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Rinpoche or Rinboqê (Tibetan: རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, Wylie: rin-po-che, ZYPY: Rinboqê) is an honorific used in Tibetan Buddhism. It literally means "precious one,"^[1] and is used to address or describe Tibetan lamas and other high-ranking or respected teachers. This honor is generally bestowed on reincarnated lamas, or Tulkus, by default. In other cases it is earned over time, and often bestowed spontaneously by the teacher's students.

Kang Rinpoche is the Tibetan name of Mount Kailash, sacred to Bön, Hinduism and Jainism as well as Buddhism. Kang is a Tibetan word for "snow peak" analogous to alp or himal.

Guru Rinpoche refers to Padmasambhava, the "Second Buddha", who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet.

Je Rinpoche refers to Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug School.

In film[link]

The documentary films The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche (1992)^[2] and Unmistaken Child (2008)^[3] document the lengthy procedure of searching for and finding the reincarnation, or tulku, of a Tibetan lama.

The documentary films Tulku (2009)^[4] and My Reincarnation (2010)^[5] document the existence and struggles of Tibetan Buddhist masters who have reincarnated in the West.

See also[link]

• Tulku

References[link]

Sogyal Rinpoche
Religion	Tibetan Buddhism
School	Dzogchen, Nyingma
Personal
Born	1947 Kham, Tibet
Senior posting
Title	Rinpoche
Religious career
Teacher	Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
Reincarnation	Tertön Sogyal
Students	Patrick Gaffney, Christine Longaker, Charles Tart, Arabella Churchill, Matteo Pistono
Website	www.rigpa.org

Part of a series on Tibetan Buddhism
History
Timeline · Related-topics
Schools
Nyingma · Kagyu · Sakya · Gelug · Bön · Jonang
Key concepts
Three marks of existence · Skandha · Cosmology · Saṃsāra · Rebirth · Bodhisattva · Dharma · Dependent origination · Karma
Major figures
Gautama Buddha · Padmasambhava · Je Tsongkhapa · Dalai Lama · Panchen Lama · Lama · Karmapa Lama · Rinpoche · Geshe · Terton · Tulku
Practices and attainment
Buddhahood · Avalokiteśvara · Four stages of enlightenment · Tantric yoga · Paramitas · Meditation · Laity
Major monasteries
Changzhug · Drepung · Dzogchen · Ganden · Jokhang · Kumbum  · Labrang · Mindroling · Namgyal · Narthang · Nechung · Pabonka · Palcho · Ralung · Ramoche · Sakya · Sanga · Sera · Shalu · Tashilhunpo · Tsurphu · Yerpa
Major festivals
Chotrul Duchen · Dajyur · Losar · Monlam · Sho Dun
Texts
Kangyur · Tengyur · Tibetan canon · Mahayana sutras · Nyingma Gyubum
Art
Sand mandala · Thangka · Ashtamangala · Tree of physiology
Outline  · Comparative studies  · Culture  · List of topics  · Portal
view talk edit

Sogyal Rinpoche (Tibetan: བསོད་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: Bsod-rgyal) (born 1947) is a Tibetan Dzogchen lama of the Nyingma tradition. He has been teaching for over 30 years and continues to travel widely in Europe, America, Australia and Asia.^[1] He is also the founder and spiritual director of Rigpa—an international network of over 100 Buddhist centres and groups in 23 countries around the world—and the author of the best-selling book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, which has been printed in 30 languages and 56 countries.^[2] He is known for his ability to present his understanding of Tibetan Buddhism using the language of contemporary Western thought.^[3] Significant controversy, due to claims of student abuse have been prominent for much of his career.^[4][5][6][7]

Biography[link]

Early life and education[link]

Rinpoche was born in 1947 into the Lakar family of the Trehor region of Kham, east Tibet.^[8] Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö recognized him as the incarnation of Tertön Sogyal and supervised his education at Dzongsar Monastery.^[9] He studied traditional subjects with several tutors, including Khenpo Appey, who was appointed as his tutor by Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö.^{[9] [10]}

Rinpoche attended a Catholic school in Kalimpong and then university in Delhi before coming to the west.^[11] In 1971, he was granted a place to study comparative religion at Trinity College, Cambridge as a visiting scholar.^[12] He continued to study with many masters, of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, especially Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche.^[13] He first began to translate for Dudjom Rinpoche in Kalimpong in India^[14] and later continued in the role of his translator in Europe and during a tour of the United States.^[15] In 1973 he assisted in organizing the Dalai Lama's first visit to the West in Rome, which included an audience with Pope Paul VI.^[16]

Teaching and establishing Rigpa[link]

Sogyal Rinpoche began to teach in London in 1974. His centre, a house in Kilburn, was originally called Orgyen Chöling. The name later changed to Dzogchen Orgyen Chöling. Dudjom Rinpoche also asked Sogyal Rinpoche to take care of his centre in Rue Burq, Paris, which opened in 1978.^[17] In 1979, Sogyal Rinpoche chose the name Rigpa—the innermost, essential nature of mind—for his work.^[18]

Rigpa soon established an annual schedule of longer seminars, referred to as retreats, with Sogyal Rinpoche and other teachers leading events in France in the summer, California at Thanksgiving, Germany in Winter, followed by Myall Lakes in Australia, and then England at Easter.^[19] The first winter event at Kirchheim in Germany took place in December 1986,^[20] annual retreats in Tiona Park in Australia began in 1989,^[21] and the first Thanksgiving retreat in the US was in Oakland in 1988.^[22]

In 1987, Rinpoche was invited to become spiritual director of the centre in County Cork in the west of Ireland which was to become Dzogchen Beara, Rigpa’s first long-term retreat facility.^[23] In 1991, Sogyal Rinpoche founded the retreat centre of Lerab Ling near Montpellier in southern France. The first three-month retreat was held there in 1992.^[24] A centre in Berlin named Dharma Mati was formally opened in October 2007.^[25]

[edit] The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

In 1983, Rinpoche met Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, Kenneth Ring and other figures in the caring professions and near-death research, and they encouraged him to develop his work in opening up the Tibetan teachings on death and helping the dying.^[26] Rinpoche continued to teach throughout the world. Then, in 1989 in Nepal, Rinpoche met Andrew Harvey and invited him to help on the project.^[27] About the writing process, co-editor Patrick Gaffney said, "Probably, a book has never been written in such an unusual way."^[27]

