Namkha Drimed in Shambhala International
July 28, 2008 by Barbara Blouin 
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Since the Sakyong’s marriage in 2006, Namkha Drimed, Rinpoche, the Sakyong’s father-in-law, has been handed a major role in Shambhala International — giving empowerments and teachings in North America and Europe. This short article takes a look at Namkha Drimed and some possible outcomes of his dharma activity in our mandala.
The kinds of activities you report Namkha Drimed engaged in seem par for the course for many religious figures, in all religious traditions. So I would be reluctant to criticize them, or their followers, for that. Also, some of the practices themselves, such as phowa, are also offered by other teachers and in other contexts - which may make a difference, or not.
However, bypassing this (asking for relative benefits) and going straight to the essence, and practicing the continuity of that, seems to be at the core of the dharma as Chögyam Trungpa presents it. From that point of view expressing concern about that dharma fading into the background seems warranted. I guess that’s what your questions at the end are about.
I’m just not sure how to proceed further, beyond my/one’s individual practice. Maybe that’s an open question that we can gradually feel and explore through this site and other venues.
It sure sounds like spiritual materialism to me……Wasn’t this supposed to be a real wisdom tradition that transcended culture and emphasized practice and realization, rather than medieval costumes, tibetan ethnocentrism, and indulgences? (Major Credit Cards Accepted!)
I know this is what many religions do, but I expected more of us.
It sounds like spiritual materialism to me too. This is from a recent message to Sangha Announce:
“His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche will be personally leading the Wealth / Enrichment Puja this year in Purchase, NY. It is a very fortunate opportunity!! Many people have received benefit for their prosperity and overall positive conditions via participation in the past years….
“This is invitation to participate:
(a) in person
(b) “at a distance” (be sure to email all the required information listed below)
(c) You can also register your friends and family to be included in the puja “from a distance”
“Note, while it is best to be in attendance, if you are not able to physically be present for the puja, then you can still benefit from the puja by registering and paying for it. Your name and birth sign will be read to Rinpoche when he is performing the puja and therefore, you will still receive benefit from it….
“Suggested offering is US$100.00 per person
“Payment Option #1: Online
( http://www.ripaladrang.org/index.php?pid=77&wid=48
Please select “special donations option and include:
“Aug 24th, 2008 - Wealth Puja” + your animal/element info in the notes
“Payment Option #2: Mail
Send your credit card payment information (plus send all the info requested in the credit card web screens) in the mail. Wires are possible if more convenient and those details can be made available. Checks drawn on U.S. banks or U.S. money orders are also accepted - please note “wealth puja” in the memo and let us know your animal/element info as well. We regret that other forms of payment are difficult for us to process.
“Please do let us know your situation as we would prefer that no one miss this opportunity due to a paperwork issue ….”
When I took refuge, the lama suggested I buy a “treasure vase” from him and do the practice associated with it so I and others would have friends and prosperity. He explained that it’s important to have enough money and resources to continue to practice the dharma, and friends who will also support practice. In the Sacred World, participating in or even just paying for a wealth ceremony is not Spiritual Materialism. It’s another way of saying “May all beings, including myself, have the good fortune to hear, contemplate, and practice the dharma.”
Growing up as a Buddhist in India, I see many parallels here. Sakyamuni Buddha’s teaching was revolutionary in a compaasionate way, since he addressed many spiritual materialism issues prevalent under growing influence of Brahminism, rituals, magic, divination, caste system and such in his times. Unfortunately many of the gross tantric and deity hindu practices got mixed with Tantric Buddhism in Tibet.
The Dhamma Sakyamuni taught is universal and without a belief sytem or dogma of any kind. It needs a modern liberal scientific, even cosmic mind-set. Dalai Lama said recently in Ann Abor that Sakyamuni Buddha wears no hat. I agree that it is time especially in the West to revisit what Sakyamuni actually taught and the various context his teachings were given.
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/BRAHMIN.HTM
I am curious; does Shambhala Buddhism consist of mainly Vajrayana concepts or practices or is it a mixture of three yanas and more…?
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/BRAHMIN.HTM
My God!!!
You guys uncovered Tibetan Buddhism for the first time. No one has ever accused lamas of being corrupt!! I guess we’ll all have to pack or bags and head for Malaysia.
If we know what we stand for then what is the big deal? Do we have to broadcast our perfect message embodied by perfect beings to enjoy our humanity and appreciate our situation?
Do we really have to wait for everything to be fixed before we feel comfortable enough to meditate?
CTR was once asked whether spiritual materialism is a particularly American Problem. Remember thinking there are many Americas - North, Central, South, and the Islands of the Americas, that rosary of thousands of islands that span the Caribbean sea. Which did he mean?
His answer: Whenever teachings come to a country from abroad, the problem of spiritual materialism is intensified. At the moment America is, without any doubt, fertile ground ready for the teachings. And because America is so fertile, seeking spirituality, it is possible for America to inspire charlatans. Charlatans would not choose to be charlatans unless they were inspired to do so. Otherwise, they would be bank robbers or bandits, in as much as they want to make money and become famous. Because America is looking so hard for spirituality, religion becomes an easy way to make money and achieve fame.
