SHAMBHALA MEMPHIS |
BACK
Shambhala Day 2004
Address by Richard Reoch,
President of Shambhala
Halifax, Nova Scotia
I thought it might be helpful if, as President, I gave a short overview of
the State of the Union - or, in our case, the State of the Mandala. This last
year has been truly remarkable. Let me begin with the holding of Kalapa Assembly
at Dorje Denma Ling. This was a spontaneous inspiration to transform Dorje Denma
Ling from a facility barely capable of housing 24 people into a year-round
practice centre, with completely renovated facilities and a new building. In
true crazy wisdom fashion we aimed to do this in under 10 months, starting from
scratch!
Well, we did it. Nearly $400,000 dollars were raised, person-to-person,
without a single fund-raising letter by the Shambhala Community in the Atlantic
Provinces. We said we would pull the whole thing off without going into debt and
we did that. In fact we did better than that. We met all our targets and
honoured all our commitments. The Sakyong taught majestically on the Rigden
principle. The Council of Warriors has ensured that tapes from his talks are
available throughout the community. The Werma Practice is being revitalised at
many centres. Teachings on the Rigden principle are taking place. The new Rigden
thangka has been commissioned by the Sakyong for use as the central image in all
Shambhala Centres. I'm delighted to say that Cynthia Moku, one of the most
inspired artists in our community is working on it. I had the privilege of
seeing her early sketches just days ago in Boulder. Let me tell you: it is
utterly superb!
This was also the year of the first Warriors' Assembly in Latin America. It
was a tremendous event, galvanizing incredible energy. Now we are on the way to
our first ever Seminary in Latin America, to be held in 2006.
It was also the year of the first Vajrayana Seminary in Europe. This was a
long-awaited event at Dechen Chöling, the Dharma Place of Great Bliss. Two
hundred people were there, with some 20 primary languages among them. It set the
stage for the next phase of development for Dechen Chöling where, today Susanna
Becker joins Simon La Haye as Co-director. I'd like to urge our whole European
community to give maximum financial support this year to Dechen Chöling and
Shambhala Europe. We really need to build on the terrific momentum we have
generated in Europe.
Karmê Chöling has come through a major transition, organizationally and
financially. Its important to acknowledge the work done by Tom Bell and his
team. The act that Tom is in the shrine room with us here in Halifax is living
proof he survived! (Laughter). Welcome the new director, Bill Brauer. I know
Bill has been in discussion with the Sakyong about revisioning the entire area
there as Tail of the Tiger with Karmê Chöling as its heart. There are also hopes
for a Regional Conference there this year.
Dorje Kyung Dzong is expanding and Otso Shingsha is planning to - so both
these retreat centres are generating new energy.
The largest investment in the mandala is at Shambhala Mountain Center, home
to The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya. Jeff Waltcher the director is on retreat
(laughter, applause), so he won't hear this, but it's great to know that
Shambhala Mountain Center had a good year financially. It is also having an
impact far beyond the Front Range, having been featured this year in The New
York Times and the international edition of Time Magazine. I just saw their new
program for 2004. It takes outreach to a new level, with over 60 programs
offered between April and September.
Another new development: Ngedon School is going on line.
There's news from many centres. Both in Europe and North America, many
Shambhala Centres are on the move, acquiring new space to accommodate the
growing numbers of people. We were completely packed out here in Halifax when we
advertised recent teachings by Mingyur Rinpoche. New York now gets 250 people
packing in for its weekly open nights. There's a dynamic new plan just agreed
for Northern California. Shambhala Europe with Chris Tamjidi and his courageous
team, is moving to new headquarters in Cologne, and I'll be in Vienna in May for
the opening of a new centre there. People aren't just moving, they're building.
Great new building in Minneapolis. Another great centre under construction in
Atlanta and I'll be there for the opening in July!
It was the year of The Dot, which we all love, especially the latest issue.
It was the year in which the first four volumes of the collected works of
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche came out. It's a beautiful edition. We have also
succeeded in making more space for our Shambhala treasures here in Halifax, so
that all the artefacts of the Vidyadhara can be properly housed and cared for,
thus fulfilling the wish in his will that they be preserved as power objects for
the whole of Shambhala.
