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Our Lineage
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is the head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, a spiritual and family lineage that descends through his family, the Mukpo clan of Eastern Tibet. This tradition emphasizes the basic goodness of all beings and teaches the art of courageous warriorship based on wisdom and compassion.
Rinpoche is the son and dharma heir of the Vidyadhara, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. His background embraces both Eastern and Western cultures. Born in India in 1962, he received spiritual training from his father and other distinguished lamas and received further education and training in Europe and North America. He now travels extensively teaching worldwide and is the author of Turning the Mind Into an Ally and Ruling Your World.
When we talk about enlightened society, we aren't talking about some utopia where everyone's enlightened. We're talking about a culture of human beings who know the awakened nature of basic goodness and invoke its energy in order to courageously extend themselves to others.
To learn more about Rinpoche, please visit: www.shambhala.org/teachers/sakyong-mipham.php.
The Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987) was one of the most dynamic teachers of Buddhism in the 20th Century. He was a pioneer in bringing the Buddhist teachings of Tibet to the West and is credited with introducing many Buddhist concepts into the English language and psyche in a fresh and new way.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the former supreme abbot of Surmang Monasteries in Tibet, is known as the foremost meditation master and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. In the early 1970s, he founded Naropa University, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America, along with over 100 meditation centers worldwide. Rinpoche encouraged his students to join their experience of meditation with such disciplines as Japanese archery, calligraphy, flower arranging, tea ceremony, health care, dance, poetry, photography, theater, education, business and psychotherapy. He authored two dozen books on meditation, poetry, art, and the Shambhala path of warriorship.
The Buddhist tradition teaches the truth of impermanence, or the transitory nature of things. The past is gone and the future has not yet happened, so we work with what is here -- the present situation. This actually helps us not to categorize or theorize. A fresh, living situation is taking place all the time, on the spot. This noncategorical approach comes from being fully here, rather than trying to reconnect with past events. We don't have to look back to the past in order to see what people are made out of. Human beings speak for themselves, on the spot.
To learn more, please visit: www.shambhala.org/teachers/chogyam-trungpa.php.
The acharyas (Sanskrit, "senior teacher") of Shambhala are deeply experienced teachers appointed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. The acharyas are empowered to offer Buddhist refuge and bodhisattva vows and to bring the continuity of our spiritual lineage into the living teaching environment of local Shambhala centers. One of the most well known Shambhala Acharyas is Buddhist nun and author Pema Chödrön.
At Seattle Shambhala Center, we've been delighted to receive teachings from many of the Acharyas, including Allyn Lyon, Arawana Hayashi, Christie Cashman, Dorje Loppön Lodrö Dorje, Gaylon Ferguson, Jeremy Hayward, John Rockwell, Larry Mermelstein, Jenny Warwick, Judith Simmer-Brown and Richard John.
Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. It is all we ever have so we might as well work with it rather than struggling against it. We might as well make it our friend and teacher rather than our enemy.
For bios of all Shambhala acharyas, please visit: www.shambhala.org/teachers/index.php?show=acharya.
Visiting Lamas
On occasion, Seattle Shambhala Center is also delighted to host outstanding Tibetan teachers from the Kagyü and Nyingma traditions.
Senior Students
Seattle Shambhala Center is home to many senior students in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Senior students provide support as meditation instructors, teachers, and community leadership. |
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Acharyas Learn more about meditation and buddhism at shambhala.org |
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