So we see charlatans in the role of student ‘Chela’ as well as in the role of guru.
As far as ‘lineage’ is concerned he explained knowledge is not handed down like an antique. Rather one practitioner experiences the truth of the teachings, and this is transmitted as INSPIRATION to others.
When you receive spiritual instruction - mouth to ear - you do not take it uncritically, you test it, and if that inspiration awakens the student as her mentor was awakened before her - the process goes on. It has a living quality, applicable to every age, every person in any culture. In this manner the teachings are always up to date. They are not passed along as information. It is a real experience. I have found it so.
Many Tibetan teachers come to us with ‘Credentials’, stories of their spiritual journey, past lives, lineage geneology, their treasuries of skillful means, this rare terma and that, publicised almost like intellectual property which the seeker can access for a fee.
If you are on a journey and ask directions from someone you encounter its up to you to be able to listen carefully to hear the instructions being offered, and as importantly to decide whether or not to act on it. If you experience the truth of it, likely the gratitude for the gift is spontaneous, or devotion arises without pretense, a reminder to be as generous to others etc. For many the decision is choiceless. This don’t know mind entertains the possibility that even fools and charlatans have a role.
Q: Is this the path to Shambhala.
A:. Where exactly are you Now?
Q: Actually I am uncertain.
A: Well you can’t get there from here.
Offered with Joyful Hopelessness.
To Aba Cecile McHardy —
Thank you for your well expressed post that summarized so much.
It isn’t the literal “teachings” that are transmitted, but:
“As far as ‘lineage’ is concerned he explained knowledge is not handed down like an antique. Rather one practitioner experiences the truth of the teachings, and this is transmitted as INSPIRATION to others….They are not passed along as information. It is a real experience…”
Howard Harawitz
Halifax
Personally, I appreciate the injection of wealth consciousness into our community. Previous to my involvement in Shambhala I was part of a Tibetan Buddhist community that could barely rub two pennies together. People actually seemed scared of money. Consequently, a beautiful retreat space and the dharma legacy of the guru were allowed to fall into disrepair.
The Shambhala vision can’t run on hugs alone (though I would support this as a form of currency once the global economic system tanks). I do question some capital projects, but for the most part believe that our dharma world is self regulating and will correct itself when the messages get loud enough. If Namkha Drimed, Rinpoche and the Sakyong feel wealth pujas will build our collective Lungta and help spread the Shambhala Dharma, I would be happy to offer up a 100 of my illusory greenbacks or loonies to be a part of this effort.
Dear Silas,
Thank you for your comments. I wholeheartedly agree that sangha needs to support dharma, and what better way to do that than with money. “Wealth consciousness,” as you call it, is good too. There is a lot of money neurosis in our world, and it is always helpful when this subject is aired, so that people can take a closer look at their own — often unexamined — attitudes towards their own and others’ money.
You also wrote: “If Namkha Drimed, Rinpoche and the Sakyong feel wealth pujas will build our collective Lungta I would be happy to offer up a 100 of my illusory greenbacks or loonies to be a part of this effort.” This is where I differ with you. Perhaps I am too cynical, but it seems to me that the wealth generated by these pujas will mostly benefit Namkha Drimed. At $100 a pop, including those who pay to participate on the internet, he stands to raise a lot of money.
I remember meeting Nakha Drimed Rinpoche here in Colorado, during a visit he made to another lama, and became curious about his divinations. This is before the engagement of his daughter to the Sakyong, sometime in 2003 I believe. I went online and googled his name. It led me to a website that was very humble ( there surely wasn’t a biography like the current one Shambhala has) and clearly the website hadn’t been very active, there was a news article dated about 3 or 4 years old. That was the most recent. It looked like a group that was struggling financially. When I attempted to go through several links, I got error messages. Clearly the website was neglected.
I don’t think we in the West understand the nature of marriage arrangements in Asia. Or how there purpose, traditionally, is to benefit the extended families .
Thank you, Barbara, for compiling the quotes on spiritual materialism by the Vidyadhara. The link to that, since the link in the article doesn’t work, is http://radiofreeshambhala.org/buddhadharma/chogyam-trungpa-on-spiritual-materialism/
A friend (another old dog) and I were talking about this very subject of paying somebody else to practice for us in order to gain merit or wealth, etc., after the Shambhala News Service announced this ‘opportunity.’ We also felt it smacked of spiritual materialism. In fact we were shocked at the difference between how the Vidyadhara taught us to do our own practices for accumulating merit, including Jambhala (for wealth), and these ‘donation opportunities’ for gaining benefit from the practices that monks were doing on the other side of the world. The Vidyadhara’s emphasis was on having his students deepen their own practice to accumulate merit and increase insight, confidence, and spiritual power. Paying somebody else to do it for us seems absurd from the perspective that we’ve been given the means to do it for ourselves, at least by the Vidyadhara, and I can’t imagine that there is any substitute for doing it for ourselves.
