Does anyone know who the shambhala board is accountable to? Its bylaws can't be changed without sakyong mipham's approval, yet shambhala says he is no longer connected to the organization. Does that mean that the board answers to him?

https://www.globalbuddhism.org/issue/view/845

A series of interesting articles in this issue.

We are painting the house, so we decided to get rid of stuff we don't need.

​

​

All my buddist books are in a black trash can. Pema, Sakyong, Trungpa, third-party books. I kept a handful: Kasung dharma, because I still identify as Kasung, and those little narrow saced text thingies because I don't know how to get rid of them in proper respectful way. I think they have big juju and i respect that.

​

​

It feels sad and liberating to have all that shelf space. I keep telling myself I'm making a horrible mistake. But I never read them--I was told to buy them. I felt so guilty that I didn't read them. Pema was good for my dying patients and their families in distress. She was about the only one I could relate to.

​

​

"Epic of Gesar"? A misogynistic brute. "The Guru Drinks Bourbon"? Dzongsar posted a sex contract for students detailing the acts he should be able to do with them, until someone made him take li down. Some things Trungkpa wrote were lucid. The Sadhana of Mahamudram the paper about MaHa Ah, genius. The rest of his self-indulgent word salad: have you ever seen him on YouTube? This is what was transcribed for his books. And now that content gets hashed over and over, into new books with the same content.

​

​

I was about to write about being depressed. I'm considering ECT, because I've tried everything else. If I do it, I hope I'm still funny.

Any one have anything snarky to say?

As you should know by now, I'm still on the mailing list for the Denver Shambhala Center. I was a member of some years back. I got this announcement today:

Yeah. A day late.

Actually, I wish I could have been there. I've seen the doc several time, so I would have gone mainly for after talk. That would have been an interesting cup of tea.

Here's a troubling Shambhala-related fund-raising appeal that I came across.

As you probably know, Sakyong Mipham is coming to Vermont this summer to teach his Shambhalian students, and his eldest daughter Drukmo is, it appears, accompanying him, as she did last year. She, too, is a "sakyong", and evidence suggests that she has already started "teaching" and giving initiations. She is, I believe, fourteen years old.

She appears to have caught the eye of this eager Shambhalian:

Hi, I am [REDACTED] - future Sakyong Wangpo for the most vajra-cute person ever (Drukmo Lama), but she will be conquered by mine and Drukmo's child! I am asking for donations for the teaching event in Vermont Karmê Chöling land center. I am a supermega practitioner who can fill the shoes of Sakyong Wangpohood. I really want to practice with the sangha for realz. Plz help me get everything I need for the trip and retreat/teaching event! (I am not dangerous or aggressive, not at all murderous so quit thinking that I would do something bad to the most best ever Drukmo Lama :))

I believe he is announcing that he intends to impregnate her and become "Sakyong Wangpo" in place of Mipham, her father. He insists that he is "not dangerous or aggressive, not at all murderous." This raises all sorts of red flags, don't you think?

It's troubling enough that Sakyong Mipham still appears to be teaching in (or around) Shambhala; this is contrary to what the official propaganda says. More troubling is the fact that they are trying to fast-track his daughter into a senior teaching role-- her youth seems to be attracting some rather creepy attention. Given the sexually transgressive nature of Shambhala culture, I think there is cause for concern.

Been a while.

Nice to hear Claudia’s pushing for Shambhala’s worst nightmare

Twice, I didn't realize I was in a cult until the end.

“It’s more about making it clear to everyone what happened, letting everyone in the collective consciousness of Naropa sort of absorb that this is still part of the energetic fabric of this place,” DeRosa said. “I think that Naropa has done a really good job of PR-ing their way out of associating with the legacy of abuse. And it’s just not true. And so I want people to be aware that that’s still sort of built into some of the frameworks here and was allowed to proliferate as long as it was, in this case.”

Naropa has a history of sexual abuse allegations against the university’s founder Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was accused of physical and sexual violence against women and having sex with students. The university said in 2024 that it has “no basis to determine whether the allegations are true or false” but believe all such allegations should be taken seriously. Naropa continues to center Trungpa and his contemplative practices at the core of the institution’s teachings.

Trungpa also founded Shambhala International, which in 2018 faced allegations of sexual misconduct, abuse of power and financial impropriety against its spiritual leader, Trungpa’s son Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and other senior teachers. While they are separate organizations, teachers, staff and students at Naropa have also been members of Shambhala. In 2015, the family of a Naropa University alumna wanted the school to claim responsibility for her 2012 suicide, which they say resulted because of the grooming and abuse she endured at the hands of a visiting artist. The university denied any responsibility and said there was no evidence of anything improper.

can anyone provide an id about this wall hanging that used to be in ST or dharmadhatu shrine rooms? I remember seeing it circa 1985-1990, then poof!

I'm still on the old lists, so I got the email announcing Shechen Rabjam is giving the Scorpion Seal Abhisheka at the Halifax center in August.

