Melanya Helene’s one woman show

‘Hopeless’

opening July 9th

An award winning solo performance inspired by the writings of Pema Chodron

Special ticket price for Shambhala Members and Friends $10

Runs July 9 - 25

at The Brooklyn Bay 1825 SE Franklin St PDx

For reservations or more info see

www.thebrooklynbay.org

or call

503.258.9000

From: Portland News Magazine

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The Kootenay Shambhala Centre is pleased to present Earth Dharma, a five-class course with Russell Rodgers, on Thursday evenings, from May 20th to June 17th.

We will explore our relationship with the earth, our present ecological predicament, and how meditation and other practices can help.

Everyone is welcome. Online participation (through audio recordings and other resources) will be possible. For a full program description click here.

From: Kootenay Shambhala Blog

Northern California Shambhala has opened the search for a new Regional Director! Northern California Shambhala is a community of meditation centers and study groups located in Berkeley, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Marin County, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Davis, and Grass Valley. To view our website, click here.

Northern California Shambhala is unique in that we have seven meditation centers and four meditation groups all within a few hours of one another. This close proximity has allowed us to development a regional governance structure which increases cooperation, broadens our view, and helps us function together better. Organizing regionally means that we do not just rely on one central international office, but on a regional office that provides local services. Northern California Shambhala is one of the only functioning regional sanghas in the entire international community.

Our latest regional project is establishing a new regional headquarters, Sharchen Dzong, which is also home to the San Francisco Shambhala Center in downtown San Francisco. To read more about this project, click here.

This is an exciting time of change and growth in our region. If you feel moved to become an integral part of the leadership team in our region and would like a copy of the Regional Director job description, please contact Kay Peterson at NCS.Kay@gmail.com. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to: Kay Peterson at NCS.Kay@gmail.com. Please specify “Regional Director post” in the subject line. Please tell us in your cover letter how your specific experience and accomplishments address our needs. We will contact qualified applicants. This position is a Kalapa Court appointment. Application deadline is April 30, 2010.

The Governing Council of the Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago is pleased to announce that Tom Adducci has been selected and appointed as the new Center Director. This appointment is the fruition of our Lion’s Leap Campaign to hire a full-time Center Director.

The Governing Council notified Kalapa Court of its selection, and President Richard Reoch replied: “I am delighted to confirm, on behalf of The Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche and the Kalapa Court, that we are pleased to appoint Mr. Tom Adducci to the position of Center Director of the Chicago Shambhala Center. Mr. Adducci has a long history of practice and service in the Shambhala mandala, including the role he has recently played in the leadership of the Minneapolis Shambhala Center.”

Mr. Adducci will take his seat as Center Director in early May 2010. Until that time, Governing Council Chair Gina Caruso is fulfilling Center Director functions with support from other Governing Council members.

“I was greatly inspired by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche’s vision for the inclusive growth of Shambhala and the deepening of the practice path, and I am honored to be serving the Chicago sangha as its first full-time Center Director,” said Tom about his new position.

About Tom

Tom Adducci brings to Chicago a wealth of experience from both the Shambhala and business worlds. A native of Chicago, Tom was a student of the Vidyadhara, the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from the early 1970s and has continued as a practitioner and leader in the Shambhala lineage to this day. He is a past Director of the Shambhala Center of Minneapolis and most recently was responsible for introducing the new Way of Shambhala curriculum to the Minnesota community. In the business world, Tom has been a human resources executive for over 20 years, acting as Director of Talent Management for ADC Telecommunications in Minneapolis and, starting in 2003, as a founding partner of RecruitStream, a management consulting service. Mr. Adducci has two grown sons and a daughter.

The Center Director Search Process

In Fall 2009, the former Shambhala Council appointed a Search Committee to launch a candidate recruitment process that followed guidelines established by the Governing Committee, including posting the position throughout the North American Shambhala community. Three excellent final candidates were selected for consideration by the Governing Council. After a series of interviews and careful review of the Center’s needs at this time, the Governing Council offered the position to Mr. Adducci. His depth of practice and professional experience will serve the community well as we take our next steps along the path of creating Enlightened Society.

For questions or more information, contact the Governing Council at governingcouncil@chicagoshambhala.org.

Warmest wishes from Nelson to all conference participants!!

If any of you―Amber, Ann, Bonnie, Cynthia, Dan, Dian, John, Katherine, Ken, Lesa, Lisa, Marcia, Mark, Paul, Rick, Shelley…?―want to share your impressions of the conference, you can use the comments section below.

From: Kootenay Shambhala Blog

To follow the Group’s activity, visit their blog: 100 Mile House Shambhala Meditation Group.