As for your question, “How should we, as individual sangha members, set priorities for how we use some of our disposable income for making donations to Buddhist teachers and organizations?” It seems to me that the highest priority for practitioners would be to put their disposable income into doing retreats and advancing their own practice, especially since the economy is in decline and hard times are coming. Buying spiritual merit is really no substitute for gaining insight and sanity through one’s own practice.
Barbara, I know what you mean about feeling queasy and sad.
Usually, when people try to get money from me based on how much merit I can gain by supporting monks, I tell them that I am already supporting as many practitioners as I am able to: myself, my partner, the other people in my sangha, and my Lamas. The model of supporting monks assumes that people who work and thus have money do not practice. That model doesn’t work in a sangha of householder yogis and yoginis. Many of us want to practice and realize the Dharma ourselves, not have somebody else claim to do it for us. That was the way Trungpa Rinpoche taught us, and it is also the way other Buddhist teachers in the U.S. have taught.
I should say that I have nothing against monks and nuns, and people who want to support them are doing a wonderful thing. But it is not a requirement. We are a lineage of non-monastic practitioners.
RE: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
I’m having a few problems about the Artricle on that page. Although I have Trungpa Rinpoche 100 per cent in my heart as my root guru, and see his face almost constantly, I find these quotes from him disturbing and harsh. I realize that there were definite problems in Tibet that concerned him, and that he used them to emphasize the insidious nature of spiritual materialism, in all its forms world wide. But it seems unfortunate to publish them all at once like this. It seems sort of “anit-Tibetan.”
Didn’t he often write sad poetry of longing for his own teachers?? He must have really loved his homeland and the Dharma that was there, in spite of his criticism of it’s failings.
I think that these types of quotes (or other similar ones, such as “It was almost good that the Chinese took over Tibet as it allowed (forced) the Dharma to come to the West.” (I think that Thrangu Rinpoche said that.) are meant to be understood on a very vast scale of thought.
I would be mortified if HH the Karmapa, or the Dalai Lama or Thrangu Rinpoche, and the many other Rinpoches who are working to rebuild and maintain their monasteries in Tibet, saw these quotes by the Vidyadhara, . I feel that most Tibetans that I know, or many other Tibetan teachers, involved in restoring the Dharma in Tibet, would feel confused and saddened by these quotes, because they miss the amazing devotion for the Dharma and genuine practice that still exists in Tibet. Not to mention the exertion of these great Tibetan teachers, and others, to create more situations for Tibetans to practice genuine Dharma in Tibet.
HH Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, from Serta Institute, is one example. And so very many of HIS students became great teachers in their own right, completely taking the Dharma to heart, and going on to teach authentic Dharma to so many.
There may have not been a great deal of actual practice amongst some of the “masses,” but their devotion and love for the Dharma was and is pure. Think of what they all went through to hide whatever Dharma treasures they could (during and after 1959) for years, until it was safe to bring them out. These are all Tibetans who have “taken the Dharma to heart” in their own ways.
(I am also aware that in old Tibet, as in many other countries and empires, there was so much warfare going on, while the pure Dharma kept managing to flourish in between the battles and aggression and ignorance, including the corruption. I find this simply amazing!! so of course I can see probelms there.
No doubt, some things (being human) were quite corrupt in those days, and could be still today. However, so many great Buddhist teachers and every day bodhisattvas have nevertheless come out of both times. (then and now.)
with all due respect , humbleness, love and devotion for Trungpa Rinpoche,
Ginny L
To Ginny Lipson:
Rinpoche’s quotes about the corruption in pre-communist Tibet are not anti-Tibet but anti-corruption and anti-spiritual materialism. He had painful firsthand experience of this since the Surmang administrators tried to force him to go back to his monastery after he completed the Rinchen Terdzod empowerments in late 1958 when the Chinese had already encircled Surmang and were closing in on it. That would have been sheer lunacy and suicidal, but they were willing to risk Rinpoche’s life for the monastery’s material gain. Instead Rinpoche went into hiding and retreat in the Valley of Mystery before fleeing Tibet for his life to preserve the precious vajrayana teachings and termas he received.
Rinpoche was not alone in decrying the corruption of the dharma in Tibet. Tulku Ugyen chronicles and decries it in his memoirs “Blazing Splendor.” After the Dalai Lama’s government ignored the prophecy of impending disaster that the 16th Karmapa received from the mahakala shrine behind Tsurphu monastery, Tulku Ugyen lamented: It’s incredible that a country that had the merit to produce so many enlightened masters could lose it all!
As part of its celebration of the 40th anniversary of Chögyam Trungpa’s writing of the Sadhana of Mahamudra, the Chronicles web site is offering a page for reader comments, at http://chronicleproject.com/daring_steps/daring_steps.html .
It poses the following questions, relevant to the discussion here:
Is spiritual materialism an artifact of the 60s?
What are the modern day equivalents of yogis who “spend their whole time going through villages and performing little ceremonies for material gain?”
Chris:
I knew that my comment would be horrifying to most people.
