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SPECIAL EVENTS
Sunday 2 April 2006
Parinirvana Day
The Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche passed away on
4 April 1987.
The anniversary of his parinirvana is commemorated by the special celebratory practice of the Feast Offering of the Sadhana of Mahamudra.
Sunday 1 April 2007
Parinirvana Day
Celebrating the life and teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
"Born a monk,
Died a king—
Such thunderstorm does not stop.
We will be haunting you, along with the dralas.
Jolly good luck!" [Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from his will]
April 4 2007 marks the twentieth anniversary of the parinirvana (death) of the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the founder of Shambhala International and one of the greatest meditation masters and Buddhist teachers of the Twentieth Century.
All members are warmly invited to celebrate the life and teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche through the practice of the Sadhana of Mahamudra Feast.
During this special practice (which is usually restricted to vajrayana practitioners) the enjoyment of food and drink is included as part of the celebration of sacred world. This takes place within the context of the Sadhana of Mahamudra (as practised once a month on Wednesdays). Offerings of music or poetry are welcomed as part of the feast, which will also include showing a video of Trungpa Rinpoche teaching
Preparation for the feast will start at the conclusion of the nyinthün at 5.00 pm and we expect to be finished cleaning up by 9.00 pm at the latest (participants assist with preparation and cleaning up). It is traditional to attend the whole of a feast since it involves the creation and dissolution of a mandala. Children may attend.
We will need some assistance in advance, for example with shopping. If you are able to help, please contact Jim O'Neill. It would also be very helpful to let Jim know that you are planning to attend so that we can estimate food quantities.
Open to all members of the centre or by invitation.
Saturday 22 September 2007
Padmasambhava Feast
The time has come for a big vajra feast so the community can come together, practice, eat, drink, celebrate and formally welcome our 2007 seminary tantrikas into the vajra mandala. To this end we will be holding a
Padmasambhava Feast on
Saturday 22nd September at
1pm.
The importance of feast practice has recently been emphasised by the Sakyong. A feast offering is a renewal of one's connection to guru, yidam, and vajra sangha in an atmosphere of devotion and celebration. It is a time for the sangha to gather together and rediscover the power of practice, the strength of our tradition.
This short feast practice —
The Guru Yoga Which Pours Down a Rain of Blessings, Combined with the Seven-line Prayer — was introduced at the 1996 Vajradhatu Seminary and may be attended by all tantrikas and sadhakas. It was introduced to allow the whole vajra sangha to practise together as well as to help busy people with busy schedules come together for feast.
We aim to make this event accessible to as many vajra sangha people as possible by scheduling it for Saturday at 1pm, so that those from outside London or too busy on weekdays will be able to attend.
Participating in the setup is part of the event! Contributions include assisting with preparing food, serving, offerings and general setup.
Restricted to graduates of Vajrayana Seminary
Sunday 6 April
Parinirvana Day
Celebrating the life and teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
The Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche passed away on 4 April 1987. The anniversary of his parinirvana is commemorated every year by the special celebratory practice of the Feast Offering of the Sadhana of Mahamudra.
This is a special occasion on which, at Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche's specific request, all members, including non-vajrayana students, are invited to participate in ganachakra (feast) practice. In addition to the feast offerings of food and drink it is appropriate to make offerings of poetry, music or song. These can be offered spontaneously or by pre-arrangement with Ali Warner.
Preparation will start at 1.30 pm with the feast practice itself starting at 3.00 pm. Those attending are asked if at all possible to join in with preparation and take down.
Open to all members of the centre or by invitation.
WEEKEND PROGRAMMES
Friday 20 to Sunday 22 May 2005
The Primordial Rigden - The new "Shambhala Ngöndro"
with Acharya David Schneider
A weekend of practice and teachings on the new Ngondro. We will format the weekend so that it counts as practice time towards fulfilling the 30-day requirement.
