Thursday

Vajradhatu Sun

Vajradhatu Sun

•    Bi-monthly, 36-page broadsheet format on newsprint
•    Editors included Joshua Zim (1978 to 1980), Miriam Garrett (formerly Tarcov, 1980 to 1983), Rick Fields (1983 to 1985/86), Holly Hammond, Jeffrey Herrick, and Melvin McLeod
•    Designers included Mary Sweet, Liza Matthews, and Molly Nudell; with layout and paste-up assistance from members of the Vajradhatu Art Group
•    Published in Boulder until 1985/86 when Vajradhatu/Nalanda Foundation headquarters moved to Halifax

“When the Vajradhatu Sun began publishing in October 1978, more than eight years after Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche came to North America, Buddhist hippies had by and large become respectable citizens, many owning businesses and hawking their wares and services in the pages of the Sun. Naropa Institute, the first Buddhist-inspired institution of higher learning in North America, had just completed its fourth summer. The Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism, had already made two visits to the West and was soon to make his third. The Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin, an American from Passaic, New Jersey, born as Thomas Rich, had been empowered as Chogyam Trungpa’s dharma heir and had been teaching for several years. Trungpa Rinpoche’s eldest son, Osel Mukpo (now Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and the leader of the Shambhala Buddhist community) was a teenager who had just taken the Buddhist refuge vow. The fifth Vajradhatu Seminary had been completed earlier in the year, and although Shambhala Training was in its infancy, the Shambhala world was already in full swing for many of Trungpa Rinpoche’s senior students, who were then attending the first Kalapa Assembly, and advanced training in the Shambhala teachings.” (The Best of Vajradhatu Sun)