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying was first launched in the United States in September 1992, where it received high acclaim and spent several weeks at the top of the bestseller lists.^[28] It was subsequently released in the United Kingdom, Australia and India, and first translated into German and French. To date, more than two million copies have been printed in 30 languages and 56 countries.^[29]

Conferences and events[link]

Rinpoche is a regular speaker at conferences around the world, addressing topics such as Buddhism in the modern world, death and dying, meditation and happiness. In 2004, he served as a keynote speaker at the Parliament of the World's Religions, where over 8,000 religious leaders and lay people gathered in Barcelona in Spain to discuss the issues of religious violence, access to safe water, the fate of refugees worldwide, and the elimination of developing countries' debts.^[30] In August 2008 he joined Robert Thurman at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado, to speak about "Tibet’s Unique Buddhist Heritage" as part of a symposium called "His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Aspen: A Celebration of Tibetan Culture", organized jointly with the Conservancy for Tibetan Art and Culture.^[31] In October 2010 he gave a keynote speech on "Tibetan Buddhism in Modern Western Culture" at the International Conference on Tibetan Buddhism held at Emory University.^[32] In 2011, he was a keynote speaker and participant in the Global Buddhist Congregation in Delhi which brought together “religious, spiritual and world leaders, as well as 800 scholars, delegates and observers from 32 countries.”^[33] The goal was to examine both the capacity and the resilience of Buddhism to engage with the most pressing concerns of the modern world, namely violence, social and economic disparity, environmental degradation and discord between and within communities and nations” and “to contribute to cultivating and fostering peace, harmony, co-existence and a shared responsibility amidst the diversity of cultures, communities and nations.”^[33] In 2012, he was a keynote speaker at the Happiness and Its Causes conference in Sydney.^[34]

In the East[link]

Sogyal Rinpoche performing an empowerment ritual in Bhutan

Rinpoche teaches regularly in India, especially in Delhi at the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.^[35] He also teaches in the Himalayan regions of Sikkim, where he lived for part of his childhood, and Bhutan. He has been teaching annually in Bhutan since 2007 and his teachings are regularly shown on television there.^[36] The first Prime Minister of Bhutan and champion of its philosophy of Gross National Happiness, Lyonchen Jigme Yoser Thinley, regularly attends Rinpoche’s teachings.^[37] Sogyal Rinpoche has said that he decided to make teaching in Bhutan a priority since it is the only remaining independent Vajrayana Buddhist country in the world. He also said that “today’s younger generation in the Himalayan region needed to understand the Dharma in a practical way” and that “understanding the Dharma in a real way is an important and integral part of the development of Bhutan.”^[38]

In 1998, Rinpoche was formally offered the throne of Tertön Sogyal's home monastery in Tibet, Kalzang Monastery, by the abbot, Sherab Özer Rinpoche, in a ceremony in France.^[39]

Teaching[link]

According to Stephen Batchelor, Sogyal Rinpoche "is known for his sense of humour, indefatigable energy, forthrightness and periodic eccentricity."^[3] In his teachings, he often focuses on the Buddhist understanding of the mind, and what is known in the Tibetan tradition as the nature of mind, pristine awareness or rigpa, along with meditation as a means for ultimately realizing the nature of mind. Another common topic is death and dying, which is one of the main themes of his book, “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying”.

In what he sees as a continuation of the non-sectarian Rimé (Tib. ris med) movement, which rose to prominence in eastern Tibet in the nineteenth century, he frequently refers to teachings of all Tibetan traditions, and also quotes from non-Tibetan sources, such as the Dhammapada,^[40] and teachers belonging to other traditions such as the Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki.^[41] He wrote:

I feel there is an intriguing parallel between the extraordinary richness of the spiritual culture of Tibet at the time of the great pioneers of this Rimé movement, like Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgön Kongtrul, and the great variety of lineages we find in the West today. In some ways the Rimé vision offers a model of how the Dharma must continue in the West and in America, with total respect for our separate authentic traditions, and yet with an eye to the creativity and resourcefulness of different branches of Buddha-dharma as they have settled into the American landscape. We can all inspire, help, and network with one another, yet without confusion or inappropriate mixing of our traditions.^[42]

Rinpoche likes to recount stories of his own teachers and to stress the importance of devotion, often quoting Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who said, "Devotion is the essence of the path."^[43] Still, according to Charles Tart, he "encourages his students to direct their devotion toward his teachers rather than toward him personally, even though most of Tibetan Buddhism puts tremendous emphasis on devotion towards one's teacher."^[44]

Controversy[link]

In 1994, a $10 million^[4] civil lawsuit was filed against Sogyal Rinpoche. It was alleged that he had used his position as a spiritual leader to induce one of his female students to have sexual relations with him. The complaint included accusations of infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty, as well as assault and battery.^[45][46] The lawsuit was settled out of court. Related allegations flared up again later introduced by journalist Mary Finnigan, who was also the main author of the original article in 1995.^[47][48][49]

Rinpoche teaching in Lerab Ling, France, 2006

On 23 May 2011, an episode of the documentary series Sex Scandals In Religion, titled "In the Name of Enlightenment", aired on Vision TV, the Canadian-based television network.^[50][51] It was an investigative look at allegations made by two women that they had first-hand experiences of sexual inappropriateness from Sogyal Rinpoche. Prominent Buddhists Stephen Batchelor and Martine Batchelor were interviewed for the program, giving insight into how they believed these abuses were able to occur.^[52][53] Rigpa stated that they have only seen Sogyal Rinpoche act for the benefit of other people and with their best interests at heart, however there was no denial of the allegations made in their official statement.^[54]

Films and documentaries[link]

Sogyal Rinpoche appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1993 film Little Buddha in the role of Kenpo Tenzin.^[55] He featured in Frank Cvitanovich's The Making of a Modern Mystic, made for the BBC in 1993.^[56] He was also the subject of a documentary by German filmmaker Boris Penth called Sogyal Rinpoche: Ancient Wisdom for the Modern World (Mitgefühl, Weisheit und Humor), which includes interviews with John Cleese and former Tibetan prime minister Samdhong Rinpoche.^[57] It was shown at the International Buddhist Film Festival in London in 1999 and in other film festivals around the world.^[58] He is also featured in Sasha Meyerowitz's 2008 documentary Teachings on Milarepa.^[59]