It is recommended that all Vajrayana students attend and get a feel for this important new practice.
Friday 23 to Sunday 25 September 2005
Shambhala Training Level C: Perky
Perky is represented by the Snow Lion.
"The Snow Lion is vibrant, energetic, youthful, roaming in the clear fresh highlands. A sense of newness, goodness, cheerfulness, up-liftedness - the world is vivid, fresh, clear and bright."
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level B.
Saturday 22 to Sunday 23 October 2005
Shambhala Training: Great Eastern Sun
The Great Eastern Sun is a two-day programme to introduce the graduates of Level V to the Sacred Path programme, to the initial sections of the Letter of the Black Ashe, and to invite membership in Shambhala.
Please note that this programme is a pre-requisite for the Sacred Path Levels A to Golden Key.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level 5.
Friday 28 to Sunday 30 October 2005
Mahamudra
with Acharya Han de Wit
Restricted to graduates of Vajrayana Seminary
Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 November 2005
Vajrayogini Teachings
with Acharya Robert Puts
Restricted to people who have received Vajrayogini Abhisheka
Friday 25 to Sunday 27 November 2005
Being Without Deception
with Dapön Barry Boyce
How do we protect ourselves and our communities from the senseless aggression and territoriality that threatens to destroy them? Moreover, how do we do that in a way that not only exhibits but also promotes compassion? In this program we will study both the first volume of
True Command: The Teachings of the Dorje Kasung, a compilation of the talks the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave on the Dorje Kasung, and the Art of War, the Denma Translation, a treatment of that seminal work inspired by the Chögyam Trungpa’s teaching and training.
Kasung Dapön Barry Boyce is a member of the group that produced The Art of War, The Denma Translation, one of the most engaging versions of the classic by the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, and is currently working with James Gimian on a book that will offer further commentary. He also assisted in the production of True Command: The Teachings of the Dorje Kasung. Mr. Boyce has been a practitioner and student of Buddhism for over 30 years and is a senior leader in the Dorje Kasung, the service and protection group within Shambhala. He is senior editor and staff writer for both the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines.
Open to anyone who has made a connection to the Shambhala community
Friday 20 to Sunday 22 January 2006
Shambhala Training Level D
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level C.
Friday 10 to Sunday 12 February 2006
Shambhala Training Level Two: The Birth of the Warrior
This weekend looks at how to recognise the habitual patterns that prevent us opening to the experience of basic goodness. How to feel the fear and do it anyway!
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level One.
Saturday 29 April to Monday 1 May 2006
Shambhala Guide Training
with Acharya David Hope
Friday 12 to Sunday 14 May 2006
Shambhala Training Level: Golden Key
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level D.
Friday 26 to Sunday 28 May 2006
Shambhala Training Level Three: Warrior in the World
Level Three is about developing courage, the ability to step out and develop confidence in all aspects of your life.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level Two
Friday 16 to Sunday 18 June 2006
Shambhala Training Level A - Drala
with Acharya David Hope
Open to all who have completed Great Eastern Sun
Friday 25 to Sunday 27 August 2006
Shambhala Training Level W: Windhorse
Windhorse is a wind of delight and power. The experience of wind connects us completely and powerfully with the present, and the stability of the horse aspect allows us to ride this energy. In this level we will receive instruction in a simple and profound practice that allows us to embody this energy to connect with the meek, perky, outrageous and inscrutable qualities of our own warriorship and to connect with the drala energy in our own lives.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level A.
Friday 15 to Sunday 17 September 2006
Shambhala Training Level Four: Awakened Heart
Level Four is about inquisitiveness and opening, allowing yourself to be touched by your experience.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level Three.
Friday 13 to Sunday 15 October 2006
Shambhala Training Level B: Meek
The dignity of Meek is represented by the Tiger.
