Monday Night Class in Halifax Concludes Year Two

Last night, fifty of us gathered in the main shrine room of the
Halifax Shambhala Center to watch the final two talks of Journey
without Goal, the tantra seminar given by the Vidyadhara, the
Venerable Chogyam Trungpa, in 1974, the first summer of Naropa. As
the talk wound to an end, the group sat very still, transfixed it
seemed by the images captured in black and white more than 1/3rd of a
century ago. At the end of the tape, the screen became grainy and the
Vidyadhara's voice somewhat gravelly, and there was a sense that this
intimate portal into a time past was beginning to break up. Yes no
one wanted to leave the space. When the tape ended, there was almost
an audible sigh emitting from the Haligonian group of students, old and new.

At the same time, this "time capsule" was an up to date hard hitting
series of dharma talks, mind blowing and appropriate for these times,
in fact, in their intensity and the personal flavor of the teachings
being transmitted. Hearing the tantric concepts of nadi, prana and
bindu described as a radar system (bindu) mounted on a wheel (prana)
travelling along the railroad tracks of nadi was at once bizarre,
humorous, and illuminating. Even THIS was about our experience.

The Vidyadhara wondered aloud if it was dangerous to put this
information into people's hands. Would they use it to manipulate
their world in an egoistic sense? Could they truly appreciate the
value of doing nothing?

This original seminar was the basis for one of Chogyam Trungpa's many
books: JOURNEY WITHOUT GOAL: THE TANTRIC WISDOM OF THE BUDDHA. The
seminar replaying this material in Halifax -- which ran Monday nights
from March 2008 until last night -- was a testing ground for the
material, before distributing it to others. The lectures are still
being digitally remastered and copied to DVDs, while a study guide is
being written as we progress. Here, we watched old-fashioned VHS
tapes, which are of remarkably good quality. The new DVDs should be
available by Fall of 2008.

The Monday Night Class in Halifax began in the Winter/Spring of 2007.
We have now studied three seminars by Chogyam Trungpa from 1974: The
Tibetan Buddhist Path; Meditation: The Way of the Buddha; and Journey
without Goal. Additionally, during January and February of 2008,
about 100 Vajrayana students gathered every Monday for 6 weeks to
practice the newly transmitted terma from the Vidyadhara: the
Avalokiteshvara sadhana conferred by Karma Senge Rinpoche last year.
We paired the practice of the sadhana with reading, contemplation and
exposition of some of Trungpa Rinpoche's dzogchen teachings.

Starting in September 2008, the Monday Night Class will show DVDs of
a Dharma Art seminar by Chogyam Trungpa, alternating with workshops
taught by some of his senior students. Object arrangement, ikebana,
mudra theatre, and other aspects of artistic practice and process
will be explored.

Next winter, Vajrayana students will be invited to view and
contemplate videos of the EVAM seminary taught by Trungpa Rinpoche,
the basis for parts of GLIMPSES OF SPACE. And next spring, we will
offer some of the talks from the Wisdom and Skilful Means series
originally taught in Northern California in 1976.

The Monday Night Class is organized by the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy
Project to benefit the Shambhala Archives, the Halifax Shambhala
Center, and the Legacy Project itself. In the future, as the acting
director of the Legacy Project, I'd like to help other centers to
include more of this kind of programming. If you have questions or
need help with a class, you can contact me at cgimian@suchns.com. I
may be able to refer you to one of the people helping with the class
or offer you some support myself. Similar programs are being offered
in a number of other locations, including New York, Boulder, and
Margaree, Nova Scotia!