Publications[link]

Books[link]

• Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, ISBN 0-06-250834-2
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Dzogchen and Padmasambhava, Rigpa Publications, 1990, ISBN 0-9624884-0-2
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Glimpse After Glimpse, ISBN 0-7126-6237-5, ISBN 978-0-7126-6237-6
• Sogyal Rinpoche, The Future of Buddhism, Rider & Co, 2002, ISBN 0-7126-1564-4

Articles and contributions[link]

• Himalaya: Personal Stories of Grandeur, Challenge and Hope, National Geographic Books, 2006
• Jonathon Cott, On the Sea of Memory: A Journey from Forgetting to Remembering, Random House, 2005, ISBN 1-4000-6058-3
• Reginald A. Ray (ed.), The Pocket Tibetan Buddhist Reader, Shambhala Publications, Boston, Mass. 2004, ISBN 1-57062-851-3
• Kathryn Meeske (Author), Sandra Scales (Photographer), Sacred Voices of the Nyingma Masters, Padma Publishing, California, 2004, ISBN 1-881847-35-7
• Charles A. Tart, Living a Mindful Life, A Handbook for Living in the Present Moment, Shambhala Publications, Boston, Mass. 1994, ISBN 978-1-57062-003-4

Forewords and introductions[link]

• Dilgo Khyentse; Ani Jinpa Palmo (trans), 2008. Brilliant Moon: The Autobiography of Dilgo Khyentse. Shambhala. ISBN 978-1-59030-284-2.
• the Dalai Lama, Mind in Comfort and Ease, Wisdom Publications, 2007, ISBN 0-86171-493-8
• Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, North Atlantic Books, 2005, ISBN 962-7341-56-8
• Don Farber, Portraits of Tibetan Buddhist Masters, University of California Press 2005, ISBN 0-520-23973-3
• Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje (translated by Richard Barron), A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage (A Spiritual History of the Teachings on Natural Great Perfection), Padma Publications, 2005, ISBN 1-881847-41-1
• Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Fearless Simplicity: The Dzogchen Way of Living Freely in a Complex World, Rangjung Yeshe Publications, Nepal, 2003, ISBN 962-7341-48-7
• the Dalai Lama, Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, Snow Lion Publications, 2000, ISBN 1-55939-219-3
• Khenpo Namdrol The Practice of Vajrakilaya, Snow Lion Publications, 1999, ISBN 1-55939-103-0
• Christine Longaker, Facing Death and Finding Hope: A Guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying, Arrow Books, 1998, ISBN 0-09-917692-0
• Mordicai Gerstein, The Mountains of Tibet, Harper Trophy, 1989, ISBN 0-06-443211-4

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sogyal Rinpoche

• Official biography of Sogyal Rinpoche
• Lotsawa House biography of Sogyal Rinpoche
• Sogyal Rinpoche - Rigpa Wiki
• Buddhist Masters and Their Organisations: Sogyal Rinpoche
• Trailer for Cogent/Benger Productions Sex Scandals in Religion documentary about Sogyal Rinpoche

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Kalu Rinpoche
Kalu Rinpoche in 1987 at Kagyu Rintchen Tcheu Ling in Montpellier, France
Religion	Vajrayana, Karma Kagyu
Personal
Nationality	Tibetan
Born	c. 1905 Kham, Eastern Tibet
Died	May 10, 1989 (age 84) Kham, Eastern Tibet
Senior posting
Title	Rinpoche

Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche (1905 – May 10, 1989) was a Buddhist monk, meditation master, scholar and teacher. He was one of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West.

Early life and teachers[link]

Kalu Rinpoche was born in 1905 during the Female Wood Snake year of the Tibetan lunar calendar in the district of Treshö Gang chi Rawa in the Hor region of Kham, Eastern Tibet.

When Kalu Rinpoche was fifteen years old, he was sent to begin his higher studies at the monastery of Palpung, the foremost center of the Karma Kagyu school. He remained there for more than a decade, during which time he mastered the vast body of teaching that forms the philosophical basis of Buddhist practice, and completed two three-year retreats.

At about the age of twenty-five, Rinpoche left Palpung to pursue the life of a solitary yogi in the woods of the Khampa countryside. For nearly fifteen years, he strove to perfect his realization of all aspects of the teachings and he became renowned in the villages and among the nomads as a representative of the Bodhisattva path.

Teaching activity in Tibet[link]

Kalu Rinpoche returned to Palpung to receive final teachings from Drupon Norbu Dondrup, who entrusted him with the rare transmission of the teaching of the Shangpa Kagyu. At the order of Situ Rinpoche, he was appointed Vajra Master of the great meditation hall of Palpung Monastery, where for many years he gave empowerments and teachings.

During the 1940s, Kalu Rinpoche visited central Tibet with the party of Situ Rinpoche, and there he taught extensively. His disciples included the Reting Rinpoche, regent of Tibet during the infancy of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

Returning to Kham, Kalu Rinpoche became the abbot of the meditation center associated with Palpung and the meditation teacher of the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. He remained in that position until the situation in Tibet forced him into exile in India.

In exile[link]

In the late 1960s Kalu Rinpoche began to attract Western disciples in India. By the 1970s, he was teaching extensively in the Americas and Europe, and during his three visits to the West he founded teaching centers in over a dozen countries. In France, he established the first retreat center to teach the traditional three-year retreats of the Shangpa and Karma Kagyu lineages to Western students. On request of Shoko Asahara, founder of Japan's controversial Buddhist group Aum Shinrikyo, Kalu Rinpoche lectured to his followers in a number of Japanese cities.^[1] The group was more mainstream at that time and had casual ties to a number of prominent Tibetan lamas, including the Dalai Lama.

