Directors’ Talks

Chögyam Trungpa RinpocheAgness AuSarah ColemanLodrö DorjeMoh HardinAlice HasprayMarty JanowitzDerek KolleenyAdam LobelNoel McLellanJohn RockwellJudith Simmer-BrownEric Spiegel

Individual: $149
Patron: $199 The Patron rate helps us offer our generosity policy to those in need.
Centers: $399
Groups: $299

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In 1978, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave a small number of senior students essential instructions on how to present Shambhala Training: a new series of introductory meditation programs based on the terma teachings he had only recently received.

This seminal set of 17 talks by Trungpa Rinpoche, known as the Shambhala Directors Training program, became the core of the Shambhala Training Graduate Programs, as well as the primer for program Directors at all levels. The course teachers—many of whom attended the original teachings—have offered commentary to illuminate Trungpa Rinpoche’s presentations.

These audio recordings provide profound insight into the complete joining of our human reality with sacred warrior training and the Shambhala Terma.

Objective

This course will review Trungpa Rinpoche’s original presentation of the Shambhala path and provide a context in which to contemplate our own path as Shambhala Warriors in this world now.

Who Can Attend

Students who have attended either Warrior’s Assembly or Kalapa Assembly are welcome to join the course.

Who Can Benefit

This course can benefit:

Students inspired to work directly with Trungpa Rinpoche’s root teachings and unique transmissional style.
Senior practitioners wishing to deepen their understanding of these teachings.
Shambhala Training Directors, Assistant Directors, Coordinators, or other staff who meet the prerequisites.
Anyone who aspires to teach or staff Shambhala Training now or in the future.

Participants will have access to the audio recordings of Trungpa Rinpoche’s talks.

With recordings from: Agness Au, Sarah Coleman, Lodro Dorje, Moh Hardin, Alice Haspray, Marty Janowitz, Derek Kolleeny, Adam Lobel, Noel McLellan, John Rockwell, Judith Simmer-Brown, and Eric Spiegel.

Notes

Registration is now open. This course opens on May 27, 2022, and you’ll receive an email to access the course on that date.
This course will have 2 live events, to be announced. More information coming soon.
Scholarship options are available as needed. Please contact Andy Benson at: [email protected].

Teachers and Faculty

Chögyam Trungpa (1940–1987)—meditation master, teacher, and artist—founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America; the Shambhala Training program; and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books including Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, and The Myth of Freedom.

Agness Au is a senior teacher and preceptor in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, which she has followed for more than 35 years. Au is a Somu (first rank) instructor in the Sogetsu School of Ikebana and has taught and demonstrated ikebana for more than 20 years. In recent years, Au has developed a curriculum on the union of the feminine and masculine principles and she teaches workshops internationally.

Sarah Coleman has been a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche since 1972. She served as Trungpa Rinpoche’s senior editor for many years. Sarah has been teaching Buddhism and Shambhala Training for over 35 years. She brings a wealth of knowledge to retreats which is based on the tireless application of the essence of the Vidyadhara’s oral instructions and empowerments to myriad relationships.

Lodrö Dorje Holm became a student of Trungpa Rinpoche in 1971. In 1976 he was appointed Loppon of Three Yana studies, with responsibilities for meditation instructors, curriculum, and tantra students. He attended every seminary conducted by the Vidyadhara, first as a teacher, then as a translator, and also to assist with the entry of new vajrayana students. Over the years, he also continued his study and practice with other lineage masters, especially Thrangu Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultim Gyatso Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. He lives in Halifax with his wife Donna; they have one son and two grandsons.

Moh Hardin became a student of Chögyam Trungpa in 1972. He has been a practitioner, student, and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage for 47 years. He is the author of A Little Book of Love: Buddhist Wisdom on Bringing Happiness to Ourselves and our World For the past fifteen years, Moh has taught regularly in the South Central Region of the U.S. (Texas/Louisiana/Oklahoma) and the Atlantic Region of Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland). Moh is happily married to Cynde Grieve and they live in Halifax.

Alice Haspray began practicing meditation in 1967 with the beloved Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind). After Roshi’s death in 1971, she continued on the path of meditation and study with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and was a close student until his death in 1987. After Trungpa Rinpoche’s death, Alice continued studying the advanced Shambhala teachings with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Alice has been teaching about Buddhism and Shambhala for nearly forty years. She has taught seven Warrior Assemblies (including two at Dorje Denma Ling) as well as many Shambhala Training and other meditation programs in North America, Chile, Brazil, and Spain.

Marty Janowitz has been a student-practitioner of meditation and Buddhism since encountering his teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche at the age of 20 in 1970. Central to his practice and learning has been action towards sustainable and environmentally healthy communities expressing the heart of awareness. He has been involved in this movement for 30+ years as an activist, volunteer and consultant in Canada and internationally, most recently focused on sustainable communities and interfaith action on our climate crisis. Marty lives with his wife Susanna in central Mexico, where he teaches and trains and practices as an executive and life coach, drawing on all the intertwined dimensions of his life experience.

Derek Kolleeny began the practice and study of Buddhism in 1976 under the guidance of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and later continued it with other leading dharma teachers, primarily Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. He was a member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, and has held a variety of dharma leadership positions. He is founder and co-leader of the Westchester Buddhist Center, which is dedicated to the tradition of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

Adam Lobel is a Buddhist teacher and minister, and a scholar of philosophy and religion. He began the path of meditation when he was 16 years old, and soon encountered the writings and vision of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He connected with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche while on retreat in Parphing, Nepal in 1997, and was co-editor of his book Turning the Mind into an Ally. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, where he helped to establish a track for Buddhist ministers and chaplains. His research focused on philosophy, phenomenology, meditation, and the Great Perfection tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Noel McLellan, a second-generation Shambhala practitioner, was raised in the culture that was emerging around Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his students. He teaches at the Shambhala School, helping to develop a transformative approach to education. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his wife Marguerite Drescher and their two ferocious young children, Gabriel and Esmé.

John Rockwell read Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism in 1975, and was amazed by the clearest description of confusion he had ever read. He met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche shortly afterand became his student. As a member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, he worked closely Trungpa Rinpoche on translations of The Rain of Wisdom, The Life of Marpa, and other texts. He received a M.A. in Buddhist Studies from Naropa University and began teaching there, eventually as a core faculty member in Buddhist Studies. Acharya Rockwell also taught at the Ngedön School in Boulder for many years, and he travels internationally to teach.

Judith Simmer-Brown, PhD, is Distinguished Professor Emeritx of Contemplative and Religious Studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she has taught since 1978. A Buddhist practitioner since the early 1970s, she became a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1974. Her teaching specialties are meditation practice, Shambhala teachings, Buddhist philosophy, tantric Buddhism, and contemplative higher education. Her book, Dakini’s Warm Breath (Shambhala, 2001), explores the feminine principle as it reveals itself in meditation practice and everyday life for women and men. She has also edited Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies (SUNY 2011). She and her husband, Richard, have two adult children and three grandchildren.

Eric Spiegel has been a student and teacher in the Shambhala tradition since his teens. He was an early member of the Boulder community, deepened his practice at Karmê Chöling, and was the resident acharya for the New York sangha for many years. He lives in the Hudson Valley, New York State.