New York in Springtime
First, I have to apologize that the photos from the Installation didn't work. But Blogger kept preventing me from posting photos and it got complicated and I gave up. Maybe this weekend I'll try again... Also, Blogger refuses to accept my formatting. So if this is one interminably long post with no paragraphs, I apologize but I can't seem to figure out how to get it to leave a space....
Friday, April 6th my husband Jim Gimian and I flew to New York City. It was freezing the entire time we were there. We arrived at 8 am so imagine what time we left Halifax....We both had lunch dates at the same restaurant but with different lunchmates. Jim with Jane Kolleeny to discuss the program that he and I were going to teach at the NY Shambhala Centre and other business; me with Tina Meyerhoff and Ellen Green to talk about their work with the New York Center's Audio Recovery CD collection -- which 25 centers are getting. In New York's case, these two very capable and dedicated women are working with others to catalogue the material and figure out the best system for making it available for classes, individual study, etc. Great talking with them. We spoke about establishing an online space where they and others can exhcange information on what they're doing with the material, ideas for contributing to an online catalogue, etc. We were in a Korean restaurant called Ban Hat, I think.
Later in the afternoon, we met up with Tendzin Parsons at the Tibetan Study...I'm getting it wrong-- Center next to the Rubin Foundation offices, where Gene Smith directs the amazing work to gather, organize and often online the teachings of many Tibetan masters. Tenzin had photos and stories from the 60s to share,(quite extraordinary) and then he, Gene, Jim and I went to a nearby bar where we met Jane Kolleeny for drinks and talk. I've exchanged e-mails and several calls with Tenzin over the years, but this was our first meeting. Also first time to meet Gene Smith, to whom we all should do some very deep bows -- he has saved so much of the heritage of Tibet through his efforts.
Later that evening, Jim and I went to a pre-opening for Lynn Davis's show at the Rubin, called Illuminations. Photos of sacred spaces around the world. Luminous, amazing photos. Written up in the New York times on Monday, the show is something to be experienced. Lynn and her husband Rudy Wurlitzer were there, and we shared some egg rolls and wine in the Rubin cafe with Rudy. Friday nights are free at the museum and the place was humming.
The next day, Jim and I conducted a program on the life and teachings of the Vidyadhara at the Center. In the morning, we arrived at the NY Shambhala Centre to find it very very active and full of people practicing. Inspiring. A Level ONe conducted by Arawana Hayashi was going on in one shrine room with about 40 participatns and our program in the other, with an audience that swelled to 60 and dropped to 35 -- and up and down again as people went in and out. Very active and New Yorkish. In the morning, Jim gave a talk on a number of characteristics of how Chogyam Trungpa taught. He illustrated the points with stories -- while also cautioning about the problems of stories and story tellers. Among his points: how much Trungpa Rinpoche trusted his students. It was heartfelt, direct stuff -- mixed with some practice and intense discussion period.
Over lunch, a group of 12 to 20 (it kept changing) met in the shrine room to discuss the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project. Somehow, we got from an overview of projects now being discussed to a grand visioning of a building in New York that would house the Legaacy Project in the US. Rochelle Weithorn asked "How big does it have to be?" I kept saying, "How big is your vision?"
After lunch, I presented an activity based on the idea of dharma fortune cookies. Those who hate the active learning approach headed out of the room. But I think for many people, espeically newer practitioners, this was not a bad approach. With help from Wendy Layton, we had reproduced about 40 OCean of Dharma-like teachings by CHogyam Trungpa. They were cut up, folded and put into glass bowls. Each group had one bowl and each person in each group drew a teaching. They read it to themselves; if it wasn't "for them" they could turn it in for a different teaching -- but just once. Everyone contemplated their teaching. Then they shared it, reading it aloud, and talked about its significance to them. Then they selected someone else in the group to comment on the teaching. Then the next person...etc etc. There were 4 groups of about 12 to 15 each, and all groups had to meet in the shrine room because all other rooms in the center were being used by the Level One -- so there was quite a buzz in the room. But we got beyond that. It was an experiment -- seemed ok.
That was followed by slides of VCTR, which Jane Kolleeny, the maha coordinator of the program, had really wanted. I showed them in somewhat random order, and asked people to contribute one word or one line after seeing the slide -- a response to the slide. So more active learning. Also, stories were told about many of the photos. David Rome was there and told a couple of great stories. Jim Gimian, Agnes Au, Jane Kolleeny and others told some good ones too --
In the evening, we had a Sadhana of Mahamudra feast, which opened with watching a 20 minute clip of the Vidyadhara talking about Crazy Wisdom and the Sadhana. Derek Kolleeny was our fearless umdze and Irene Woodard was the feastmaster food master general. During the feast, I told a slightly outrageous story about learning elocution from the Vidyadhara in an abandoned old mansion in rural New Hampshire, where he saw a panoply of ghosts. He was there for a month long retreat. I wondered if I went over the line with this story, although it's outrageousness had nothing to do with the usual projections of crazy wisdom. It wasn't about drugs, sex or alcohol, but ghosts and a Japanese emperor did figure prominently. Too late to take it back....this was followed by several other senior students talking about the Vidyadhara's reasonability and ordinariness most of the time. And right they are.
