Portrait of a Rinpoche in 350 Words

Category Archives: Mindful Living

Portrait of a Rinpoche in 350 Words

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He sees that the fundamental error of our time is materialism. Instead of accepting the Dalai Lama’s invitation to represent his lineage in the exile government of Tibet, he came to the West to teach. He was shocked by the amount of garbage his small groups of western students created while meditating for a week, equal to what a monastery in India creates in over a month.

Tenzin Wagyal Rinpoche in western coat

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche believes that our complete subservience to wealth – material wealth – will be undermined when everybody has more sense of who we are. It will answer a lot of questions and alleviate a lot of confusion and suffering just by having an understanding of the stillness, silence, spaciousness at the core of experience. Having taught all over the world, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has used Buddhism and the wisdom heritage of Tibetan Bon to help others make contact with their own luminous minds. From a lifetime of study, teaching, and practice, he is convinced that there are more awakening experiences to be found inside oneself, and it leads to enlightened actions, creativity, and peace without passivity.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche characterizes Bon–the earliest religious tradition and practices of Tibet of which he is a scholar, teacher, and advocate–as being “very earthy”. Bon works with nature and the elements, it is sensitive to the environment and healing practices. Yet it also has dzogchen, a meditation of pure awareness. It is an awareness-of-inner-light practice and the highest achievement in this practice is said to be a body of light. So, he will tell you with a smile that comes as much from his eyes as his mouth, Bon is earthy and illuminating at the same time.Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche between portraits of his teachers

He was born in the first generation of Tibetan emigres. He became a monk at age ten and earned his Geshe, the Tibetan doctorate awarded after an eleven year program of study, in 1986. He founded the Ligmincha Institute, an international community for the preservation and integration of Bon Buddhism into the modern western world. And on May 31st to June 2nd he will be teaching dzogchen at Shambhala Mountain Center.

Bringing the Retreat Experience Home – Courageous Women, Fearless Living

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By Sarah Sutherland

Thanks to a generous grant from the Shambhala Trust, Courageous Women, Fearless Living has launched its first-ever website: www.cwfl.org

The new website will make it easier for women touched by cancer to find out about the Courageous Women 5-day annual retreat and access resources that help extend the retreat into everyday life.

Fearless Women Touched by Cancer Unlike many retreats for women with cancer, the Courageous Women retreat not only offers respite and renewal in a beautiful setting but also teaches participants meditation and contemplative practices to work effectively with their mind and emotions.

“The basis of the retreat is that everyone has the courage, gentleness and strength to relax and find joy in the most difficult circumstances, even a cancer journey,” says Adana Barbieri, who runs the retreat together with Judith Lief, Victoria Maizes, and Linda Sparrowe. “This unique retreat offers women a supportive, nurturing environment and effective techniques to discover the courage to be fearless in the midst of a life-changing cancer diagnosis.”

Shambhala Mountain Center has supported and hosted the summer retreat since 2006 and its website has been the main source of online information about it. By launching its own website, CWFL hopes to reach a broader audience of participants and donors.

After this summer’s retreat, the new website will also include a robust “resources” section that will include access to talks, videos and instructions on meditation and yoga taught during the retreat. Integrative medicine and natural health information, including articles and recipes, will be featured as well. A secure social networking page will give retreat participants a way to stay connected, feel supported and nurture their friendships.

“With the website, we can extend the reach of the retreat into participants’ lives when they return home,” says Barbieri. “That way, they can continue to benefit from the wisdom, compassion and community they experience at the retreat.”

Smiling Woman Holding BannerThe generous grant from the Shambhala Trust—whose mission is to support projects that promote the creation of enlightened society—will also fund a promotional video. Intended primarily for healthcare professionals, the video will show the essence of the retreat to people who are unfamiliar with it but are in a position to recommend it to their patients. The video is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

In addition to the extraordinary support and retreat discounts offered by Shambhala Mountain Center, CWFL is sponsored this year by the Eileen Fisher Community Foundation  and the Beanstalk Foundation.

Upcoming: Courageous Women, Fearless Living is hosting three morning retreat samplers on Saturdays from 9-12:

May 18 – Ft. Collins
June 8 – Boulder
July 13 – Denver

 

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone: Kabbalah Journey for Women

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Rabbi Tirzah FirestoneRabbi Tirzah Firestone is an author, psychotherapist, and founding rabbi of Congregation Nevei Kodesh in Boulder, Colorado. She is widely known for her groundbreaking work on Kabbalah and the re-integration of the feminine wisdom tradition within Judaism. She will be joining us at SMC this May 3–5, 2013 to lead: Kabbalah Journey for Women: Communing with the Radical Feminine Presence. We recently asked Rabbi Tirzah some questions about Kabbalah and her upcoming program:

SMC: How does your work with Kabbalah intersect with your work on depth psychology?
RTF: Kabbalah is a wisdom system that is universal. It works with archetypal energies running through the macro (cosmos, world) and the micro (each of our us) and helps us understand how to align our body-mind-spirits with these energies that live within and beyond ourselves.