It was the year of Vajra Dawn. Two hundred of our emerging leaders gathered
to be with the Sakyong and each other, contemplating and sharing their visions
of Shambhala for the future.
It was the year of the hugely successful Sustainable Resources Conference in
Boulder, attended by some 2,000 people from 120 countries. I met Steve Troy
about a week ago and we are definitely on for a follow-up conference this year
too.
That was part of a year in which discussion began about the Shambhala Path of
Social Action. We had a great pilot project on this in preparation for the
Shambhala Congress that showed a very high percentage of Shambhalians already
engaged in some social manifestation of Shambhala vision. There was unexpectedly
high interest in this at the Congress. This year we are going to have two
programs, one at Dechen Chöling and one at Dorje Denma Ling to go deeper in this
rich area of reflection. And you may have seen yesterday the full text of the
major statement delivered in Bhutan on revisioning the way the world measures
progress and development. And just listening to Chuck Lief reminded me of a
great Shambhala achievement: the 60 Minutes program that just aired on the
Greyston Foundation.
This was also the year that our finances turned around. It was extremely
painful. I want to pay tribute to the staff of Shambhala International, and to
acknowledge their dignity and warriorship in the face of losing their
employment. This is much more than a job. It is the way people connect daily
with serving our precious mandala...
The result of this drastic action is that we have already paid down almost a
third of our operating debt and we are on track to being free of all operating
debt by the middle of 2005.
I want to say thank you to everyone here and who is listening in this
Shambhala Day. You stood by us. I am absolutely delighted to be able to tell you
today that the results of our year-end fundraising appeal surpassed the year
before and exceeded our target for this year. So far over $90,000 has come in
and I can't begin to tell you how fantastic that is in these difficult times.
I think it's also important not only to say "thank you", but also to pledge
that we will continue to be as open, transparent and accountable as we can be
with our financial information. The real heroine of all this is, of course, our
comptroller Terry Ruddherham (sustained applause).
There are two other important developments of this year. It was the year when
Kalapa Valley was transferred to the Shambhala Mandala. On behalf of the Sakyong
and the whole mandala I want to thank the small, and completely devoted team of
donors who kept the faith, were sustained in their generosity and made this
happen: Steve Brooks, Suter de Bose, Curtis Steele and Nancy Porter-Steele, Ben
Webster and Jim and Margaret Drescher, and not to mention Ashley Howes who may
be listening to this from who know where in the mandala.
Why is Kalapa Valley so significant? Its importance is well known to everyone
who moved with the Vidyahdara to Nova Scotia, but I want to be sure that this is
understood everywhere throughout the mandala. This remarkable land formation is
the land identified by theVidyadhara as Kalapa, the heart of Shambhala. When Eva
Wong of the Kalapa Shambhala Society first saw it she said it was one of the
most powerful sites she had ever examined on the earth. She said simply: "It is
the inexhaustible source of energy behind all other Shambhala Centers and the
sangha."
So you could say that this was the year that Kalapa was reunited with
Shambhala.
It was also the year in which our beloved Sakyong became a first time author
with a national best seller, a feat achieved within weeks of his book first
hitting the stands. Now he is set for a second North American book tour with the
paperback carrying the word in gold: National Best Seller. His personal
transformation has continued. He changed shape yet again. I was on the phone to
him yesterday: he is weighing in at 133 pounds with his eye on a second
marathon. He's working on his next book, which is going well. It's about how we
manifest Sakyong principle. And if you are wondering how he's doing in the
outreach arena, here's a copy of one of the little cards that his publisher
regularly send to book stores to introduce their authors and tell book store
staff how to pronounce their names. This one reads:
Sakyong Mipham. Heir to the West's largest spiritual empire (Shambhala,
started by wild and crazy dad Chogyam Trungpa). Young and hip, weight lifter,
yoga enthusiast, marathon runner, the new rock star lama on the spiritual scene.
This last year was also a year of dissolution, of loss, of confusion and
frustration. It was a year of self-examination. Many of us find ourselves
longing for connections and cohesiveness in an increasingly diverse mandala - a
mandala of multiple teachers, multiple institutions, multiple languages,
multiple cultures and multiple generations.
