Thursday

No Small Version of Shambhala

miksang photo by Charles Blackhall

“There is no small version of Shambhala,” said the Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, in his Shambhala Day Address yesterday from Halifax. “It’s not about ‘ME’’. It’s about humanity.”

“The reason that the Dorje Dradul (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche) taught Shambhala and the reason he empowered me to be the Sakyong was social transformation. How that occurs is what we have to work on now,” he said.

“We have to feel and believe in basic goodness. If we jump into social action, without doing that, we will burn out.” But, he said, “if we can connect, personally and socially, to this potent, dynamic principle of basic goodness, then, like ripples in a pond, all kinds of activities will come forth.”

He declared this year to be “a year of creating a culture of basic goodness” in Shambhala itself. He described several initiatives that will unfold in the year. These include introduction of the “Shambhala Sadhana” (at the Shambhala Sadhana Retreat, March 17th – 18th), publication of his “Treatise on Enlightened Society”, and a new text on Shambhala Meditation that will he will present at major programs this year.

The Sakyong’s address was broadcast by Shambhala Online to more than 125 centers and groups worldwide.

It will be shown at many centers and groups this weekend, to enable people who were not able to be present at events today to see it and celebrate the start of the Year of the Water Dragon.

A link for the entire broadcast, including the Sakyong’s address, the remarks of the Sakyong Wangmo, and the President’s film “This is not a time to hold on or close down…” will be made available to everyone on Monday, February 27th.

Some centers reported serious gaps in the sound from the live broadcast yesterday. Any center or group who registered for the broadcast can find a complete version with working sound online: please click here. You will need to log in with the same details you used to register your center or group for the broadcast.

To report any difficulties, please contact: [email protected]

The President’s film (with the painting of the Water Dragon) can be viewed online. It weaves together the themes of our global crisis, our lineage vision and Shambhala Day giving, and can now be viewed on the Kalapa Council blog: please click here.

You can also see the Shambhala Day Film, “Making the Impossible Possible – the Year in Review” online by clicking here. Produced by Shambhala Media, edited by Ethan Neville, and narrated by Pascale Roger-McKeever, the film shows highlights of the year from Shambhala locations and events around the world, previews the forthcoming film “An Uncommon King” and the Sakyong’s book, “Running with the Mind of Meditation“, to be published in April this year.

water dragon by President Reoch

The Shambhala Day film is already available in Czech, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian, thanks to the work of our international translators and Hamish Maclaren. Other languages will follow. For information how to view the film with subtitles in all languages, please click here.

For those who have expressed interest in the making of the President’s film, “This is not a time to hold on or close down…“, a short film of the painting of the Water Dragon is posted on his column, From our President.