that is it!
reversing the way we see or think we see our culture.
Having a different view – isn’t that what cutting through is?
If we did it before (with wonderful guidance) why can we not do it again on our own!. manifest as society…. ( do we really need an orginisation to do that for us???? – i say not!)

I think we all come closer to that idea when we are dying – but do we need to wait for that?

the question of outside or inside shambhala doesn’t seem to concern me as much as ‘actually’ taking care of each other and relating to each other. being a family per say. many of us isolated ourselves from our bio families when we chose to become buddhists and move to far off lands and such.

no body really wants to go to a ‘meeting’ but who refuses thanksgiving dinner or such with their ‘family’ or gurls night with the other dakinis or boys night or tea with the chodpas or ?? there should be hundreds of forms where we can be generous to each other and take care of each other at the same time – that are not so ‘political’ or agendized. but family.

is the bottom line that we have to live together? like a dharma centre? or can we find some other way to instigate that closeness?

another observation from orissa was the children. they were quite literally passed to who ever had hands free. and they grew up with tons of parents telling them to mind their manners and as part of their role they served anyone older than them. It has been a long time since anyone has felt close enough to me to put their child in my arms. that felt good.

sorry that is too many ideas – but i feel inspired that we don’t need to ‘recreate’ some concept but just crawl out of our shells and do it.

party at my house when i get back. for no reason!

kristine

The culture of the USA promotes the individual over the family. In fact, it was designed to isolate people into small units, indoctrinated by television into ideal consumers. It seems to me that the deleg concept
would have to overcome this culture to be effective. It would be like
relearning communiry…what many peoples of the world take for
granted and by which they are able to sustain themselves.

The closest we’ve come as a sangha to experiencing community was
probably in the early days of Karme Choling and Shambhala Mountain Center. Regular community meetings brought people together and
engendered co-operation and mutual respect. Now that the major centers have taken on a more corporate flavor, that spirit has been lost. All we have right now are sites like this one and Dharma Brats to relate to each other as community. Boulder used to have a sort of Buddhist community feeling….no longer. I wonder if Halifax still does.

So, we seem to be going backwards on this issue. I really wonder if it’s possible to form a community of practitioners outside of Shambhala.org.,
at this point, for that matter, within it.

The culture of the USA promotes the individual over the family. In fact, it was designed to isolate people into small units, indoctrinated by television into ideal consumers. It seems to me that the deleg concept
would have to overcome this culture to be effective. It would be like
relearning communiry…what many peoples of the world take for
granted and by which they are able to sustain themselves.

The closest we’ve come as a sangha to experiencing community was
probably in the early days of Karme Choling and Shambhala Mountain Center. Regular community meetings brought people together and
engendered co-operation and mutual respect. Now that the major centers have taken on a more corporate flavor, that spirit has been lost. All we have right now are sites like this one and Dharma Brats to relate to each other as community. Boulder used to have a sort of Buddhist community feeling….no longer. I wonder if Halifax still does.

So, we seem to be going backwards on this issue. I really wonder if it’s possible to form a community of practitioners outside of Shambhala.org., or,
at this point, for that matter, within it.

I had heard (please confirm or deny this one all of you) that Trungpa Rinpoche had once described delegs as ‘family groupings’ and that those groupings would be about seven families. (i want to be adopted by a family) say a family was not just 3 people but ex wives and step fathers and close friends that are adopted for deleg purposes say family of 7? so 49 or under 50 people not defined by geography but by some type of ‘loyalty’ people that ‘want’ to get together because they are family.

If this was the orginisation structure of delegs then they would be
- democratic, each deleg would represent itself and how they internally operate is up to them.
- multigenerational, students of many different teachers would be in one deleg
- could focus on ‘community issues’ such as care of each other, pooling resources, education, paving roads, orginising group practices or study about whatever topics they desire
- representative, a deleg could bring issues to a larger council.

Recently I was in a tibetan refugee camp and spent a lot of time in peoples houses trying to figure out how things worked.
The most inspiring thing i learned was that they did things by ‘family grouping’ or ‘house’. Because it was a refugee camp they only had limited land so the housing was tight and each house had up to 3 distinct families living in it, often with a few single people also attached. streching over at least three generations and extended to toronto, switzerland and other places family had immigrated. Maybe 18 or so people living in a ‘house’ and a few houses were a community ‘voting bloc’. all members of the ‘family’ contributed to the bottom line – no matter where they were.
Also there were community organizations that looked into all the ‘social issues’ and these had representatives from each of the ‘families’ Each of the camps had representatives on an overall refugee camp council which in turn had a representative on the government of the tibetan government in exile and the various different social groups that they operate.

I want to see how all of us can approach a multilayered community situation that will take care of all of us and our needs and still all be called ‘mukpo clan’. I would like it to start with my family – which is all of you.

please give insights,
thanks
Kristine (back in halifax in april)

Remember reading a poem by Trungpa Rinpoche in Best Thought, First Thought that he decried Marx and asked rhetorically where were the true communists. Indeed where are they?

Capitalism is not working either and Communism is almost dead………..but the true communists – what did Trungpa envisage for that world – that enlightened political society………..seems to me that the political practicalities of Shambhala will have to begin to be envisaged soon aka the political authorities and its subjects/citizens. Any ideas anyone? (wonder what you think of Marx’s ten point plan and maybe the construction of a Shambhala Manifesto).

1. Expropriation of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with industry, promotion of the gradual elimination of the contradictions between town and countryside.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present from. Combination of education with industrial production, &c., and &c.

Best

Rita Ashworth
Stockport UK

rita ashworth
stockport uk

we have cookies – come to the dark side

Do they have controversial debates in Canadian schools – in English schools from the age of eleven we were taught to debate opposing views in a spirit of openness so that people in the audience could make up their mind about issues- perhaps this might be a small reason why we had a one million march of people in London against the war in Iraq.

Really hope such controversial meetings spark some flares of awakedness in all the people attending the meeting-plus hope you have some nice cups of tea and biscuits-dont forget the sugar!

Best

Rita Ashworth
stockport uk

_______________________________________________________________

The meeting scheduled for Sunday January 18th at Coburg House can no longer be held there.

Barbara Blouin has agreed to host the meeting at her house at:

[address], Halifax

Google Map: [location]

To clarify what this meeting is about, it is for those practitioners in Halifax, young and old, who specifically are students of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and who are looking for dharma and sangha practice forms that are not being offered locally. We can start with discussing the possibility of forming a delek, which seems the most natural form since that is about community and taking care of each other.

If anyone needs a ride, please email me.

_______________________________________________________________
I apologize for the vagueness of the description. I tried to put it in a way that would not offend anybody, but I’m sure I have failed.

Dear Sangha,

A week or two ago Mark Szpakowski asked me if the subject meeting could happen at Coburg House. In the spirit of openness I said yes. But having this meeting here has caused quite a lot of upset for a number of people. Some have only communicated their views on this to me privately. Others by group emails.

All in all, I feel that this meeting is more controversial than I first realized. It would not be in the service of Coburg House, which is my responsibility, to have a CTR Delek meeting here. Mark told me that as soon as he finds another location he will post the information.

For now, please do not plan on coming here for the meeting on Sunday, January 18 as previously posted.

Sorry for confusion,
Madeline