The Blog Beginneth Again
I note that it has been more than two months since the last posting to the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project Blog. After the last posting from Budapest, I spent a week enjoying the company of my daughter, who had been studying Mathematics there at the Budapest Seminars in Mathematics. It was also a week of drinking in the beauty and culture of this grand old city. Tours of the castle district led us to the Hungarian National Archives -- where I had my picture taken. A bit of a busman's holiday that day. Following the time in Budapest, we flew to Rome and from there took a train to the ancient walled city of Lucca, where we spent the Christmas holidays. We also connected with the Shambhala community of Lucca, in particular Roberta and Sergio, who are somewhat the mama and papa of the sangha there. We were invited to the Shambhala Center for an evening, where there was discussion of the Legacy Project and also of the relationship of old and new within the Shambhala world. Lucca would be a great setting for a mystery novel, one that I just might write one day!
From Italy, we trained back to Paris, where we spent New Year's Eve. I had tea with Arnaud, one of the members of the Parisian community who had coordinated my teaching visit earlier in the month. We debriefed about the visit. Before leaving Paris, I also had dinner with Fabrice at his new home in Defense. We talked about past and future publishing projects.
But now, back to the present....This is the painful truth of blogging: the blog doesn't write itself! I'm starting back up today, somewhat like emerging from hibernation. I'm still a bit groggy from my long winter's sleep, so don't expect too much. Or maybe you'll get a flood of sleepy thought. I'm thinking about being a bit reflective, which is a rather funny thing to say. I mean, just by saying that, I'm doing it. Such is life. Why has there been no blog? Well, in part because the grand tour ended, or took a long breather. But I think that the "lack of blog" is also a reflection of my lack of clarity at the moment about where the project is headed and how to proceed. More about that in future blogs. And, quite frankly, the reality is setting in that it has been twenty years since the death of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. It's more monumental than I expected. In the meantime, while I've been inward gazing without much useful content, outwardly a number of things have proceeded. In Boulder, a Steering Committee has met several times. I think I should let them speak for themselves. Perhaps one of them will send a blog contribution that I can post. But lacking this, I would say that they too have been looking at their direction and what it is that they actually want to do to support and further the Legacy of Chogyam Trungpa in Boulder. Ideas are emerging.
In New York, a group of about twenty met when Judy Lief was in the city. Here is the outline of what they discussed at the meeting (we'll see how all this formatting comes through on the blog) :
Notes from Meeting
· Special programs for the parinirvana: oTibet House? Japan Society or Asia Society? Catholic Museum in East Harlem Beatnick Show Re: Buddhism Audio Archives Project
· Monthly donation towards administration?
· Program around The Teacup and The Skullcup book with Judy and a Zen teacher?
· How to make the non-concrete legacy available to others the mood, the students as teachers, etc. This is the heart of the matter. Keep his individual terma alive!
· Present continual courses on his teachings
· NY version of the chronicles Jean Thies
· Support to new VCTR students?
I'm going to be in NYC in early April and I hope to get together with the group supporting the Audio Recovery Project (Audio Archives).
There are plans afoot for a meeting in Berkeley in May. It would coincide with book signings in the Bay Area for DRAGON THUNDER and a program taught by Diana Mukpo.
In Halifax, we have yet to establish a formal steering committee, but I hope to meet with a small group in the next few weeks to plot our course. In the meantime, Lynn Friedman continues to devote time to a feasibility study for an online archives of Chogyam Trungpa's teachings. Amanda Horsman, a student at Dal, is working on the project as well. Through the joint efforts of the Archives and CTLP, a group has come together to care for the personal belongings of Chogyam Trungpa and to plan several exhibits of items from the collection, as well as artwork and related photos. The first exhibit will take place in Halifax on the weekend preceding the Parinirvana. Then, we are working with Cologne to send a small exhibit to the international sangha conference in May. Other exhibits are being researched.
The Audio Recovery Project in Halifax is entering its third year. This project is digitizing all of the lectures of Chogyam Trungpa and providing digital libraries on archival quality CDs to more than 20 dharma centers. I think a future post on this project would be timely, since we need additional support to complete the project by the Summer of 2008.
Also, in connection with Kalapa Recordings, the first seminar given by Chogyam Trungpa at Naropa -- entitled THE TIBETAN BUDDHIST PATH -- has been remastered to DVDs and the sound and picture have also been improved as much as possible. I wrote a curriculum for the course and more than 75 Shambhala centres have ordered the DVDs to show this year. I think I'll also devote a future blog to this project. I hope that "old dogs" will attend the showings as well as the young pups and all in between.