I realize that there were MANY stupid (and aggressive and harmful, all of it) things going on in Tibet. (for centuries!!) I’ve heard so many sad stories by people who were educated in Tibet. I was particularly saddened, however, by the particular quote that “it was good that the Chinese took it over in 1959… the way the statement and its criticism was elaborately worded seems a harsh and extreme way of expressing the frustration and hurt of the sad overall truth of it all. (Or that it must be taken on a higher level of perspective, in which case my point is practically moot.) I think that many “dharmic” Tibetans, although they are aware of the problems that existed, would still have not wanted the changes that happened after 1959.
Just one of my own crazy points of view, I guess!
Ginny
I am truly sorry that I wrote my original comment in the mistaken way that I did. I think I should have presented my concern more carefully, without any hint of disparaging the guru. (I’ll definitely have to pay for this karmically! ) Even though I believe that all teachers are human, even mahasiddhas, I never should have expressed that in the open on the internet. I sincerely apologise.
Sorry to be repetitive, but my full original gripping and haunting intent was to question such ideas that 1959 and the events thereafter had positive results in any way… or that the rampant corruption that has happened in Tibet, which indeed should be noted as a warning for us here….. have to be presented carefully so as not to ignore or detract from the negative aspects of how much was destroyed, and the positive aspects of how Buddhadharma survived as well as it did. The fact that the pure dharma survived through all that occurred over the centuries, and how the culture, which was indeed flawed in many ways, managed to contribute to and support and allow this amazing “religion” to survive and even flourish (in terms of producing so many great teachers and their work) in many so places is amazing.
I always think that in my particular situation with a current close relationship with a Tibetan teacher, I imagine (however off center that may be) that I am seeing how Tibetans would view this issue. It is a strong issue for me.
Nevertheless, all in all, the main thing is that I realize that Trungpa Rinpoche was so unique. His way of presenting Dharma was so personal and sort of wildly skillful as well as just plain wild. And it was he who first put the spotlight on Spiritual Materialism as well as so many other spiritual issues that are crucial to us as practitioners.
He was a genius.
Humbly,
GL
I have been responding to topics that are similarly concerned with money and wealth and systems and the “magical” nature of the Tibetan and Shambhala lineages by pointing out that the Buddha said that he offered no system and discouraged people from following a system. I find it amusing that Buddhists, in general, forget that most of the stuff we do as ritual and practice is not related to the Buddha, it is related to those who came after him. I doubt the Buddha would acknowledge most of what we do as anything more than attachments.
1. We can sponsor each other as practitioners.
It is very powerful to sponsor a warrior of shambhala, a retreatant, to do a long retreat. A new student to do a dathun. An old student in their end of life phase. Sponsorship and the resultant relationship between money and practice takes on different forms in different places.
We can also do pujas! We can do pujas with a purpose also! (consider sponsoring a fire offering for enriching the world!!!)
I think what His Eminences methods, traditions, are bringing out or up in us is the realization that we choose to put our money into visible tangible things instead of things that correlate with the view of Buddhism or Tantric Buddhism or Shambhala (or things that seem useless or we don’t believe in).
2. I have met His Eminence Namkhai Drimed and have found him to be a very powerful teacher.
Maybe this old breed from Tibet is dying out? (so take advantage of someone Trungpa Rinpoche felt to be powerful enough that he gave him the Rinchen Terdzo. (if that doesn’t make sense refer to ‘born in tibet’ a book by Trungpa Rinpoche.)
I have found up to this point in ‘my practice’ that curiousity is a good thing, not a bad thing.
So I am exploring in actuality, not from a distance.
We all have intelligence, we all can choose what we do with our money and with out minds.
We can put into practice non theism and non spiritual materialism.
Ki Ki So So
As an old administrator from the VDH money mandala one of the most striking things about the current situation is it’s amazing lack of sophistication. Statements like “you can still benefit from the puja by registering and paying for it” and worse are so out of tune with the way we thought about ourselves at to be mind boggling. There are lots of ways to approach fund raising and the ways it’s being practiced in this context seems almost guaranteed to repel the older students. The notion of paying someone to practice seems anathema to me — completely foreign to the spirit of CTR. We like to think we can do our own practice - whatever the reality may be.
How comments like these could come out of SI is very problematic: didn’t someone realize how tin-eared they are?
Pitching in to help preserve genuine Tibetan Vajrayana is worth doing on it’s own right and can be presented as such.
Martin Fritter wrote:
“Statements like “you can still benefit from the puja by registering and paying for it” and worse are so out of tune with the way we thought about ourselves at to be mind boggling.”
Well, what response did you get when suggesting to people that there is a better way of doing things?
“How comments like these could come out of SI is very problematic: didn’t someone realize how tin-eared they are?”
It sounds like a No. That’s why you still need to contribute. Otherwise your hard-won insight is lost to the rest of us, ‘like tears in rain.’
Best wishes,
Ian
Ian,
You make assumptions about what I do and with whom I communicate. I have my contacts and make my comments and remain pretty well informed, I think.
I put in my time as an administrator back in the ’70s and early ’80s and am not inclined to get overtly involved any more. That sort of thing is for younger people, I think.
Martin Fritter wrote:
“You make assumptions about what I do and with whom I communicate. I have my contacts and make my comments and remain pretty well informed, I think.”
I am responding to your comments. However, I assume that your contacts speak through your comments. Other than that, I really don’t want to know who your contacts are, thanks.