May basic goodness continue to flower in central BC!

Retreat at Mahood Falls

From: Kootenay Shambhala Blog

Meditating at Baldwin House, November 2009

Exploring how right speech, together with meditation practice, can tranform us from a ‘me-first’ into a ‘we-first’ society.

By Susan Chapman

Many years ago, in my career as a therapist, it dawned on me that the roots of enlightened society are the ordinary, everyday relationships we have with each other. Relationship itself, I knew, centers around communication. While we might have larger projects for creating a compassionate world, we must learn to relate to each other as humans — with warmth, dignity, authenticity and skill. But while this is easy to intend, the learning process can be tricky, full of misunderstandings, confusion and pain. We can often move in directions which solidify fixed ideas, instead of taking them apart. And even experienced meditators can find themselves filled with overpowering klesha activity.

In response, I began envisioning the method that I’m training people in via my business: Green Light Conversations. At that time I had a private counseling practice working with individuals and couples. But I saw that this approach was only available to those with the means to pay. Could there be something more affordable that would extend further into our communities, like a safety net?

While working in a domestic violence prevention program, I began experimenting with teaching classes on Contemplative Psychology based on models I had developed. These models reflected the insights I’d gained from my teachers at Naropa Institute, Ed Podvoll and Virginia Hilliker, and were adapted to clarify both healthy and neurotic patterns of relationship and communication.

Then, in 1997 my husband and I began a three-year retreat and ended up spending nine years at Gampo Abbey. During that time I paid close attention to the resilient local culture of Cape Breton, which has a well deserved reputation for friendliness. How did these people get along so well? Also, as retreat leader (or druppon) for intensive, long Shambhala Vajrayana retreats, I was particularly interested in learning the practice of right speech, and how it goes hand in hand with meditation practice to tranform us from a ‘me-first’ into a ‘we-first’ society — in other words, into a true sangha.

After leaving the Abbey in 2008 I spent a year developing Green Light Conversations, and the three main programs that can be offered as retreats, workshops or classes. After working with him as a web designer, I invited Mudra Institute teacher Greg Heffron and student of Craig Smith to include Mudra Space Awareness training in our retreats in order to provide potent, non-conceptual contemplations for the skills covered in each workshop.

Because the five elemental dralas are also key to my work, I also needed to find the right venue for our program. I discovered the perfect location at Deer Lake in Burnaby, in the beautiful and historic Baldwin House.

Our first local retreat was held there on a rainy weekend in November. Twenty participants came from a variety of sources: hospice, the BC Counseling Association, from Vipassana communities, as well as from our Shambhala Center, including a variety of meditators, from new members to “old dogs.” In our weekend retreat, strangers become friends as we practiced mindfulness and awareness skills tuned especially towards what I’m calling the “Five Powers of Mindful Communication:” Silence, Mirroring, Encouraging, Responsiveness and Discernment. We practiced how to recognize open communication, what to do when communication collapses, and how to use our mindfulness in the in between state when communication becomes edgy and irritating. By the end of Sunday afternoon, the warmth of reconnection with ourselves and each other was palpable.

Looking ahead to 2010 we’ll be teaching all three programs at Deer Lake between January and June and then resuming in November. The next Level One is January 30-31, and Level Two (”The Chemistry of Emotions”) will be the first weekend in March. Plans are in the works for a week retreat, and Green Light Conversations also has an introductory class and workshop that can be offered at Shambhala Centers. For more news and updates, see our website: www.greenzonetalk.com

Greg Heffron and Susan Chapman

From: Vancouver Shambhala Ordinary News

He submitted the document for the possible benefit of Shambhala teachers, environmentalists and others.

Topics include:
• Container Principle
• The Root of Ecological Problems
• The Senses: Our Gateways to the Natural World
• Making a Heart Connection to All Living Beings
• The Eco-dharma of Emptiness
• Drala: Working with Presence
• Introduction to the Lhasang

An “Afterthoughts” section provides additional material.

You can offer feedback by leaving a reply below, or by emailing Russell Rodgers at info@nelsonbuddha.com.

From: Kootenay Shambhala Blog

The Sakyong’s Council has now formally decided that the key strategic objective for the immediate period, in line with the Sakyong’s wishes and the aspirations expressed by the Congress, would be to “deepen community and manifest a culture of kindness.”

The aim of this post is to invite anyone in the Pacific Northwest Shambhala community (or beyond) to participate in a collective contemplation of what it means to deepen community and manifest a culture of kindness.