Meek is the foundation and platform of the other three dignities. Any ordinary situation in our lives allows for the sense of meek to arise. Meek suspends judgement and allows our inquisitive nature to function. Ordinarily we may jump into a new situation, or pull back from it; meek allows us to stay with things as they are.
Please note that this programme was originally scheduled for 6-8 October.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level W.
Friday 8 to Sunday 10 December 2006
Shambhala Training Level Five: Open Sky
Having developed trust in basic goodness we can appreciate the freedom of 'open sky' and celebrate our journey along the path of warriorship.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level Four.
Friday 9 to Sunday 11 March 2007
The Birth of the Warrior
Shambhala Training Level Two
This weekend looks at how to recognise the habitual patterns that prevent us opening to the experience of basic goodness. How to feel the fear and do it anyway!
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level One.
Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 March 2007
Totally Cutting
The Razor Blade of Ashe with Ashe Acharya John Rockwell
Executing the stroke of Ashe is a simple way to arouse confidence and cut through obstacles. In the Shambhala terma, stroke is said to greatly strengthen the power of the four kinds of enlightened action: pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying. As warriors in the world, we are ready and willing to do whatever needs to be done. As we engage in action, we must tune into the space of absolute Ashe, in which there is noone to cut and nothing to be cut. Otherwise, we miss the point. In this weekend, we will do intensive sitting meditation and stroke practice. Saturday will focus on the relation of stroke to the four karmas. Sunday will explore stroke practice within the dzogchen view of "totally cutting" or trekchö.
ASHE ACHARYA JOHN ROCKWELL is one of the most senior teachers in the Shambhala Community. He was a student of the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and is now a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He is in charge of leading the group of teachers who organise and prepare the curricula that are taught throughout Shambhala centres in the world. He himself travels and teaches widely and is much sought-after. He is famed for being able to present the vastness of dharma with great precision and in a very accessible and inspiring manner.
Over the years he has built an intimate friendship with the London sangha.
The programme he will present is unique and new:
- There will be a public talk on Friday open to all.
- Saturday will be restricted to students who have received Stroke transmission.
- Sunday will be restricted to Vajrayana students ONLY (including those without Stroke transmission)
Saturday 28 April 2007
Great Eastern Sun
The Great Eastern Sun introduces the graduates of Level V to the Sacred Path programme, to the initial sections of the Letter of the Black Ashe, and invites membership in Shambhala.
Please note that this programme is a pre-requisite for the Sacred Path Levels A to Golden Key.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level 5.
Friday 11 to Sunday 13 May 2007
The Birth of the Warrior
Shambhala Training Level Two
This weekend looks at how to recognise the habitual patterns that prevent us opening to the experience of basic goodness. How to feel the fear and do it anyway!
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level One.
Friday 25 to Monday 28 May 2007
Shambhala Training Level D + Golden Key
(combined programme - including Bank holiday Monday) with Meino Zeillemaker
Shambhala Training Level D: "Outrageous & Inscrutable"
These fruitional dignities refer to the extraordinary skill of a practised warrior. No longer afraid of making mistakes, the unconventional and visionary perspective of the outrageous warrior combines with the skill of spontaneous inscrutability to create benefit for others on a large scale.
Shambhala Training: Golden Key
This programme is based on a Shambhala text that works with our relationship to the "material world" and our sense perceptions. It teaches the practice of enriching presence - the ability to instantly sense the inner wealth within oneself and the natural world.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level C.
Friday 1 to Saturday 2 June 2007
The Art of War in Everyday Life
Powerful Strategies for a World of Conflict and Chaos with Kasung Dapön Barry Boyce
The Art of War by Sun Tzu is the preeminent strategy text for anyone who wants to deal with conflict and chaos—without generating further confusion and harm that undermines what we work so hard for in the big campaigns of our lives.
The Sun Tzu is most famous for offering the possibility of victory without fighting. But what does it take to actually do this? The Sun Tzu is notoriously difficult to read and is open to many interpretations.