By the way, articulating assumptions is a great way of introducing yourself!
Martin is referring to the following exchange:
MF: “Statements like “you can still benefit from the puja by registering and paying for it” and worse are so out of tune with the way we thought about ourselves at to be mind boggling.”
IP: “Well, what response did you get when suggesting to people that there is a better way of doing things?”
My assumption here is that when you hear something that boggles your mind, you investigate it. If that investigation reveals a problem, you fix that problem. If you cannot fix that problem yourself, you articulate it to the best of your ability to other people, so we can all be warned and put on our thinking caps about how to fix it. Isn’t that the spirit of this website?
“I put in my time as an administrator back in the ’70s and early ’80s and am not inclined to get overtly involved any more. That sort of thing is for younger people, I think.”
What does being an administrator have to do with contributing? At a Shambhala Center, everyone’s contribution makes the community. And the local community (and how they hold the teachings) is what brings local people back to their local Shambhala Center.
What I hear in some older students’ voices is heartbreak. Being a relatively new member of the Shambhala community, I only have that to look forward to. I think this is what Trungpa Rinpoche called ’sadder and sadder.’
http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/vctr/realizing2.html
Best Wishes,
Ian
Kristine McCutcheon’s writes: ” I have met His Eminence Namkhai Drimed and have found him to be a very powerful teacher.Maybe this old breed from Tibet is dying out? (so take advantage of someone Trungpa Rinpoche felt to be powerful enough that he gave him the Rinchen Terdzo. (if that doesn’t make sense refer to ‘born in tibet’ a book by Trungpa Rinpoche.)”
The implication of this comment seems to be that this was a ceremony that was specially done for Namkhai Drimed Rinpoche. His Eminence is not to my knowledge mentioned anywhere in Born in Tibet. I’m not casting any doubt on his having attended the ceremony, but for accuracy’s sake it seems worth noting that the Vidyadhara gave the Rinchen Terzo empowerment to hundreds of people at Yak Monastery in Tibet, shortly before going into hiding and departing the country. The description he gives of the event, in Born in Tibet, makes it fairly clear that it was a blessing empowerment intended for anyone who could attend, one of the last things he could do to help people before fleeing the country. In BORN IN TIBET, (CW VOL 1, pages 142 ff) he writes:
We received an invitation from the abbot of Yak Monastery, Yak Tulku, to visit that place and asking me to give the wangkur of the Treasury of the Mine of Precious Teaching (Rinchen Terdzo), the same (initiation) I had given…when I was fourteen years old. On my accepting, many abbots and lamas belonging to the different schools in the neighborhood assembled at Yak; including the Yak monks, some three hundred were prepared to attend the initiation rite….In spite of these anxieties (about the Chinese invasion), the numbers who attended the wangkur did not grow less. The desire to participate seemed to have increased especially among the older people….This wangkur…had been long and complicated. Many of those who had attended wanted me to explain in more simple terms the significance of the spiritual teaching that they had just received. The coming of the Communists had greatly demoralized everyone; all had lost their sense of security, yet their deep faith in the religious way of life remained unshaken. The people needed a personal contact;…they wishsed me to explain why they were so disturbed. They longed to receive more teaching provided it could be brought within their understanding. Since women were not allowed inside the monastery, I arranged for a special hall where the peasant families could come to talk to me. I tried my utmost to give help by impressing on all the necessity for regular meditation, and if there should be no external guru, they must develop the teaching within themselves.
Ian,
I’m not much inclined to continue this further. You have pretty much convinced me to stop posting. However, in defense of us old administrators let me say this:
I was the first paid employee of Naropa Institute. As the founding Controller, I was paid about $65/week. I wrote the 501(c)3 applications for NI and Nalanda, btw — the latter completed the day of CTR’s death.
When I left Naropa, I signed away my rights to about $12,000 in back pay. I then went to work for Vajradhatu as Business Manager.
There were a lot of people like me who worked hard to put the mandala together and who made substantial sacrifices.
Now I’m just an internet troll, lurking around a web site and getting flamed. Why would I be sad about this?
O tempora, O mores!
Enough!
Thanks Carolyn,
I guess the book Born in Tibet has all the details right there. If I were publishing a book that was to convey the heartfeltness and poignancy of the situation that Trungpa rinpoche faced I wouldn’t bother to have a long list many names either. So I guess we will never know.
Sorry if I have created any confusion. I have just heard from Namkhai Drimed Rinpoche’s family that he received the Rinchen Terdzo from the Vidyadhara and I assumed it was as a vajracharya because he is able to give it and pass it on. In those type of big wangs many people can receive it directly and thousands more receive it in the crowd so to speak.
Are there any other writings or biographical notes of Chogyam Trungpa’s life in Tibet that you could share? I certainly wouldn’t mind hearing more about his associations and how and where he found teachings.
thanks,
Martin Fritter wrote:
“There were a lot of people like me who worked hard to put the mandala together and who made substantial sacrifices.”
Protecting people from burnout is one of our big challenges. Another concern is supporting our aging students so they can retire with dignity.
