The deep dysfunction and unkindness at the heart of our organization has been like a festering boil that finally burst. The revelations that have come to light over the last year have been horrifying. It has been so shocking to hear how women have been harmed. The abuse of power and violation of trust that allowed this to occur is unimaginable. As an organization and as individuals, we need to do whatever we can to support not only the women who have been abused but, as we now know, the men who are victims as well.

I have been heartbroken for years as I have watched the expansive vision of the Vidyadhara becoming more and more reduced. He used to say that Shambhala was a vast umbrella that would encompass many different activities and levels of practice. Over the last two decades, our community has become fractured, and the teachings that promise the way toward manifesting an enlightened and compassionate society have become hollow words.

During my seventeen-year marriage to the Vidyadhara I saw him manifest and teach in many different ways. The priority for him was always to find the best way to connect with people. I am sure that if he were alive today, he would be using totally different forms to interact with his students than those he employed during the era in which he was teaching. During his lifetime, he created the Kalapa Court to be a vehicle for students to have access to him. The current interpretation of court is a perversion of the initial intention. The Vidyadhara’s court was designed to build a bridge for his students to interact with him. The current model has built a wall.

I feel that the model of the court and of monarchy has become an obstacle, within which, as we have recently heard, there were abuses and cruelty. I have avoided the court situation for many years, having felt increasingly uncomfortable in that environment. It has been very sad for me, but I felt that I had to distance myself. At the same time, not being aware of the harm that was being perpetrated, I felt that it would only have caused divisiveness to speak out publicly about what I perceived to be a misunderstanding of the teachings. I have watched so many of the beautiful parts of our culture disappear and be replaced by what I have perceived to be a culturally bound religiosity. Like many others, I also have felt marginalized and have been subject to unhealthy power dynamics. If I had thought that speaking out publicly would have helped, I would have done so. In many respects, I now regret that I did not do so earlier. Privately, over the years, I have tried to give the Sakyong advice, but his reaction has been to avoid communication with me. I wrote to him twice last summer imploring him to take responsibility for his actions. We spoke on the phone, and I made a similar plea. Ultimately it is up to him to do what he can to repair the harm he has created.

There has been much discussion about the Sakyong’s childhood. He had a very difficult time growing up. When he arrived in this country as a traumatized ten-year-old child, I, his stepmother, was nineteen. I did not have the parenting skills to help him sufficiently. I am sorry about this and wish it had been different. His father was always loving toward the Sakyong but did not give him as much attention as he needed. This too is sad, but we all have different degrees of trauma. It is the nature of life and doesn’t really excuse his abuse of power and all that went along with it.

There also has been plenty of discussion about the Vidyadhara over the past year. I feel that it is my duty to be completely honest about his life. He was the most brilliant, kind, and insightful person that I have ever met. He was also ultimately unfathomable. When one examines his life, it is easy to make judgements, since his behavior was so unconventional. He was a human being and was not perfect, but he was unrelentingly kind and helped many, many people. During this difficult time, many people have spoken up about how he saved their lives. This is how they have put it, and I can connect with that completely.

In general and understandably, people – especially those who did not know him and only are hearing second-hand stories – may pass negative judgements on him. I know that there is one person who has prominently spoken up about feeling traumatized by the Vidyadhara and those around him. As his wife, the last few years of his life were very difficult for me. There is no question in my mind that alcohol had a devastating effect on both his body and mind in his latter years. My sense of this is quite different from some of the students who were close to him at that time. I have heard from a number of close students that they had positive experiences during that era, and I honor that. I think this is a time for us to honor one another’s experience, rather than judging or dismissing it. Simply speaking for myself, however, this period was very difficult. Nevertheless, it does not negate the brilliance of his teachings both in his words and in
the sacred environments he created as learning situations.

The Vidyadhara taught that the Shambhala teachings should be practiced along with the Buddhadharma, and that the two must support one another. He wrote, for example: “We can plant the moon of bodhichitta in everyone’s heart and the sun of the Great Eastern Sun in their heads.” (Collected KA, page 194.) The Sakyong’s de-emphasis and outright omission of the Kagyu and Nyingma teachings in the last 15 years has been a great detriment for our community. As much as the Vidyadhara conducted Kalapa Assemblies where he opened the Shambhala terma, at the same time he also taught Vajradhatu seminaries where he transmitted the Buddhist teachings of the three yana’s in a traditional manner. Not long before his death, when he was very ill, he made it a priority to give the Chakrasamvara Abisheka to several hundred students. This was an important Buddhist ceremony empowering people to practice advanced vajrayana teachings. He felt that it was imperative that he give this transmission to senior practitioners. I truly believe that he saw the Shambhala and the Buddhist teachings as
equally important.