In this programme, we will examine concrete steps you can take to use the text as guide for achieving objectives in your everyday life. We will consider whether it is possible to welcome conflict and chaos—rather than run from it or reject it—as a means to bring about victory.
Contemplation Questions
Please take a few minutes periodically between now and the programme on June 1-3 to think carefully about these questions. You may discuss them with your friends and colleagues. You are looking at these from the perspective of being on the bodhisattva and warrior path, but the scope of your vision is not limited to dharma programmes and institutional concerns. It could be about your children, your job, your colleagues, your city, your world.
KASUNG DAPON BARRY BOYCE has served as Kasung Dapön in the Shambhala community since 1997. A Buddhist practitioner for over thirty years, he is senior editor and staff writer at the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines. He is a co-contributor to a recent translation of and commentary on Sun Tzu’s Art of War and co-author of the forthcoming The Art of War in Everyday Life. Dress: 4B for the Friday evening and #6 (field) in the day on Saturday but changing into #5 (barrack) for mess.
Open to all members of the Dorje Kasung
Friday 15 to Sunday 17 June 2007
Warrior in the World
Shambhala Training Level Three
Level Three is about developing courage, the ability to step out and develop confidence in all aspects of your life.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level Two
Friday 13 to Sunday 15 July 2007
Awakened Heart
Shambhala Training Level Four
Level Four is about inquisitiveness and opening, allowing yourself to be touched by your experience.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level Three.
Saturday 12 to Sunday 13 January
Great Eastern Sun
Shambhala Training: Great Eastern Sun
The Great Eastern Sun is a two-day programme designed to introduce Level V graduates to the Sacred Path programme and the initial sections of the Letter of the Black Ashe. The programme is also a formal invitation to membership of Shambhala.
Please note that this programme is a pre-requisite for the Sacred Path Levels A to Golden Key.
The weekend starts at 10am on Saturday 10th January (coffee from 9.30am).
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level 5.
Friday 14 to Sunday 16 March
The Drala Principle (new dates)
Shambhala Training Level A
This first weekend programme of the Sacred Path of the Warrior introduces the study of the Shambhala root text “The letter of the Black Ashe”.
The text describes the whole path of warriorship from a beginner to master warrior who manifests completely authentically in the world and is able to show others the way to be genuine.
The programme will be taught by Jane Hope.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Great Eastern Sun.
Friday 11 to Sunday 13 April
The Birth of the Warrior
Shambhala Training Level Two
This weekend looks at how to recognise the habitual patterns that prevent us opening to the experience of basic goodness. How to feel the fear and do it anyway!
The programme will be taught by Orhun Cercel
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level One.
Friday 27 to Sunday 29 June
Windhorse
Shambhala Training Level W - led by Jim O'Neill
Windhorse is a wind of delight and power. The experience of wind connects us completely and powerfully with the present, and the stability of the horse aspect allows us to ride this energy.
In this level we will receive instruction in a simple and profound practice that allows us to embody this energy to connect with the meek, perky, outrageous and inscrutable qualities of our own warriorship and to connect with the drala energy in our own lives.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY.
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level A.
Friday 11 to Sunday 13 July
Warrior in the World
Shambhala Training Level Three - led by Bridget Taylor
Level Three is about developing courage, the ability to step out and develop confidence in all aspects of your life.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level Two
Friday 12 to Sunday 14 September
Awakened Heart
Shambhala Training Level Four
Level Four is about inquisitiveness and opening, allowing yourself to be touched by your experience.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level Three.
Friday 17 to Sunday 19 October
Meek
Shambhala Training Level B
Meek is the foundation and platform of the other three dignities. Any ordinary situation in our lives allows for the sense of meek to arise. Meek suspends judgement and allows our inquisitive nature to function. Ordinarily we may jump into a new situation, or pull back from it; meek allows us to stay with things as they are.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY
Open to all who have completed Shambhala Training Level W.