Controversy[link]

June Campbell, a former Kagyu nun who is an academic feminist, acted as Kalu Rinpoche's translator for several years. In her book Traveller in Space: Gender, Identity and Tibetan Buddhism^[2] she writes that he subjected her to an abusive sexual relationship which he told her was tantric spiritual practice. She raises the same theme in a number of interviews, including one with Tricycle magazine in 1996.^[3]

Second Kalu Rinpoche[link]

At 3:00 P. M., Wednesday, May 10, 1989, Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche died at his monastery in Sonada. On September 17, 1990 Rinpoche's Tulku was born in Darjeeling, India to Lama Gyaltsen and his wife Drolkar. Lama Gyaltsen, had served since his youth as his secretary.

Chamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche officially recognized Kalu Rinpoche’s yangsi (young reincarnation) on March 25, 1992, explaining that he had received definite signs from Kalu Rinpoche himself. Situ Rinpoche sent a letter of recognition with Lama Gyaltsen to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, who immediately confirmed the recognition.^[4]

On February 28, 1993, Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche was enthroned at Samdrup Tarjayling. Chamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche presided over the ceremony, assisted by Kalu Rinpoche’s heart-son, Bokar Rinpoche. Situ Rinpoche performed the hair-cutting ceremony and bestowed on the young tulku the name Karma Ngedön Tenpay Gyaltsen —Victory Banner of the Teachings of the True Meaning. He is now known as the Second Kalu Rinpoche. (Note that the USA Kagyu organization, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, recognizes Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche (1990 to present) as the THIRD Kalu Rinpoche; and Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche is listed as the SECOND Kalu Rinpoche.^[5])

In the fall of 2011, Kalu Yangsi gave a talk at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.^[6] At the end of the talk, a student in the audience asked him to comment on the prevalence of sexual abuse of children in the west. Kalu paused, then broke down in tears and revealed for the first time that he had been sexually molested from the age of 10 to 12 by the monks in charge of his education. The video on YouTube ^[7] was done so that the story would not become unsubstantiated gossip.

Bibliography[link]

• Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism, Snow Lion Publications, 2004, ISBN 1-55939-212-6
• Luminous Mind : Fundamentals of Spiritual Practice, Wisdom Publications, 1996, ISBN 0-86171-118-1
• Gently Whispered: Oral Teachings by the Very Venerable Kalu Rinpoche, Station Hill Press, 1995, ISBN 0-88268-153-2
• Excellent Buddhism: An Exemplary Life, Clearpoint Press, 1995, ISBN 0-9630371-4-5
• Profound Buddhism: From Hinayana to Vajrayana, Clearpoint Press, 1995, ISBN 0-9630371-5-3
• The Dharma: That Illuminates All Beings Like the Light of the Sun and the Moon, State University of New York Press, 1986, ISBN 0-88706-157-5
• The Gem Ornament of Manifold Oral Instructions Which Benefits Each and Everyone Appropriately Snow Lion, 1987, ISBN 0-937938-59-9

See also[link]

• Buddhism in America
• Salugara Monastery

Notes[link]

1. ^ Kalu Rinpoche lectured in a number of Japanese cities
2. ^ Campbell, June (1996). Traveler in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism. New York: George Braziller. ISBN 0-485-11494-1. 
   For a review of the book, see Lang, Karen (1997). "A Review of Traveler in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism". Journal of Buddhist Ethics. ISSN 1076-9005. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080907233657/http://www.buddhistethics.org/4/lang2.html. Retrieved 29 November 2011. 
3. ^ The Emperor's Tantric Robes: An Interview with June Campbell on Codes of Secrecy and Silence
4. ^ "His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche". http://hiseminencekalurinpoche.org/Yangsi.html. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 
5. ^ Kagyu Lineage Teachers
6. ^ Program of Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche visit in Vancouver
7. ^ Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche Confession

References[link]

• Surya Das, Lama (1998). Awakening the Buddha Within. Lark Books. ISBN 0-7679-0157-6. 

External links[link]

• Biography of H. E. Kalu Rinpoche
• When two masters meet Kalu Rinpoche of Tibet and the Korean Zen master Seung Sahn
• International Shangpa Kagyu Network

Monasteries and centers founded by Kalu Rinpoche

• Kagyu Tekchen Choling, Argentina
• Kagyu Pende Gyamtso, Brazil
• Kagyu Kunkhyab Chuling, BC Canada
• Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery, Wappingers Falls, NY, USA
• Kagyu Dzamling Kunchab, New York, NY, USA
• Kagyu Droden Kunchab, CA, USA
• Dashang Kagyu Ling, France
• Karma Ling Institute, France
• Centro Milarepa, Italy
• Kagyu Changchub Chuling, Portland, Oregon, USA
• Kagyu Tenjay Choling, Vermont, usa
• Karma Rimay O Sal Ling, Maui, HI, USA
• Dag Shang Kagyu, Spain

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Wylie: Chos rgyam Drung pa; February 28, 1939 – April 4, 1987) was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.

Recognized both by Tibetan Buddhists and by other spiritual practitioners and scholars^[1][2] as a preeminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, he was a major, albeit controversial, figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism to the West,^[3] founding Vajradhatu and Naropa University and establishing the Shambhala Training method.

Among his contributions are the translation of a large number of Tibetan texts,^[4] the introduction of the Vajrayana teachings to the West, and a presentation of the Buddhadharma largely devoid of ethnic trappings. Regarded as a mahasiddha by many senior lamas, he is seen as having embodied the crazy wisdom (Tib. yeshe chölwa) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.^[5][6] Some of his teaching methods and actions were the topic of controversy during his lifetime and afterwards.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Born in the Kham region of Tibet in February 1939, Chögyam Trungpa was eleventh in the line of Trungpa tülkus, important figures in the Kagyu lineage, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Among his three main teachers were Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen, HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Khenpo Gangshar.

The name Chögyam is a contraction of Chökyi Gyamtso (Tibetan: ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: Chos-kyi Rgya-mtsho), which means "ocean of dharma". Trungpa (Tibetan: དྲུང་པ་, Wylie: Drung-pa) means "attendant". He was deeply trained in the Kagyu tradition and received his khenpo degree at the same time as Thrangu Rinpoche; they continued to be very close in later years. Chögyam Trungpa was also trained in the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the four schools, and was an adherent of the ri-mé ("nonsectarian") ecumenical movement within Tibetan Buddhism, which aspired to bring together and make available all the valuable teachings of the different schools, free of sectarian rivalry.

