Thursday

Sakong Announces Shambhala Household Initiative

On his birthday, just before entering retreat, the Sakyong recorded an interview with President Reoch about the significance of Shambhala Households.

“Shambhala is historically connected with household,” he said. “I feel that the next phase is really this notion of the Shambhala Household. A person could choose to say ‘I would like to live as a Shambhala Household,’ and they would participate in this way. I would send a letter or acknowledgment that their home is an official Shambhala household and that they wish to live their life according to certain principles.”

The Sakyong wishes this interview to be shared with the community on this first day of 2010. To view his message please click here.

In his interview, the Sakyong points out that Shambhala Households are a basic principle of Shambhala, and our focusing on this will be a major development for our community. “To actually have a social transformation, we need to bring it down to our home level,” he says. He points out that since Shambhala is about society, Shambhala Households will be a source of social change, kindness and kinship.

The Sakyong stresses that Shambhala Households will reflect the diversity of our mandala. A Shambhala Household could be composed of singles, gay couples, groups of people, or couples with or without children. “Having a household doesn’t necessarily mean you are married in the traditional sense,” he says. “You could have the bachelor’s household. You could have any number of individuals living together. Their home is essentially their palace. From that they live an uplifted life.”

The Sakyong’s vision was first discussed by the Kalapa Council, which invited Sangyum Wendy Friedman, Director of Culture and Decorum and Ms Mary Whetsell, Chair of the Community Care Council, to consider ways of moving forward on this initiative this year. The goal of the Kalapa Council is that by the time of the Sakyong’s return from retreat, there would be supplications ready from those who wished to receive formal recognition as “Shambhala Households”.

Exploring the vision of Shambhala Households will be an organic development in line with our community’s multi-cultural character and drawing on everyone’s heritage. This will be a work-in-progress with community-wide input rather than a set of prescriptions. All Shambhala Centres and groups are encouraged to gather to watch the Sakyong speak about this vision, and to discuss it as a community.

To read the first of a series of articles on this subject in the Shambhala Times — an interview with Wendy Friedman, Director of Culture and Decorum, and Kusung Dapon Noel McLean — please click here.

Articles on the topic of Shambhala Households will appear on the Shambhala Times during the first week of January. Click here to view.