Finally, Karme Senge Rinpoche is coming all the way from Surmang, Tibet, to give an abhisheka to Trungpa Rinpoche's students, presenting an ati terma text on Avalokiteshvara that CTR received directly from the protector Ekajati. CTLP has been invited by the Nalanda Translation Committee to help shape a weekend program around the presentation of this terma. After I meet this week with Larry Mermelstein, head of NTC, I'll blog on about this. I think it could be quite exciting.
All right. I gave myself 20 minutes to blog and this is it. I am going to press send --
From Italy, we trained back to Paris, where we spent New Year's Eve. I had tea with Arnaud, one of the members of the Parisian community who had coordinated my teaching visit earlier in the month. We debriefed about the visit. Before leaving Paris, I also had dinner with Fabrice at his new home in Defense. We talked about past and future publishing projects.
But now, back to the present....This is the painful truth of blogging: the blog doesn't write itself! I'm starting back up today, somewhat like emerging from hibernation. I'm still a bit groggy from my long winter's sleep, so don't expect too much. Or maybe you'll get a flood of sleepy thought. I'm thinking about being a bit reflective, which is a rather funny thing to say. I mean, just by saying that, I'm doing it. Such is life. Why has there been no blog? Well, in part because the grand tour ended, or took a long breather. But I think that the "lack of blog" is also a reflection of my lack of clarity at the moment about where the project is headed and how to proceed. More about that in future blogs. And, quite frankly, the reality is setting in that it has been twenty years since the death of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. It's more monumental than I expected. In the meantime, while I've been inward gazing without much useful content, outwardly a number of things have proceeded. In Boulder, a Steering Committee has met several times. I think I should let them speak for themselves. Perhaps one of them will send a blog contribution that I can post. But lacking this, I would say that they too have been looking at their direction and what it is that they actually want to do to support and further the Legacy of Chogyam Trungpa in Boulder. Ideas are emerging.
In New York, a group of about twenty met when Judy Lief was in the city. Here is the outline of what they discussed at the meeting (we'll see how all this formatting comes through on the blog) :
Notes from Meeting
·
- ·
- ·
- o
- ·
·
·
·
·
·
·
I'm going to be in NYC in early April and I hope to get together with the group supporting the Audio Recovery Project (Audio Archives).
There are plans afoot for a meeting in Berkeley in May. It would coincide with book signings in the Bay Area for DRAGON THUNDER and a program taught by Diana Mukpo.
In Halifax, we have yet to establish a formal steering committee, but I hope to meet with a small group in the next few weeks to plot our course. In the meantime, Lynn Friedman continues to devote time to a feasibility study for an online archives of Chogyam Trungpa's teachings. Amanda Horsman, a student at Dal, is working on the project as well. Through the joint efforts of the Archives and CTLP, a group has come together to care for the personal belongings of Chogyam Trungpa and to plan several exhibits of items from the collection, as well as artwork and related photos. The first exhibit will take place in Halifax on the weekend preceding the Parinirvana. Then, we are working with Cologne to send a small exhibit to the international sangha conference in May. Other exhibits are being researched.
The Audio Recovery Project in Halifax is entering its third year. This project is digitizing all of the lectures of Chogyam Trungpa and providing digital libraries on archival quality CDs to more than 20 dharma centers. I think a future post on this project would be timely, since we need additional support to complete the project by the Summer of 2008.
Also, in connection with Kalapa Recordings, the first seminar given by Chogyam Trungpa at Naropa -- entitled THE TIBETAN BUDDHIST PATH -- has been remastered to DVDs and the sound and picture have also been improved as much as possible. I wrote a curriculum for the course and more than 75 Shambhala centres have ordered the DVDs to show this year. I think I'll also devote a future blog to this project. I hope that "old dogs" will attend the showings as well as the young pups and all in between.
Finally, Karme Senge Rinpoche is coming all the way from Surmang, Tibet, to give an abhisheka to Trungpa Rinpoche's students, presenting an ati terma text on Avalokiteshvara that CTR received directly from the protector Ekajati. CTLP has been invited by the Nalanda Translation Committee to help shape a weekend program around the presentation of this terma. After I meet this week with Larry Mermelstein, head of NTC, I'll blog on about this. I think it could be quite exciting.
All right. I gave myself 20 minutes to blog and this is it. I am going to press send --
posted by Carolyn Gimian at 6:21 AM
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