Already installed as the head of the Surmang monasteries in eastern Tibet, Chögyam Trungpa followed the Dalai Lama who fled Tibet during the ultimately unsuccessful 1959 Tibetan uprising against the Chinese communists. He was 20 years old, and he led his own party of monks across the Himalayas on foot and on horseback into India.

From 1959-1963, by appointment of the Dalai Lama, Chögyam Trungpa served as the spiritual advisor for the Young Lamas Home School in Dalhousie, India.

Early teachings in the West[link]

Part of a series on Tibetan Buddhism
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In exile in India, Trungpa began his study of English. In 1963, with the assistance of sympathetic westerners, he received a Spalding sponsorship to study Comparative Religion at Oxford University in England.^[7] In 1967 he and Akong Rinpoche were invited by the Johnstone House Trust in Scotland to take over a meditation center on the departure of the western Theravadan monk named Anandabodhi, which then became Samye Ling, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West. At this monastery in Scotland, future actor and musician David Bowie ^[8] was one of Chogyam Trungpa's meditation pupils. In 1970, after a break with his fellow lama Akong Tulku Rinpoche, Trungpa moved to the United States at the invitation of several students.

Shortly after his move to Scotland, a variety of experiences, including a car accident that left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body, led Trungpa to the decision to give up his monastic vows and work as a lay teacher.^[9] This decision was principally motivated by the intention to undercut the temptation of students becoming distracted by exotic cultures and dress, and by their preconceptions of how a guru should behave.^[9] He drank, smoked, slept with students, and often kept students waiting for hours before giving teachings. Much of his behavior has been asserted as deliberately provocative and sparked controversies that continue to this day. In one account, he encouraged students to give up smoking marijuana claiming that the smoking was not of benefit to the spiritual progress and that it exaggerated neurosis. Students were often angered, unnerved and intimidated by him, but many remained fiercely loyal, committed, and devoted.

Upon moving to the United States in 1970, Trungpa traveled around North America, gaining renown for his unique ability to present the essence of the highest Buddhist teachings in a form readily understandable to western students. During this period, he conducted thirteen Vajradhatu Seminaries, three-month residential programs at which he presented a vast body of Buddhist teachings in an atmosphere of intensive meditation practice. The seminaries also had the important function of training his students to become teachers themselves.^[10]

Introduction of the Vajrayana[link]

Trungpa was one of the first teachers to introduce the esoteric practice of the Vajrayana to the West. According to Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, "The one who mainly spread the Vajrayana in the West was Trungpa Rinpoche."^[11] In contrast to its traditional presentation in Tibet, where the esoteric practices are largely the domain of the monastic sangha, in America Trungpa introduced the Vajrayana to the lay sangha.^[12]

The presentation of these teachings gave rise to some criticism. According to a former student, Stephen Butterfield, "Trungpa told us that if we ever tried to leave the Vajrayana, we would suffer unbearable, subtle, continuous anguish, and disasters would pursue us like furies"^[13] Other Vajrayana teachers, as well, also warn their students about the dangers of the esoteric path.

Butterfield noted "disquieting resemblances" to cults, and "to be part of Trungpa's inner circle, you had to take a vow never to reveal or even discuss some of the things he did." However, Butterfield also notes that "This personal secrecy is common with gurus, especially in Vajrayana Buddhism,"^[14] and acknowledges that Trungpa's organization is anything but a cult: "a mere cult leaves you disgusted and disillusioned, wondering how you could have been a fool. I did not feel that charlatans had hoodwinked me into giving up my powers to enhance theirs. On the contrary, mine were unveiled."^[15]

Meditation and education centers[link]

The purkhang at Karmê Chöling

In 1973, Trungpa established Vajradhatu, encompassing all his North American institutions, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Trungpa also founded more than 100 meditation centers throughout the world. Originally known as Dharmadhatus, these centers, now more than 150 in number, are known as Shambhala Meditation Centers. He also founded retreat centers for intensive meditation practice including Shambhala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes, CO, Karmê Chöling in Barnet, VT and Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

In 1974, Trungpa founded the Naropa Institute, which later became Naropa University, in Boulder, Colorado. Naropa was the first accredited Buddhist university in North America. Chogyam Trungpa hired Allen Ginsberg to teach poetry and William Burroughs to teach literature.

He had a number of notable students, among whom were Pema Chödrön, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, Diane di Prima, Peter Lieberson, José Argüelles, David Nichtern, Ken Wilber, David Deida, Francisco Varela, and Joni Mitchell who portrayed Trungpa in the song "Refuge of the Roads" on her 1976 album Hejira.^[16] Ginsberg, Waldman, and di Prima were also teachers at Naropa University.

Some important but less well-known students, whom he taught in England and in the USA, were Alf Vial, Rigdzin Shikpo (né Michael Hookham), Jigme Rinzen (né P. Howard Useche), Ezequiel Hernandez who later became known as Keun-Tshen Goba after setting up his first meditation center in Venezuela, Miguel Otaola (aka Dorje Khandro), Francisco Salas Roche, and Francesca Fremantle. Rigdzin Shikpo went on to continue Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's teachings from a primarily Nyingma rather than a Kagyü point of view in the Longchen Foundation.^[17][18]

Shambhala vision[link]

In 1976, Trungpa began giving a series of secular teachings, some of which were gathered and presented as the Shambhala Training,^[19][20] inspired by his vision (see terma) of the legendary Kingdom of Shambhala. Trungpa had actually started writing about Shambhala before his 1959 escape from Tibet to India, but most of those writings were lost during the escape.^[21]

In his view not only was individual enlightenment not mythical, but Shambhala Kingdom referred to an enlightened society that could in fact be actualized. The practice of Shambhala vision is to use mindfulness/awareness meditation as a way to connect with one's basic goodness and confidence. It is presented as a path that "brings dignity, confidence, and wisdom to every facet of life." The enlightened society it proposes would be led by himself as sakyong (Tib. earth protector) and his wife as queen-consort or sakyong wangmo.