At the first Kalapa Assembly, in 1978, there was a lot of discussion about what problems might arise from propagating the Shambhala vision. In that era, people often openly questioned the Vidyadhara and each other about any number of things. The following question was posed to him:

“As someone who has been worried about fascism and the possibility of the degeneration of Shambhala into that, could you say something that might be a safeguard against that?”

His response was: “Gentleness, meekness. Most of the warriors are meek persons. That’s it. And also they are practitioners of Buddhadharma.” (Collected KA, page 148)

There are many other examples of how the Vidyadhara viewed the two aspects of his teaching as equally important and supportive of one another. I do not think it was his intention to combine these teachings into one “Shambhala Buddhism”, as the Sakyong did after the Vidyadhara’s death. This move has created deep and painful rifts, not only with Trungpa Rinpoche’s heart students but also with respected members and teachers within the Tibetan community. So I think we need to look to the buddhadharma, as well as to the Shambhala teachings, to help us find the path forward. This does not invalidate the path taught by the Sakyong, nor the diligence of his students in applying themselves to it or the genuine experience of devotion many have had. Rather, it is a call for us to incorporate a bigger version of our relationship to the dharma.

I am writing to all of you and sharing my innermost thoughts with you today because I do believe so strongly that this community is worth fighting for. The incomparable practice of meditation and all the valuable teachings we have received have helped numerous people. Clearly, everything has to be re-evaluated and a healthy organizational structure needs to grow out of this. Over the past year, I have worried that the unfolding of events would be the destruction of Shambhala, but now I am wondering if, in fact, these disclosures might be what actually saves our precious community. I truly pray that we can get back on track and become what we profess to be, becoming a safe and nurturing home for those who seek these teachings. I don’t have the answers, nor do I know how all this is going to happen. There is certainly going to be more difficulty as things unfold.

Please know that I am willing to help in any way I can. I will make myself available if anyone would like to reach out to me.

In closing, I would like to discuss the role that I have played as the copyright holder for all the Vidyadhara’s written and other intellectual properties. Since his death, almost thirty-three years ago, there have been close to thirty books published, and many more could appear in the years to come. It always has been and will continue to be my intention to make his work accessible and available to all those who wish to practice and learn from his teachings. I consider this legacy as a sacred trust and will continue to work to protect and safeguard his teachings so that they will be available to people for years to come. I will do whatever is necessary to honor this commitment to all of you.

Holding you all in my heart,
Diana J. Mukpo 



A letter from John Cooke

On Sat, Mar 2, 2019 at 4:13 PM John wrote:

Dear Johnny,

aka Yeshe Tungpa 

aka Ven. Seonaidh Perks



It was with great interest, I recently read your open letter of January 9th.

Shortly thereafter I read another from Lady Diana Mukpo.  If you have not read it I have attached it at the bottom. Although I suspect you are aware of the substance. My first draft of this correspondence was lost when my email app crashed so forgive my getting to the point with a consequential loss of prose, in order to convey what is important. 

I am not at all privy to the controversy you speak of but I was pleased to hear you are getting your house in order.  I am all for “openness” if it’s display is on a firm ground, but after reading Dru’s book I am glad to hear you confirm that this “ground” is the Dharma. 

I did, for a moment, entertain the thought that your words could also be directed toward what I have shared with you concerning the Tuatha de Seanbealach. But my faith is strong that a meeting of minds will be recognized.


When I sit and contemplate the vision of Shambhala and an open enlightened society and how it informs the structure of the Tuatha de Seanbealach, I see a great Bodhi Tree with branches reaching out like a umbrella and deep roots in the Dharma and lineage.  Around the trunk are stones that represent the cultural forms (clans) that this enlightened society (Tribe) display such as Celtic Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Secular Buddhism etc.

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You mention “If Celtic Buddhism is to continue” and “If it is not to continue, which is certainly okay”.  After reading Lady Diana’s letter I became convinced of something I suspected and I believe was the reason you and the lineage of Celtic Buddhism appeared to me.  The reason you where pushed out of Rinpoche’s nest so covered with spiritual materialism. The reason Mipham Rinpoche’s “kingdom” has collapsed despite your teacher’s vision. Namely, rinpoche never meant for the Shambhala pure vision to be realized through the lineage of the Shambhala organization and it hasn’t since.  I truly believe, if Rinpoche’s vision is to survive and be realized it will only be through, if not in, the lineage of Celtic Buddhism.  You were Rinpoche’s close heart student.  I pray you will use all skillfulness and any means necessary to ensure the legacy of your teacher.  There is unfinished work.

I will strive to use all my power toward compassionate action and keep faith in a meeting of our minds.  In that spirit, with your permission, I would like to formally recognize you as the first “Chief of the Clan of Celtic Buddhism” with all continuity of formality and tradition.

 I am not sure how soon I will be able to visit yet time waits for no man. So I hope we can find a way to have more substantive correspondence.

 Yours in right action,

John Cooke III