Peace be with you Martin,
Ian
Dear Martin, please don’t leave! You still have friends here who appreciate your point of view - like me! I’ve missed you - please stick around.
Your old friend and co-worker,
Suzanne (Head) Duarte
The negative posts on this thread sadden and disappoint me. Their negativity seems presumptuous and speculative, unsupported by either logic or evidence. They also seem to me to be just mean and rude, and not very humanly decent in an ordinary or a Shambhalean way, although perhaps that is due to the possibility of attributing unintended tone to writing on the Internet.
Perhaps you could consider how you might feel if someone created a public blogsite full of posts referring to “Trungpa”, without the standard honorifics or other terms of respect, accusing him “spiritual materialism” and general corruption for his drinking, his spending money on suits and his Western style and behavior, etc. Now consider further how you might feel if this blogsite used the name “Shambhala”, was written by Shambhala students who were never students of Trungpa Rinpoche and who perhaps had never met him, and called for the purging of his past teachings from the Shambhala canon as materialistic, generally corrupt and on the wrong track. Consider how you might feel if, to support all of this, these posts questioned the legitimacy of his training in Tibet, and whether he had actually received full empowerments in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.
This seems analogous to posts on this thread, calling His Eminence “Namkha Drimed” without honorifics, accusing him of spiritual materialism and general corruption for his divinations and his Tibetan style and behavior, rejecting the current and future teachings in the unfolding of the Shambhala lineage by the Jampal Sakyong with the support of his father-in-law, questioning whether Namkha Rinpoche actually received the full empowerments of the Rinchen Terzod from Trungpa Rinpoche, and doing all this on a “Shambhala” blogsite.
Likely, many of the contributors of the negative posts did have to deal with similar criticisms of Trungpa Rinpoche - likely mostly from outsiders - during his lifetime and after. How did you feel? How did you deal with them?
When I am asked about Trungpa Rinpoche’s drinking or other apparent corruption based on conventional norms, I usually try to find a way of saying that he held unconditional awareness, and that alcohol or anything else supposedly threatening to unconditional awareness can actually be used as a medium for its practice, due to inseparability from that awareness. That is, I try to say that Trungpa Rinpoche was a Vidyadhara, who always held the truth of the inseparability of samsara and nirvana, and from it manifested extraordinary upaya, for the benefit of beings. I try also to say that this was all by way of pointing out something about ourselves, our birthright of wakefulness, something which we already possess and have the inherent potential to realize fully.
As we know, it can be difficult to convince someone of this in any ordinary dialog.
Unless a person has had some sense or direct experience of unconditional awareness, and some connection through it with a teacher - or at least a sense that such connection is possible - that person is likely to believe you are just a cult member using the lingo of your cult. And saying that someone is a “holder of unconditional awareness” is likely to come across as the height of cultishness.
I feel in a similar position defending or supporting H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche to the contributors on this blog thread (not that he needs my defense or support!).
I wonder whether any of the contributors attended the Kalapa Festival in Halifax in the Summer of last year, or the Gesar Festival at Dechen Choling in Spring of this year. Hundreds of Shambhala students were able to connect with His Eminence at and around those events. At the Kalapa Festival, His Eminence gave an amazing empowerment for his Yeshe Tsogyal sadhana, and a powerful lung for “Ocean of The Play of Enlightened Activity, A Daily Offering to Warrior Gesar, Great Being Tondrup, King of Werma, Tamer of Enemies”, a protector practice that Trungpa Rinpoche wrote at His Eminence’s request during his second giving of the Rinchen Terzod in Tibet. His reminiscences of Trungpa Rinpoche from that time were extremely moving, and also sometimes quite humorous. When retelling a teasing joke that Trungpa Rinpoche had made during a private ceremony with just the two of them, His Eminence cracked himself up, and laughed and slapped his knee for what seemed like a very long time. In aspects of both profound brilliance and earthy warmth, the presence of His Eminence and his connection with Trungpa Rinpoche were fully evident at the Kalapa Festival.
Beyond what I would call the more direct experiences that many of us have had with His Eminence, I have been able to speak about him in private audiences with several other highly esteemed Rinpoches close to our sangha. They have all shown the greatest respect for him as an eminent senior lama of their lineages, and encouraged me to connect further with him and generally to support the Mukpo-Ripa family. I would rather follow the clear advice of these Rinpoches than be swayed by any aspersions on a blogsite.
So far as divinations and spiritual materialism, I find both the logic and the evidence of the negative postings to be flawed.
It is not spiritual materialism merely to charge money for “goods and services”, not even for entirely spiritual goods and services. We charge for Shambhala levels, for events with visiting teachers, for empowerments.
There are at least three bases for charging.
First, there are financial practicalities and necessities. Representing these by charging appropriately for spiritual goods and services could further be regarded as encouraging those interested in spiritual goods and services to relate with practicalities and necessities as parts of their spiritual path.
Second, there is the tradition of dana or generosity in supporting the Dharma activity of the gurus; this tradition dates at least to the time of the Buddha, and is well-established in Tibetan and Indian cultures.