What inspires you about your local Shambhala community? How does kindness manifest there? What do you find challenging―or even alienating? What else…? Join the discussion in the comments section below. All respectfully expressed thoughts and feelings are welcome.

For related pre-Congress discussion, see the post Exploring community.

From: Kootenay Shambhala Blog

Pour le télécharger [Cliquez ici]

Ce texte est disponible également sur le site web des Traductions Manjushri.

Le texte original anglais est Sakyong’s Treatise on Society and Government.

Excellente lecture à tous !

From: Le blog de Shambhala France

From: Shambhala Europe Blog

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The Abhidharma is the collection of the Buddha’s teachings on the composition and functions of the human mind.

If you are looking for a Buddhist Studies course offering a more in-depth exploration of these teachings than is presented in the Way of Shambhala curriculum, consider taking this one: Looking at Mind: An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology.

Taught by David Marshall, this course is scheduled to run at the Kootenay Shambhala Centre on six consecutive Thursdays, from February 11th to March 18th, 2010. Everyone is welcome. Online participation―through audio recordings and other materials―will be possible.

For a full course description, go to our Looking at Mind: An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology page.

From: Kootenay Shambhala Blog

Dans sa lettre du mois d’avril, Protégeons la terre, le Sakyong nous invite à prendre nos responsabilités sur ces sujets de préservation de notre environnement aussi :
Le centre de Paris depuis 2 ans maintenant propose des buffets bio à la fin des sessions de méditation.

Mais notre grande vision concerne Dechen Chöling, notre centre de retraite européen dans le Limousin, afin qu’il devienne un lieu du Dharma éducatif et exemplaire au niveau écologique, avec l’idée à moyen terme d’en faire un des écosites à même de ré-enchanter ceux qui le fréquente.

En 2009, nous y avons programmé plusieurs actions comme :
• Economiser l’eau et pour ce faire, nous avons fait installer partout des chasses d’eau à double bac, des mitigeurs dans toutes les salles de bain et des économiseurs d’eau ont été vissés sur chaque robinet, permettant ainsi d’économiser 50% d’eau.

• Lors de notre visite en juin à Karma Ling, nous avons rencontré Jean-Patrick qui a mis en place là-bas une filière d’approvisionnement et de repas bio. Il vit désormais à Dechen Chöling et met progressivement en place cette filière. Le Sakyong, a qui le projet a été présenté cet été, a nous a apporté son soutient. Jean-Patrick aura aussi pour tâche de rechercher le futur maraîcher bio que nous souhaitons voir s’installer sur nos 2 magnifiques champs de 15 hectares jouxtant Dechen Chöling et qui sont susceptibles de produire de magnifiques légumes.

• D’ici 1 an, Thierry Richarme qui a construit lui-même sa maison en bois à coté de Dechen Chöling, aura planté 100 arbres fruitiers dans un des déjà fameux champs de 15 ha.

• Cet automne, la Sangha française a financé et planter lors de la retraite francophone, 500 jeunes arbres d’essences différentes dans les bosquets qui étaient un peu dégarnis à coté du futur stupa. Ce chantier d’une matinée qui a mobilisé 30 personnes permettra de fixer un peu de gaz carbonique dans les années à venir, et apportera un peu de fraîcheur l’été aux générations futures, 1000 autres jeunes arbres seront plantés en 2010 et 2011.
(Voir d’autres photos ci-dessous et sur http://www.flickr.com/photos/journalshambhala/)

• Nous allons aussi changer en 2010 notre système d’assainissement vieux de 14 ans pour le remplacer par un système de lagunage à 3 bassins avec plantes épuratrices.

• En 2010, nous nous occuperons plus spécialement de communiquer autour du tri des déchets, avec de grands panneaux en bois trilingue près des zones de restauration. Nous allons aussi concevoir une plaquette ludique qui sera remise à chacun des participants à son arrivée afin de l’inviter à avoir des actions respectueuses dans ce lieu sacré.

• Dechen Chöling a acheté un désherbeur à gaz avec 3 membres de la Sangha vivant dans son voisinage.

• Enfin, nous travaillons à organiser un programme inspirant et fédérateur sur écologie et spiritualité en octobre 2010.

Si vous vous sentez concerné par ces sujets, n’hésitez pas à contacter Guillaume Duffossé, responsable du groupe Toucher le terre : guillaume.dufosse[à]gmail.com

Franck Le Naourèse

1) Les Canadiens ont mis en place une initiative intéressante : Ex : Un érable de 40 ans absorbe 90 kg de CO2 par an pour sa croissance. Un français adulte produit environ 6000 kg de gaz à effet de serre par son chauffage, son électricité et sa voiture.
6000 kg de gaz produit par an : 90 kg de gaz absorbé par arbre mature = 61 arbres. Donc pour ralentir les changements climatiques, comme notre espérance de vie est d’environ 72 ans, il nous faut planter un arbre par an et ce à partir de 11 ans.