Shambhala vision is described as a non-religious approach, rooted in meditation and accessible to individuals of any, or no, religion. In Shambhala terms, it is possible, moment by moment, for individuals to establish enlightened society. His book, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, provides a concise collection of the Shambhala views. According to Trungpa, it was his intention to propagate the kingdom of Shambala that provided the necessary inspiration to leave his homeland and make the arduous journey to India and the West.^[22]

Work with arts and sciences[link]

From the beginning of his time in America, Chögyam Trungpa passionately encouraged his students to integrate a contemplative approach into all of their everyday activities. In addition to making a variety of traditional contemplative practices available to the community, he also incorporated the many already-existing special interests of his students, evolving specialized teachings on how to apply a meditative approach to these various disciplines. These disciplines included kyūdō (Japanese archery), calligraphy, ikebana (flower arranging), sado (Japanese tea ceremony), dance, theater, film, poetry, as well as health care and psychotherapy. His aim was, in his own words, to bring "art to everyday life." He founded the Nalanda Foundation in 1974 as an umbrella organization for these activities.^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

On September 28, 1986, Trungpa, in failing health due to the auto accident in his youth and to years of heavy alcohol use, suffered cardiac arrest,^[23] subsequent to which his condition deteriorated further, requiring intensive care at the hospital, then at his home, and finally back at the hospital in mid-March 1987, where he died on April 4. His wife Diana Mukpo wrote in 2006 that: "Although he had many of the classic health problems that develop from heavy drinking, it was in fact more likely the diabetes and high blood pressure that led to abnormal blood sugar levels and then the cardiac arrest".^[24] However, when asked in a November 2008 interview, "What was he ill with? What did he die of?," his doctor Mitchell Levy replied, "He had chronic liver disease related to his alcohol intake over many years."^[25] One of his nursing attendants reports that in his last months, he suffered from the classic symptoms of terminal alcoholism and cirrhosis,^[26] yet continued drinking heavily. She adds, "At the same time there was a power about him and an equanimity to his presence that was phenomenal, that I don't know how to explain."^[27]

He is reported to have remained in a state of samādhi for five days after his death, his body not immediately decaying and his heart remaining warm.^[28] His body was packed in salt and laid into a wooden box that was conveyed to Karmê Chöling. A number of observers have reported that his cremation there on May 26, 1987 was accompanied by various atmospheric effects and other signs traditionally viewed as marks of enlightenment. These included the appearance of rainbows, of eagles circling,^[29][30] and of a cloud in the shape of an Ashe.^[31][32]

Continuation of the Shambhala lineage[link]

Upon the death of Chögyam Trungpa, the leadership of Vajradhatu was first carried on by his American disciple, appointed regent and Dharma heir, Ösel Tendzin (Thomas Rich), and then by Trungpa's eldest son and Shambhala heir, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

The next Trungpa tülku, Chokyi Sengay, was recognized in 1991 by Tai Situ Rinpoche.

Acclaim[link]

Major lineage holders of his own Tibetan Buddhist traditions and many other Buddhist teachers supported his work.

In 1974, Trungpa invited the Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, to come to the west and offer teachings. Based on this visit, the Karmapa proclaimed Trungpa to be one of the principal Kagyu lineage holders in the west:

The ancient and renowned lineage of the Trungpas, since the great siddha Trungmase Chökyi Gyamtso Lodrö, possessor of only holy activity, has in every generation given rise to great beings. Awakened by the vision of these predecessors in the lineage, this my present lineage holder, Chökyi Gyamtso Trungpa Rinpoche, supreme incarnate being, has magnificently carried out the vajra holders discipline in the land of America, bringing about the liberation of students and ripening them in the dharma. This wonderful truth is clearly manifest.

Accordingly, I empower Chögyam Trungpa Vajra Holder and Possessor of the Victory Banner of the Practice Lineage of the Karma Kagyu. Let this be recognized by all people of both elevated and ordinary station.^[33]

In 1981, Chögyam Trungpa and his students hosted the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in his visit to Boulder, Colorado. Of Trungpa, he later wrote, "Exceptional as one of the first Tibetan lamas to become fully assimilated into Western culture, he made a powerful contribution to revealing the Tibetan approach to inner peace in the West."^[34]

Chögyam Trungpa also received support from one of his own main teachers, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage. In addition to numerous sadhanas and poems dedicated to Trungpa, Khyentse Rinpoche wrote a supplication after Trungpa's death specifically naming him a mahasiddha.^[35][36][37] Among other Tibetan lamas to name Trungpa as a mahasiddha are the Sixteenth Karmapa, Thrangu Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and Tai Situpa.^[38]

The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche said, "As taught in the Buddhist scriptures, there are nine qualities of a perfect master of buddhadharma. The eleventh Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche possessed all nine of these." ^[39]

Suzuki Roshi, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and another important exponent of Buddhism to western students, described Trungpa Rinpoche in the context of a talk about emptiness:

The way you can struggle with this is to be supported by something, something you don't know. As we are human beings, there must be that kind of feeling. You must feel it in this city or building or community. So whatever community it may be, it is necessary for it to have this kind of spiritual support.

That is why I respect Trungpa Rinpoche. He is supporting us. You may criticize him because he drinks alcohol like I drink water, but that is a minor problem. He trusts you completely. He knows that if he is always supporting you in a true sense you will not criticize him, whatever he does. And he doesn't mind whatever you say. That is not the point, you know. This kind of big spirit, without clinging to some special religion or form of practice, is necessary for human beings.^[40]

Gehlek Rinpoche, who lived with Trungpa Rinpoche when they were young monks in India and later visited and taught with him in the U.S., remarked:

He was a great Tibetan yogi, a friend, and a master. The more I deal with Western Dharma students, the more I appreciate how he presented the dharma and the activities that he taught. Whenever I meet with difficulties, I begin to understand – sometimes before solving the problem, sometimes afterward – why Trungpa Rinpoche did some unconventional things. I do consider him to be the father of Tibetan Buddhism in the United States. In my opinion, he left very early – too early. His death was a great loss. Everything he did is significant.^[41]

Diana Mukpo, his wife, stated:

First, Rinpoche always wanted feedback. He very, very much encouraged his students’ critical intelligence. One of the reasons that people were in his circle was that they were willing to be honest and direct with him. He definitely was not one of those teachers who asked for obedience and wanted their students not to think for themselves. He thrived, he lived, on the intelligence of his students. That is how he built his entire teaching situation.

