Home     Contact Us         Log in

Author: cynthiakneen

Number of entries: 18
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://shambhalanetwork.org/members/cynthiakneen

Oct 26
Tuesday

An Inspired Kind of Rawness

Filed underCommunity Articles, Regions, World, other
Photo courtesy of Michael Levy.

Photo courtesy of Michael Levy.

Cynthia Kneen expands on her experience teaching Shambhala dharma in South Africa. During her three months there, she gave three public talks, three radio interviews, Shambhala Guide training, an introductory weekend based on her book Awake Mind, Open Heart, a dharma art evening to a private group of Cape Town artists and activists, and Shambhala Training Levels I, IV, V, Windhorse and Drala.

Click here for all of Cynthia’s blog entries and reflections from South Africa.

Last week a joke was told in a group near me, followed by explosive laughter. The explosion came because the joke said the unspeakable. It was about the South African national flag, which is colorful, varied, and the like. The joke goes like this. “The red is for the land. The blue is for the sea. The green is for the maize (the corn). The white is for the whites. The black is for the blacks. And the gold stripe around the black is for the electric fence that keeps the blacks from the maize.” Ha, ha, the group erupted. Ha, ha, from white people who care immensely, who feel their hearts are breaking. The punchline? Power has changed, but the poor still aren’t being helped. I got the joke, of course, and of course I also didn’t get it, because its pain didn’t explode for me.

I visited Johannesburg’s Apartheid Museum. It is beautifully designed and executed, and exhausting emotionally. On a little space of wall, just before entering a grotto-like area that has replicas of early cave art from thousands of years ago, there are ten words printed in small elegant script on a tiny tasteful plaque. “Humanity was born in Africa. All people, ultimately, are African.” Just ten words. I love it. Continue…

Author Archive


Gaps of Creation & Destruction
Gaps of Creation & Destruction – HIGHLIGHT
no responses - Posted 10.24.10
Cynthia Kneen expands on her experience teaching Shambhala dharma in South Africa. During her three months there, she gave three public talks, three radio interviews, Shambhala Guide training, an introductory weekend based on her book Awake Mind, Open Heart, a dharma art evening to a ...continue
Intensity in a Bold Land – HIGHLIGHT
no responses - Posted 10.22.10
Cynthia Kneen expands on her experience teaching Shambhala dharma in South Africa. During her three months there, she gave three public talks, three radio interviews, Shambhala Guide training, an introductory weekend based on her book Awake Mind, Open Heart, a dharma art evening to a ...continue
Yes: Express Your Everything
Yes: Express Your Everything – HIGHLIGHT
1 response - Posted 06.23.10
A One-Woman Play by Cynthia Kneen Photos courtesy of Jennifer Holder Before leaving for South Africa, I had been writing and performing a one-woman show as part of an underground theater group. A week before I left home, I wrote something new called YES. It is fiction, ...continue
The Immediacy and Immensity of Africa
The Immediacy and Immensity of Africa – HIGHLIGHT
3 responses - Posted 06.01.10
Cynthia Kneen shares with the Shambhala Times vivid and insightful impressions during her travels in South Africa. Currently a guest of Shambhala Cape Town, she is teaching the Shambhala and Buddhadharma in South Africa for three months. By Cynthia Kneen Shambhala South Africa is a vibrant sangha, growing ...continue
White Dove, Black Crow – HIGHLIGHT
1 response - Posted 04.22.10
From the column Dharma Snacks, by Cynthia Kneen I remember how a Japanese Buddhist monk in brown robes used to walk the streets of Boulder, Colorado with a strong open posture, uplifted gaze and good stride, beating a small drum. He walked all over town. People knew ...continue
Never Give Up – HIGHLIGHT
no responses - Posted 03.17.10
From the column Dharma Snacks, by Cynthia Kneen Takeda Shingen was a great warrior who lived in sixteenth century Japan. He gave a very famous teaching to warriors under his leadership. He said they should develop their minds to be fu rin ka zan. Kanjuro Shibata XX ...continue
When Concept Opens Up
When Concept Opens Up – HIGHLIGHT
1 response - Posted 03.02.10
From the column Dharma Snacks, by Cynthia Kneen I find contemplation powerful. When a concept opens up, we find a meaning that is deeper and richer than the intellectual activity we started with. As the mind softens and appreciates, we gain insight into the nature of what ...continue
Diving Deep – HIGHLIGHT
no responses - Posted 01.21.10
From the column Dharma Snacks by Cynthia Kneen I grew up in the Midwestern United States, from sturdy Canadian stock. Somehow my parents thought that Californians were a little silly, and to me that meant that an activity like whale watching was probably silly, too. Then I ...continue
Knowing Love – HIGHLIGHT
1 response - Posted 12.25.09
From the column Dharma Snacks by Cynthia Kneen I’ve been thinking about love. Rumi, the Sufi poet, says of love, “Sea water begs the pearl to break its shell.” In a different context, the Druk Sakyong, Trungpa Rinpoche, said, “The dralas are eager to fall in love ...continue
Picasso’s Picassos – HIGHLIGHT
no responses - Posted 11.22.09
From the column Dharma Snacks by Cynthia Kneen There is a story about a collection of paintings by Picasso that Picasso kept for himself. One of them is very small, only 7 ¼ by 5 ½ inches. It is a very dark oil painting with a figure ...continue
The Joke’s on Me – HIGHLIGHT
no responses - Posted 10.17.09
From the column Dharma Snacks by Cynthia Kneen Trungpa Rinpoche always asked me to help him–at Tail of the Tiger, at Naropa University, and later, as he put it, “by infiltrating the business world and telling me what they are up to.” “Please,” he’d say, “Help me. ...continue
Shambhala Mahasiddas – HIGHLIGHT
2 responses - Posted 09.17.09
From the column Dharma Snacks by Cynthia Kneen In The Sadhana of Mahamudra Trungpa Rinpoche says, “I’ve been fool enough to think that I possess my own projections.” I certainly feel foolish, and suffer greatly too, when I try to control my own phenomena. It’s not practical, ...continue
"Wow!"
“Wow!” – HIGHLIGHT
1 response - Posted 08.28.09
From the column Dharma Snacks by Cynthia Kneen Society is made up of individuals. Really, enlightened society is an individuals’ community. There is no extra “thing” called society. The spark, or magic, lies in our individuality rather than our uniformity. But 2+2=5 when individuals share the same ...continue
Being Buddha
Being Buddha – HIGHLIGHT
no responses - Posted 08.03.09
From the weekly column Dharma Snacks by Cynthia Kneen I think a lot about society. This could be because society is the issue for Shambhala and Mahayana Buddhism, and I am part of this. But somehow it’s a deeper issue, too. Look at how troubled human society ...continue


Website Development by Blue Mandala using Wordpress MU.
All content and source Copyright © 1994-2024. Shambhala International (Vajradhatu), Shambhala, Shambhala Meditation Center, Shambhala Training, Shambhala Center and Way of Shambhala are registered service marks of Shambhala USA
Privacy Policy
Translate »