From: Le blog de Shambhala France

The group members are:
Catherine Eveillard-Elsky, architect
Thierry Richarme, master landscape gardener
Dominique Rousselle, project engineer
Andréas Manthey, gardener
Guillaume Dufossé, environmental activities leader
Paul Gabaix, agricultural engineer
Sylvie Deraime, journalist
Franck Le Naourèse, trainer in landscape gardening

The purpose of the group, formed two years ago, is to promote ecology and the preservation of a healthy environment within our community, as the very existence of life on earth is under threat.

Through his message dated April 2009, the Sakyong invited us to take serious responsibility on matters of environmental protection. In response to his appeal, here are some of the actions undertaken in France:

Since two years, the Paris Shambhala Centre offers organic food buffets at the end of meditation sessions.

But our bigger vision involves Dechen Chöling, the European land centre located in the French Limousin region, so that it would become an inspiring educational example according to ecological standards. At an average middle term, we aspire to turn it into an ecosite which will further enchant all visitors.

In 2009, we undertook several projects in Dechen Chöling, such as:
1- In order to reduce water consumption by half, all toilets are now equipped with dual-flush and all bathrooms with faucet mixers. A water-saving device is fixed on each faucet.

2- During our visit to Karma Ling, France, we met with Jean-Patrick who has organized a network of organic food supplies and meals there. He now lives in Dechen Chöling where he is progressively organizing a similar supply system. This summer we presented this project to the Sakyong who has approved it. Jean-Patrick’s job here will also include finding a market gardener (truck farmer, as it is called in the USA) who could start growing delicious vegetables in our two magnificent 15-hectar fields adjacent to Dechen Chöling.

3- Within a year from now, Thierry Richarme, who built his own wooden house near DCL, will finish planting 100 fruit trees in one of these two 15-hectar fields.

4- This fall, during the recent French sangha retreat, the French sangha both financed and planted 500 young trees of various essences in the somewhat bare groves near the future stupa site. It took one full morning and 30 people to do the job. The new trees will help fix a small amount of carbon dioxide over the next few years and provide a cool shade in summer to future generations. Another 1000 young trees will be planted in 2010 and 2011.

5- In 2010, we will also change the DCL drainage and water purification system which is 14 years old. It will be replaced by a lagoon system made of three ponds of purifying plants.

6- In 2010, we will undertake a special information campaign about the sorting out and recycling of waste, using wooden notice boards in three languages that will be set up near the dining areas. A small leaflet will be handed out to participants on their arrival, inviting them to have a mindful behavior in order to respect and preserve this sacred land.

7- Dechen Chöling, along with three sangha members living in the neighborhood, has purchased a weeding device that functions with gas.

8- Lastly, we are working on setting up an inspiring program about ecology and spirituality scheduled in October 2010.

If you feel concerned by all these subjects, you may contact Guillaume Dufossé, in charge of the group Toucher la Terre, France : guillaume.dufosse@gmail.com

By Franck Le Naourèse co-director Paris Shambhala center

(Translation : Rohini Schiff-Bhagwat)

1] Canadians have taken an interesting initiative. For example, a 40-year old maple tree absorbs 90 kg of CO2 per year as it grows. An adult French citizen produces about 6000 kg of green-house effect gas through his/her electric consumption, heating and use of car. At the rate of one mature tree absorbing 90 kg of gas, it takes 61 trees to absorb the 6000 kg of gas produced by one person per year. So, in order to slow down the effects of climate change, given that we have a lifespan of approximately 72 years, we need to plant one tree per year, starting as early as age 11.

Acharya Allyn Lyon

Download “Shambhala: A Buddhist Shamanic Journey for Modern Times,” with Acharya Allyn Lyon (MP3: 53 MB; 58 min)

ALLYN LYON was appointed an acharya in 2000, after several years serving as Director of Shambhala Mountain Center and in other Shambhala administrative positions. Since then she has been traveling and teaching while creating a home base in Tepotzlan, Mexico, where she is the resident acharya. Her main interest in teaching dharma is the nature of mind and how it functions: “What is mind? How does practice work with mind? What is real?” But if there’s a bottom line, Allyn says, “it’s that I really enjoy practicing the dharma, teaching and sharing my love of the dharma with students.” For more about Acharya Lyon, click here.

From: Kootenay Shambhala Blog