From my perspective, I could always be pretty direct with him. Maybe I was not hesitant to do that because I really trusted the unconditional nature of our relationship. I felt there was really nothing to lose by being absolutely direct with him, and he appreciated that.^[42]

Controversies[link]

Chögyam Trungpa's style of teaching was often unconventional.^[43] In his own words, "When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative to wake a person up."^[44] He did not encourage his students to imitate his own behavior, and he was troubled by those who felt empowered by his example to do whatever they wanted and manipulate people. As the third Jamgön Kongtrül explained in a teaching given to students of Chögyam Trungpa, "You shouldn't imitate or judge the behavior of your teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, unless you can imitate his mind."^[45]

Trungpa's sexuality has been one of the sources of controversy, as he cultivated relations with a number of his female students. Tenzin Palmo, who met him in 1962 while he was still at Oxford did not become one of his consorts. She mentions she refused his advances at the time because he had presented himself as "a pure monk". However, she said had she known that Trungpa began having sexual relations with women at age 13 she would not have declined, considering that in the higher stages of Tibetan Buddhist tantra, sexual relations (especially with tertöns) are a means of enhancing spiritual insights.^[46] Trungpa formally renounced his monastic vows in 1969.^[47]

Trungpa was also known for smoking tobacco and for his liberal use of alcohol;^[48] many who knew him characterized him as an alcoholic.^[49][50] He began drinking occasionally shortly after arriving in India.^[51] Before his coming to America, Trungpa drove a sports car into a joke shop in Dumfries, Scotland.^[52] While his companion was not seriously injured,^[53] Trungpa was left partially paralyzed. Later he described this event as a pivotal moment which inspired the course of his teachings. Some accounts ascribe the accident to drinking.^[54][55] Others suggest he may have had a stroke.^[56][57] According to Trungpa himself, he blacked out.^[58]

He often combined drinking with teaching. David Chadwick recounts:^[59] "Suzuki [Roshi] asked Trungpa to give a talk to the students in the zendo the next night. Trungpa walked in tipsy and sat on the edge of the altar platform with his feet dangling. But he delivered a crystal-clear talk, which some felt had a quality – like Suzuki's talks – of not only being about the dharma but being itself the dharma." However, in some instances he was too drunk to walk and had to be carried.^[55] Also, according to the Steinbecks, on a couple of occasions his speech was unintelligible.^[60] One woman reported serving him "big glasses of gin first thing in the morning."^[26]

Two former students of Trungpa, John Steinbeck IV and his wife, wrote a sharply critical memoir of their lives with him in which they claim that, in addition to alcohol, Trungpa used $40,000 a year worth of cocaine, and used Seconal to come down from the cocaine. The cocaine use, say the Steinbecks, was kept secret from the wider Vajradhatu community.^[61]

An incident that became a cause célèbre among some poets and artists was the Halloween party at the Fall, 1975, Snowmass Colorado Seminary, a 3-month period of intensive meditation and study of the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana vehicles of Tibetan Buddhism. The poet W. S. Merwin had arrived that summer at the Naropa Institute and been told by Allen Ginsberg that he ought to visit seminary. Although he had not gone through the several years' worth of study and preparatory mind training required, Merwin was insistent he attend, and Trungpa eventually granted his request – along with his girlfriend as well. At seminary the couple stayed to themselves. At the Halloween party, after many, including Trungpa himself, had taken off their clothes, Merwin was asked to join the event, but refused. On Trungpa's orders his Vajra Guard forced entry into the poet's locked and barricaded room; brought him and his girlfriend, Dana Naone, against their will, to the party; and eventually stripped them of all their clothes, onlookers ignoring Naone's pleas for help and for someone to call the police.^[62] The next day Trungpa asked Merwin and Naone to remain at the Seminary as either students or guests. They agreed to stay for several more weeks to hear the Vajrayana teachings, with Trungpa's promise that "there would be no more incidents," and Merwin and Naone's assertion that "it would be with no guarantees of obedience, trust, or personal devotion to him."^[63] They left immediately after the last talk. In a 1977 letter to members of a Naropa class investigating the incident, Merwin concluded,

My feelings about Trungpa have been mixed from the start. Admiration, throughout, for his remarkable gifts; and reservations, which developed into profound misgivings, concerning some of his uses of them. I imagine, at least, that I've learned some things from him (though maybe not all of them were the things I was 'supposed' to learn) and some through him, and I'm grateful to him for those. I wouldn't encourage anyone to become a student of his. I wish him well.^[64]

Author Jeffery Paine commented on this incident that "Seeing Merwin out of step with the rest, Trungpa could have asked him to leave, but decided it was kinder to shock him out of his aloofness."^[65] However, he also notes the outrage felt in particular by poets such as Robert Bly and Kenneth Rexroth, who began calling Trungpa a fascist.^[66]

Trungpa's choice of Westerner Ösel Tendzin as his dharma heir was controversial as Tendzin would be the first Western Tibetan Buddhist lineage holder and Vajra Regent. This was exacerbated by Tendzin's own behavior as lineage holder. Tendzin, while knowingly carrying HIV, was sexually involved with students, one of whom became infected and died.^[67]

Rick Fields, historian of Buddhism in America,^[68] writes that Trungpa "caused more trouble, and did more good, than anyone I'll ever know."^[69]

Chronology[link]

1940: Born in Kham, Eastern Tibet. Enthroned as eleventh Trungpa Tulku, Supreme Abbot of Surmang Monasteries, and Governor of Surmang District. Some put his birth in 1939.^[70]

1944–59: Studies traditional monastic disciplines, meditation, and philosophy, as well as calligraphy, thangka painting, and monastic dance.

1947: Ordained as a shramanera (novice monk).

1958: Receives degrees of Kyorpön (Doctor of Divinity) and Khenpo (Master of Studies). Ordained as a bhikshu (full monk).

1959–60: Follows the Dalai Lama to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, which failed to overthrow the Chinese government

1960–63: By appointment of the Dalai Lama, serves as spiritual advisor to the Young Lamas' Home School in Dalhousie, India.