Third, there is the creating of an awareness of the value of the teachings by charging for them, or by somehow setting an expectation of donation around them. I am reminded for this basis of the story of Marpa bringing sacks of gold to Naropa (we all know what happened to that!).
There is the matter of excluding someone from receiving spiritual “goods and services” solely on the basis of money, but this is neither part of our practice nor that of Ripa Ladrang.
Spiritual materialism, as I understand it from our teachings, has not to do with merely charging money, but, on the part of the student, with an attitude, of “expecting something in return” and of “hope of gaining merit” for oneself. It is something with which we as students on the path are always working. At the same time, both the Vajrayana and the Shambhala path are “accomplishment” vehicles, in that they support attaining realization in one lifetime and creating enlightened society. In working with spiritual materialism, it is the responsibility of the student to understand such accomplishment — and various aids to it available through siddhi — in the proper context - mostly basically, the context of egoless primordial awareness or basic goodness, and of compassion arising from those.
So the allegation of spiritual materialism applied to divinations could not be based on merely charging a student money for them, or on the student trying to accomplish something through them, as long as the student is aware of spiritual materialism and working with right basic attitude.
Other possible bases for the charge of spiritual materialism would involve not the student but the teacher or the divination itself. These include:
1. divinations are bogus in general
2. the particular form of divination is bogus
3. the divinator is bogus, i.e. not an authentic spiritual teacher or a capable divinator
4. regardless of whether or not the divinator is capable, the divinator is duping or manipulating the student to receive money for the divination, especially duping or manipulating based on the student’s habitual tendency toward spiritual materialism as described above
So far as (1), “divinations are bogus in general”: The Vidyadhara Trungpa Rinpoche held the mirror divination, and used it effectively to escape from Tibet, to see Shambhala, to direct his activities and to advise his students. There are descriptions of this in “Born in Tibet” and elsewhere. He also had divination-like awareness siddhi, the basis for the possibility of particular divination methods, with which he advised and directed students. There are many examples of this that many students of Trungpa Rinpoche can recount.
So far as (2), “the particular form of divination is bogus”: H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche is a principal holder of the Gesar arrow divination. He used this particular form of divination effectively for his party to escape from Tibet. Even other Rinpoches rely on his divinations.
I think not having confidence in the Gesar arrow divination in particular would amount either to having no confidence in Gesar, or to having no confidence in the divinator’s abilities or intentions, which falls into bases (3) and (4) above.
So far as (3) and (4), this just gets back to:
(a) having experience of H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche, and Dharmic connection with or at least favorable impressions of him, or
(b) having confidence in those who do, either other students or other Rinpoches.
Short of amazing displays of relative siddhi (such as the Buddha made when invited to a “debate” with competing spiritual leaders, descending from the sky in the midst of flames), this isn’t really something that can be further argued or mandated, and it was the same with Trungpa Rinpoche.
But one other basic point of evidentiary logic, which I feel actually gets to the heart of the matter regarding this website: not having evidence for something does not constitute having evidence against it.
Regardless of exposure, not having experienced a Dharmic connection with a teacher does not mean the teacher is not Dharmic.
I don’t want to be too presumptuous myself, but one obvious hypothesis seems to be simply that the genuinely devoted students of The Vidyadhara Trungpa Rinpoche who are the principal contributors to this blog site are also saddened and disappointed, about not having experienced the same degree of connection with The Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche or with H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche that they experienced with The Vidyadhara. Based on this lack of connection, there is lack of confidence, and based on this lack of confidence, there is doubt. When not cut at any of the three times for cutting, doubt is articulated and communicated, and leads to things such as this blog thread.
I say “this blog thread”, because I’m not arguing against the entire website, although I do feel the attitudes of this thread pervade the entire website to some degree. But, for example, I think that asking for more information about finances, urging more transparency and accountability around finances, and offering financial suggestions are all very different than accusing a student or a teacher of spiritual materialism and generally questioning divination practices. Asking for clarification about finances seems to me more like real investigation than presumption or just basic doubt.
With that said, what should one do about such doubt? I think the answer is the same for all of us: practice, seek the advice and support of your guru, and follow it wholeheartedly.
Have any of the authors of accusatory postings on this blog thread gone to The Sakyong, to H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche, or to another Rinpoche with whom they actually feel a close connection, and said, “I don’t feel a connection to the teachers and the current teachings in Shambhala. Instead, I feel doubt and suspicion, even of their authenticity and legitimacy. I have become concerned about the direction of the Shambhala organization and even the propagation of the lineage and the preservation of its founding teachings by the Druk Sakyong. Is what is happening really what Trungpa Rinpoche wanted for Shambhala as Druk Sakyong? How would I really know? What should I do about all this? How can I reconnect with Shambhala? How can I regain confidence? If it is not possible for me to reconnect with Shambhala, what should I do? Should I start a blogsite for everyone who feels like me, so that we can articulate whatever doubts arise?”??