Many entities in the mandala have been consciously looking at themselves and
often making transitions - Naropa University, the Shambhala Arts Council, the
Dorje Kasung, the Shambhala Trust - all talking in their own ways about their
roles and ways of working.
All this came together in a very raw way at the Shambhala Congress, held here
in Halifax just over three months ago at the Sakyong's command. A lot of people
have done a lot of work since then, culminating in a leadership meeting in
Boulder at the beginning of February.
Last year the Sakyong, sitting in this same shrine room said: "So ladies and
gentlemen, we need a plan!" I was able to tell him yesterday on the phone: "Sir,
we have a plan…" (laughter) It's a one-year plan. The Shambhala Community Plan.
It went up on the Shambhala website this morning. And for those of you who don't
want to read a 15-page plan, there is one page titled The Plan in a page.
This plan is basically a three-stage process of consultation throughout our
community between now and the next Shambhala Congress in 2005.
First, the plan encourages openness, inclusiveness and participation. There
will be more than a dozen Review Groups on major topics. These will be open to
everyone. They will function through email and conference calls. I have asked
every centre and group to be ready today with sign up sheets for each of these
Review Groups, so everyone can sign up today for the topic or topics in which
they have a burning interest.
Second, the Review Groups are linked to smaller Working Groups and Advisory
Groups that will be set up in the coming weeks along the model already followed
very successfully by The New Economic Model Working Group. These are smaller
teams appointed to come up with specific suggestions and to invited and engage
with community feedback.
Third, this whole process will be spearheaded and coordinated by a new
governing body for the whole mandala - the Mandala Governing Council. This will
be our supreme governing body for this year under the authority of the Sakyong
and chaired by the President. This large, inclusive body will include the
current members of the board, the chairs of all the working groups and
representatives of major entities and constituencies in the mandala. It will
pull everything together and make the final proposals from this process to the
Sakyong and the Shambhala Congress.
All this is explained in detail in the full plan. All Centre Directors and
group leaders have a copy if you don't have access to the Shambhala website.
There's a major role for Shambhala Centres and groups in all this. All are
urged to hold community meetings or Town Hall meetings and really engage with
this period of reflection and renewal of our community.
At the Shambhala Congress an initiative arose, known as Group 13, to explore
our community's experience around the Vajra Regent. We all need the benefit of
looking into the mirror of this situation, bringing out the wisdom and sharing
this in talking circles throughout the mandala. I am happy to say that this is a
recommendation to all centres in the plan, as well as opening up talking circles
for other issues of deep concern.
There is another contribution we need. It has to do with space, joy and
wisdom - the Dakini's warm breath. This need has arisen in my mindstream over
and over again this past year. I have today decided to use the authority of the
President to establish a Shambhala Commission on the Status of Women and
Feminine Energy in our mandala. (applause) I intend to work on getting this
started in the Spring. I feely deeply that we need to ensure that this dimension
is explored and included fully in this whole process of community reflection and
renewal.
Finally, During this period of community contemplation, it is also vital to
recommit ourselves to group practices, such as nyinthüns and dathüns, so that we
can mix our minds together with space, with the mind of the lineage, the mind of
the Buddhas and the mind of the Rigdens.
In that exact spirit I am so pleased to be able to report that for the whole
of March, I won't be at any meetings at all, nor will at least 40 other
Shambhalians in the leadership of our community. That includes three Acharyas,
10 Centre Directors, board members, senior members of the Dorje Kasung, coast to
coast from in both Canada and the United States as well as Europe. We are going
to sit the first, to my knowledge, formal Shambhala leadership dathün
(applause). This must be the first time that someone announced a dathün and was
applauded! I've discussed this with Rinpoche and our idea is that this will lead
the way for the community for this year, and should really become a formal
annual aspect of holding positions of leadership anywhere in Shambhala.
It is in that same spirit that I am delighted to hand over at this point to
the Sakyong so that we may all listen to the address he recorded while on
retreat earlier this year. I believe it has a great deal to do with our
practice.
SHAMBHALA MEMPHIS |
BACK