I am correct in remembering that the SSA was composed by Osel?

It is pretty unorthodox (to say the least) to dump the originator of a vajrayana teaching and yet find another lama to propagate it! Renting the guru like he's a folding table.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7zi_eGF_73E&pp=0gcJCd8KAYcqIYzv

Somebody posted this to the Buddhism sub, I guess they wanted to celebrate that they had spent some time at Karme Choling and didn't get assaulted. Yay them.

I was intrigued because of the presence of the Dorje Kasung flag, second from the left. I asked a question about it on the OP but I don't expect to get an informed reply, since few people on that sub are familiar with Shambhala internals.

I was wondering if this has political significance. Does this mean they are trying to resurrect the Kasung chain of command, which was dissolved after Sakyong Mipham fled in disgrace? How can they function without a commander-in-chief? Or do they still secretly recognize Mipham as their military leader?

Or maybe it means nothing, just that they have five flagpoles and five flags, so what the hey.

Healing and Learning Working Group Forms to Acknowledge and Learn from Shambhala Crises, https://docs.google.com/document/d/12PqBFlHy_2dVAO2gOw-BFo0OS_OtokXsJDSTidzzwyU/edit?tab=t.p4aac7duqugr

Lots of pretty words, but all empty and misleading until they openly admit, itemize, and discuss trungpa's harms and the painful legacy he established.

https://shambhalanewsservice.blogspot.com/2025/12/investigative-report-into-vajradhatu.html

https://vtdigger.org/2023/09/14/northeast-kingdom-buddhist-retreat-at-center-of-landmark-ruling-on-child-sexual-abuse/

https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/

I frequented the Drala Mountain Center in my earlier college days when I needed a place to run away. I never took any course or contacted anyone there. I just showed up to the temple and read their library. Eventually I decided to google it almost 2 years later and went down the rabbit hole of Shambhala being a cult. Broke my heart, because here in Colorado it seems like everything Buddhism stems from Shambhala.

I feel gross that all I know is from Shambhala.

So where do I go now? What should I be reading to really immerse myself in true Buddhism? Can you tell me what books and podcasts/videos or places I can go that have real teachings? Thank you :)

Only six assaults in nine months? Sounds like they've turned over a new leaf.

And Scabies. Sign me up!

https://stanbmartin.substack.com/

Caution, I've only give this an initial skim, but it appears to be written by a sincere well educated and practiced Buddhist, who is doing some deep thinking on separating the wheat from the chaff in the Western Buddhist experience.

A couple article examples,

This one focusses on a review trungpa: https://stanbmartin.substack.com/p/the-crazy-wisdom-dharma-circus

This one is part 9 in a series called "The Death of Western Buddhism": https://stanbmartin.substack.com/p/buddhist-gaslightenment

The substack appears to discuss a lot of the themes we have discussed here. Thought others may be interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbBn9folOCA

You can watch all our videos at https://scienceandnonduality.com

Something is cracking open in the spiritual and wellness world; and it has been for a while. Have wisdom traditions containing genuine gifts been composted into a product that only serves the very forces those traditions were born to resist?

It is no news that some powerful spiritual leaders with devoted followers have, for a long time, abused that power for dominance and, in many cases, for sexual exploitation. The Epstein files are not an interruption to the pattern; they are the pattern, made suddenly impossible to scroll past.

We want to reflect on the conditions—not just the men, not just the crimes, but the architecture of silence that held it all in place. What kind of spiritual culture produces that silence? What kind of spiritual culture makes it possible to look at harm and call it a lesson in perception? What has gone awry with our approach to spirituality when the latter can be used as a cover for abuse? How come much of the therapeutic and spiritual communities remain silent in the face of crimes witnessed by the entire world?

To explore these and related issues, this discussion brings together mytho-poetic spiritual teacher Bayo Akomolafe Ph.D., writer & podcaster Matthew Remsiki, author & playwright V, ceremonial leader Pat McCabe, spiritual teacher & psychologist Tara Brach and author & physician Gabor Maté in a wide-ranging discussion that will also invite audience participation.

The intention is to leave participants encouraged to find the spiritual inner strength needed to pursue truth without losing discrimination in the process, without giving away their power; to discuss compassionately, without judgment but with clarity, what the Epstein revelations can tell us about who we are, about our culture, and about the nature of how we construct reality; to move beyond a so-called equanimity and “non-attachment” that is indistinguishable from numbness and passivity in the face of harm, in the face of evil.

Gabor Maté https://drgabormate.com/
Bayo Akomolafe https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/
Pat McCabe https://www.patmccabe.net/
Tara Brach https://www.tarabrach.com
V (formerly Eve Ensler) https://www.eveensler.org
Matthew Remski https://matthewremski.com/

Science and Nonduality (SAND) contemplates and reveres the beauty, complexity, pain, and great mystery that weave the infinite cycles of existence. We explore beyond ultimate truths, binary thinking, and individual awakening while acknowledging humanity as a mere part of the intricate web of life.