Lots of great energy in New York -- as the New Yorkers know. A pleasure to be there. Always a humbling experience somehow.
Friday, April 6th my husband Jim Gimian and I flew to New York City. It was freezing the entire time we were there. We arrived at 8 am so imagine what time we left Halifax....We both had lunch dates at the same restaurant but with different lunchmates. Jim with Jane Kolleeny to discuss the program that he and I were going to teach at the NY Shambhala Centre and other business; me with Tina Meyerhoff and Ellen Green to talk about their work with the New York Center's Audio Recovery CD collection -- which 25 centers are getting. In New York's case, these two very capable and dedicated women are working with others to catalogue the material and figure out the best system for making it available for classes, individual study, etc. Great talking with them. We spoke about establishing an online space where they and others can exhcange information on what they're doing with the material, ideas for contributing to an online catalogue, etc. We were in a Korean restaurant called Ban Hat, I think.
Later in the afternoon, we met up with Tendzin Parsons at the Tibetan Study...I'm getting it wrong-- Center next to the Rubin Foundation offices, where Gene Smith directs the amazing work to gather, organize and often online the teachings of many Tibetan masters. Tenzin had photos and stories from the 60s to share,(quite extraordinary) and then he, Gene, Jim and I went to a nearby bar where we met Jane Kolleeny for drinks and talk. I've exchanged e-mails and several calls with Tenzin over the years, but this was our first meeting. Also first time to meet Gene Smith, to whom we all should do some very deep bows -- he has saved so much of the heritage of Tibet through his efforts.
Later that evening, Jim and I went to a pre-opening for Lynn Davis's show at the Rubin, called Illuminations. Photos of sacred spaces around the world. Luminous, amazing photos. Written up in the New York times on Monday, the show is something to be experienced. Lynn and her husband Rudy Wurlitzer were there, and we shared some egg rolls and wine in the Rubin cafe with Rudy. Friday nights are free at the museum and the place was humming.
The next day, Jim and I conducted a program on the life and teachings of the Vidyadhara at the Center. In the morning, we arrived at the NY Shambhala Centre to find it very very active and full of people practicing. Inspiring. A Level ONe conducted by Arawana Hayashi was going on in one shrine room with about 40 participatns and our program in the other, with an audience that swelled to 60 and dropped to 35 -- and up and down again as people went in and out. Very active and New Yorkish. In the morning, Jim gave a talk on a number of characteristics of how Chogyam Trungpa taught. He illustrated the points with stories -- while also cautioning about the problems of stories and story tellers. Among his points: how much Trungpa Rinpoche trusted his students. It was heartfelt, direct stuff -- mixed with some practice and intense discussion period.
Over lunch, a group of 12 to 20 (it kept changing) met in the shrine room to discuss the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project. Somehow, we got from an overview of projects now being discussed to a grand visioning of a building in New York that would house the Legaacy Project in the US. Rochelle Weithorn asked "How big does it have to be?" I kept saying, "How big is your vision?"
After lunch, I presented an activity based on the idea of dharma fortune cookies. Those who hate the active learning approach headed out of the room. But I think for many people, espeically newer practitioners, this was not a bad approach. With help from Wendy Layton, we had reproduced about 40 OCean of Dharma-like teachings by CHogyam Trungpa. They were cut up, folded and put into glass bowls. Each group had one bowl and each person in each group drew a teaching. They read it to themselves; if it wasn't "for them" they could turn it in for a different teaching -- but just once. Everyone contemplated their teaching. Then they shared it, reading it aloud, and talked about its significance to them. Then they selected someone else in the group to comment on the teaching. Then the next person...etc etc. There were 4 groups of about 12 to 15 each, and all groups had to meet in the shrine room because all other rooms in the center were being used by the Level One -- so there was quite a buzz in the room. But we got beyond that. It was an experiment -- seemed ok.
That was followed by slides of VCTR, which Jane Kolleeny, the maha coordinator of the program, had really wanted. I showed them in somewhat random order, and asked people to contribute one word or one line after seeing the slide -- a response to the slide. So more active learning. Also, stories were told about many of the photos. David Rome was there and told a couple of great stories. Jim Gimian, Agnes Au, Jane Kolleeny and others told some good ones too --
In the evening, we had a Sadhana of Mahamudra feast, which opened with watching a 20 minute clip of the Vidyadhara talking about Crazy Wisdom and the Sadhana. Derek Kolleeny was our fearless umdze and Irene Woodard was the feastmaster food master general. During the feast, I told a slightly outrageous story about learning elocution from the Vidyadhara in an abandoned old mansion in rural New Hampshire, where he saw a panoply of ghosts. He was there for a month long retreat. I wondered if I went over the line with this story, although it's outrageousness had nothing to do with the usual projections of crazy wisdom. It wasn't about drugs, sex or alcohol, but ghosts and a Japanese emperor did figure prominently. Too late to take it back....this was followed by several other senior students talking about the Vidyadhara's reasonability and ordinariness most of the time. And right they are.
Lots of great energy in New York -- as the New Yorkers know. A pleasure to be there. Always a humbling experience somehow.
posted by Carolyn Gimian at 6:00 PM
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