1962: Fathers first son, Ösel Rangdröl (Mukpo), by a nun later referred to as Lady Kunchok Palden (or Lady Konchok Palden).^[71]

1963–67: Attends Oxford University on a Spaulding scholarship, studying comparative religion, philosophy, and fine arts. Receives instructor's degree of the Sogetsu School of ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement)

1967: Founds Samyê-Ling, a meditation center in Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

1968: Receives The Sadhana of Mahamudra terma text while on retreat in Paro Taktsang, a sacred cliffside monastery in Bhutan.^[72]

1969: Becomes the first Tibetan British subject. Injured in a car accident, leaving him partially paralyzed. Relinquishes monastic vows and robes.

1970: Renounces monastic vows and marries wealthy sixteen year old disciple Diana Judith Pybus.^[73] Arrives in North America. Establishes Tail of the Tiger, a Buddhist meditation and study center in Vermont, now known as Karmê Chöling. Establishes Karma Dzong, a Buddhist community in Boulder, Colorado.^[74]

1971: Begins teaching at University of Colorado. Establishes Rocky Mountain Dharma Center, now known as Shambhala Mountain Center, near Fort Collins, Colorado.

1972: Initiates Maitri, a therapeutic program that works with different styles of neurosis using principles of the five buddha families. Conducts the Milarepa Film Workshop, a program which analyzes the aesthetics of film, on Lookout Mountain, Colorado.

1973: Founds Mudra Theater Group, which stages original plays and practices theater exercises, based on traditional Tibetan dance.^[75] Incorporates Vajradhatu, an international association of Buddhist meditation and study centers, now known as Shambhala International. Establishes Dorje Khyung Dzong, a retreat facility in southern Colorado.^[76] Conducts first annual Vajradhatu Seminary, a three-month advanced practice and study program.

1974: Incorporates Nalanda Foundation, a nonprofit, nonsectarian educational organization to encourage and organize programs in the fields of education, psychology, and the arts. Hosts the first North American visit of The Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyü lineage. Founds The Naropa Institute, a contemplative studies and liberal arts college, now fully accredited as Naropa University. Forms the organization that will become the Dorje Kasung, a service group entrusted with the protection of the buddhist teachings and the welfare of the community.

1975: Forms the organization that will become the Shambhala Lodge, a group of students dedicated to fostering enlightened society. Founds the Nalanda Translation Committee for the translation of Buddhist texts from Tibetan and Sanskrit. Establishes Ashoka Credit Union.

1976: Hosts the first North American visit of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, revered meditation master and scholar of the Nyingma lineage. Hosts a visit of Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage. Empowers Thomas F. Rich as his dharma heir, known thereafter as Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin. Establishes the Kalapa Court in Boulder, Colorado, as his residence and a cultural center for the Vajradhatu community. Receives the first of several Shambhala terma texts (see termas). These comprise the literary source for the Shambhala teachings. Founds Alaya Preschool in Boulder, Colorado.

1977: Bestows the Vajrayogini abhisheka for the first time in the West for students who have completed ngöndro practice. Establishes the celebration of Shambhala Day. Observes a year-long retreat in Charlemont, Massachusetts. Founds Shambhala Training to promote a secular approach to meditation practice and an appreciation of basic human goodness. Visits Nova Scotia for the first time.

1978: Conducts the first annual Magyal Pomra Encampment, an advanced training program for members of the Dorje Kasung. Conducts the first annual Kalapa Assembly, an intensive training program for advanced Shambhala teachings and practices. Conducts the first Dharma Art seminar. Forms Amara, an association of health professionals. Forms the Upaya Council, a mediation council providing a forum for resolving disputes. Establishes the Midsummer's Day festival and Children's Day.

1979: Empowers his eldest son, Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo, as his successor and heir to the Shambhala lineage. Founds the Shambhala School of Dressage, an equestrian school under the direction of his wife, Lady Diana Mukpo. Founds Vidya Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado.

1980–83: Presents a series of environmental installations and flower arranging exhibitions at art galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and Boulder.

1980: Forms Kalapa Cha to promote the practice of traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. With the Nalanda Translation Committee, completes the first English translation of The Rain of Wisdom.

1981: Hosts the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama to Boulder, Colorado. Conducts the first annual Buddhist-Christian Conference in Boulder, Colorado, exploring the common ground between Buddhist and Christian contemplative traditions. Forms Ryuko Kyūdōjō to promote the practice of Kyūdō under the direction of Shibata Kanjuro Sensei, bow maker to the Emperor of Japan. Directs a film, Discovering Elegance, using footage of his environmental installation and flower arranging exhibitions.

1982: Forms Kalapa Ikebana to promote the study and practice of Japanese flower arranging.

1983: Establishes Gampo Abbey, a Karma Kagyü monastery located in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, for Western students wishing to enter into traditional monastic discipline. Creates a series of elocution exercises to promote precision and mindfulness of speech.

1984–85: Observes a year-long retreat in Mill Village, Nova Scotia.

1986: Moves his home and the international headquarters of Vajradhatu to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1987: Dies of an alcohol-related illness, April 4, in Halifax; cremated May 26 at Karmê Chöling. (His followers have constructed a chorten or stupa, the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, located near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, for his remains.) 1989: The child recognized as his reincarnation, Chokyi Sengay, is born in Derge, Tibet; recognized two years later by Tai Situ Rinpoche.

Bibliography[link]

• Born in Tibet (1966), autobiography, story of escaping from Tibet.
• Meditation in Action (1969)
• Mudra (1972)
• Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism (1973)
• The Dawn of Tantra, by Herbert V. Guenther and Chögyam Trungpa (1975)
• Glimpses of Abhidharma (1975)
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo, translated with commentary by Francesca Fremantle and Chögyam Trungpa (1975)
• The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation (1976)
• The Rain of Wisdom (1980)
• Journey without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha (1981)
• The Life of Marpa the Translator (1982)
• First Thought Best Thought: 108 Poems (1983)
• Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior (1984)
• Crazy Wisdom (1991)
• The Heart of the Buddha (1991)
• Orderly Chaos: The Mandala Principle (1991)
• Secret Beyond Thought: The Five Chakras and the Four Karmas (1991)
• The Lion's Roar: An Introduction to Tantra (1992)
• Transcending Madness: The Experience of the Six Bardos (1992)
• Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving Kindness (1993)
• Glimpses of Shunyata (1993)
• The Art of Calligraphy: Joining Heaven and Earth (1994)
• Illusion's Game: The Life and Teaching of Naropa (1994)