Okay, so I am teasing by that last question; I hope I am not being too mean in doing so. Actually, I am very sympathetic to people this situation of disconnection, if this hypothesis applies at all. I have close friends in this situation, and I feel that, in some form, I have gone through it myself. (Plus I think that any Vajrayana teacher is eventually going to put his or her students into situations in which they will experience and have to deal with doubt.) While I never had what I would call real or serious or basic doubts about The Jampal Sakyong or The Vidyadhara, I did go through a longish period of feeling vaguely or mildly but discouragingly and divertingly lost and confused about my role and relationship to the Shambhala organization, lineage and teachings.
What woke me up from that spell was actually meeting H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche, in an airport baggage claim area in 2001, before most of us (including me) knew anything about his connections to Shambhala (this meeting was thanks to the seemingly innocent suggestion of a friend who had been a close student of Trungpa Rinpoche and had been introduced to His Eminence several years before by another Rinpoche).
The circumstances of this meeting were not what I would call ordinary for me (although for His Eminence, it may have been just another completely uplifted day with the dralas). The connection with The Druk Sakyong Trungpa Rinpoche was vividly present within a much bigger picture of the Shambhala lineage, its power and its mission. It seemed that the gurus of the lineage were coming, gathering, taking the next step, and kicking it into high gear, and that I was being reminded of a long-term vow to get up and do something. With his first words, His Eminence described his connection with Trungpa Rinpoche to me, and it felt like one of those rare situations in which the truth of the words is manifest in the presence and atmosphere.
In light of all the rich and amazing developments of the next several years, up to now - the Rigden Abisheka, the weddings of The Sakyong and Khandro Tseyang in Halifax and Orissa, the publication of “Ruling Your World”, the Dharmaraja Guru Yoga and other sadhanas by The Sakyong, the Shambhala Dzogchen or Vajra Garchen teachings, Compassionate Leadership teachings, the Kalapa and Gesar Festivals, the revelations of connections in the lineage of Gesar, the availability of Gesar and drala teachings and practices including His Eminence’s as well as the Vidyadhara’s, the enthronement by H.H. Penor Rinpoche of Khandro Tseyang as Sakyong Wangmo, the re-introduction and availability of the Scorpion Seal, and the recent proclamation of the Shambhala path - it seems the big picture that came along with His Eminence was quite accurate.
To me, all this seems like the continuity of the Shambhala lineage, the lineage Sakyong Vidyadharas, coming through with power and clarity, and with abundant offerings for sangha members and for the entire world, at a time of intensified need. (We have a practice emphasizing something like this continuity, the Dharmaraja Guru Yoga.)
It doesn’t seem there has to be rejection happening within that abundance, but that there could be expansive appreciation and celebration of it, and one could still find and focus on one’s own path within it. No one seems to be preventing that, except us in our own confusion.
I am pouring out my heart right now, and I am hoping I can trust Shambhaleans on this blogsite with it. No matter!
This has become quite a long post, and I feel I have covered feelings and direct experience, logic and evidence, and heart connection and lineage in addressing the issues of spiritual materialism and the presence and role of His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche in our sangha.
Perhaps I could have just cut to the chase by responding to Gesar’s post:
Yeah! What you said!
“If we know what we stand for then what is the big deal?
…
Do we really have to wait for everything to be fixed before we feel comfortable enough to meditate?”
I’m going to sit now…
I just wanted to say things have really heated up in here and it’s quite remarkable. Good stuff people.
I think Carl’s comments are interesting. Personally,
I never felt threatened by anyone’s comments about VCTR’s drinking or other behaviors, because I knew him and had faith in him. It is said in the teachings that
faith in one’s teacher means seeing that teacher as Buddha. If one has faith in SMR or any other teacher,
that faith will overcome others’ criticism. Is this then blind faith? No, because what one has faith in is one’s buddha nature of which the teacher is the example.
For that reason it should not be that significant if
someone disparages one’s teacher, no matter that
it is unpleasant, since that sort of thing always happens anyway. Other peoples’ criticism Is a good
test of one’s devotion.
Personally I don’t feel a strong connection to SMR as
a teacher at this time. I do still feel strongly connected to the vision of Shambhala and the teachings of the Vidyadhara. For me there is no
conflict in this. The reason for this is that neither
I, nor I think anyone else for that matter, can see how Shambhala will eventually manifest, nor how
that will come about. We are living in unknown territory. My own views about how Shambhala
should engage the world do conflict with some of what I’ve seen, heard and read. If all we have to work with is relative truth, problems seem more glaring
and it’s facile to jump on a negative bandwagon.
But if there is also an absolute principle at work in
all this, not to get theistic, then the relative situation
could seem less monolithic. My silly view is that
Shambhala is the myth that keeps on mything…
that what we see happening in nuts-and-bolts-land
does not really tell the tale that is unfolding as it has
been for nearly forty years…that it’s as easy to find things to get upset about now as it was forty years ago… that the same rolpa is happening with different faces in place…that the sum of intransigence and
criticism of it is just a process necessary in it’s various aspects. There’s probably some entity
somewhere having a good laugh about the whole thing.
John, thank you - I liked your comments, especially about the absolute principle at work (excellent pithy reminder), and I love your language and images!
By the way, I think that entity or non-entity is Gesar.
Thanks, Carl
Now if I could just get everyone else to agree with me….
…and it is nice to have a tulku fullback on the bench in case the game gets close.