SMC: What most excites you about this program?
RTF: Women in nature together seeking divine guidance, depth, community, and friendship…What could be better?  Together we create a field to receive…and receiving is the translation of the term Kabbalah…the sacred. We need one another to do this, and the medium of nature is the magic.

SMC: How does the text of the Kabbalah apply to our contemporary lives?
RTF: Kabbalah is an entire corpus of work, including many texts from hundreds of years. We will work with some of the juiciest ones, that were originally written by and for men, but which are filled with astonishing teachings and apply amazingly well to women’s journeys.

SMC: Who could benefit from attending this workshop/who is it for?
RTF: Any woman 18 or older who feels a need to expand her bandwidth to new frequencies will benefit from this weekend.

Click here for more information on: Kabbalah Journey for Women: Communing with the Radical Feminine Presence.

Three Variations on a Theme: Squash and Broccolini Salad

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squashThis is the Part III in our series of squash recipes. All recipes courtesy of Brian Carter, who fearlessly leads the kitchen at Shambhala Mountain.

Check out Part I, Butternut Squash Cups & Tabouleh and Part II, Squash Veloute. We thought it appropriate to post our final squash article today in celebration of the significant amount of snow covering Colorado. Happy spring!

This salad is perfect for Winter.  And Spring. Both hearty and festive. Serve at room temperature.

1 lb. broccolini
1 acorn squash
1 small red onion
24 oz pomegranate juice
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
1 cup roast whole almonds
1 pomegranate
3 oz. Manchango cheese

Pre-heat oven to 300. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Trim woody ends of broccalini. Julianne onion into paper thin slices, toss with sherry vinegar and let sit for 90 minutes. Peel squash and cut into ½ inch cubes. Place into a roasting pan, add pomegranate juice cover with lid or foil, and braise for one hour. Once water is boiling blanch broccalini for 5 minutes then shock in ice water till cool. Remove squash from the oven. Carefully drain braising liquid, or reserve for another use. Drain onions, as well. Combine broccalini, onions and squash. Garnish with almonds, pomegranate seeds, and manchego.

Broccolini

 

Three Variations on a Theme: Butternut Squash Cups & Tabouleh

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This beautiful and hearty winter squash transforms in your garden from green to a golden yellow color and becomes increasingly sweeter and richer as it ripens. Its ability to grow in temperate climate areas mean it’s abundant. Plus, when other veggies go dormant, this lovely veggie is still around. Stuff anything you like into these edible vessels and make yourself a casually elegant meal. Plus, they are perfect for this fine grain, non-gluten tabouleh salad. We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

The recipe below is part 2 in a 3-part series of squash recipes. Check out part 1, and stay tuned for part 3!

Butternut Squash Cups & Tabouleh

1 cup Quinoa
Juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup chopped parsley
1/8 cup minced garlic
¼ cup small dice onion
¼ shredded carrot
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cups walnuts
½ cup goat cheese or feta
4 butternut squash

Method: Preheat oven to 450. Slice squash around where the neck begins to narrow. Scoop out seeds (reserve for roasting if you wish). Gently brush with oil, and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Roast for approximately 35 minutes or until the squash is caramelized.  Meanwhile, sauté garlic, onions, and carrots in oil with salt and pepper until translucent. Toss cooked veggies with parsley, oil, lemon juice, walnuts, and quinoa. Stuff squash with quinoa mixture, garnish with cheese, and gently reheat 5-10 minutes.

Coming up next:

March – Squash and Broccolini Salad: Pt. 3

Photography as an Expression of Eye, Mind and Heart

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Miksang Photograph 02

In her new book, Effortless Beauty: Photography as an Expression of Eye, Mind and Heart, Julie DuBose asks “If we could live our lives in freshness, discovering our world anew everyday, and share that with our loved ones, would that be worth doing?”

Julie explains that when we really take the time to notice the richness around us we can learn to see the world in a different way: “without our thoughts separating us from the freshness of our experience.” By making one’s self available right now, this perception comes to meet the photographer in spontaneous and surprising ways. Learning to capture this visual clarity as it is is both an art form and a contemplative practice.

Michael Wood, the founder of the contemplative form of photography Miksang, will be teaching a workshop with Julie Dubose at Shambhala Mountain Center March 28-31, 2013. Click here to learn more.

Click here to read the Shambhala Times interview excerpt with Julie DuBose and Dan Hessey about Julie’s new book, Effortless Beauty: Photography as an Expression of Eye, Mind, and Heart.

 

“This is our world. It has a heart beat and our blood runs through it, like a river of life and feeling, with qualities of hard , soft, wet, smooth, full, empty, lonely and joyful.” -Julie Dubose

Miksang03

 

“The images are expressions of moments of direct perceptions for me. As you look at the images, you are looking through my eyes, my mind, and my heart.” -Julie Dubose

Miksang Photograph 04

 

“The richness that we have inherited as human beings is all around us, in the direct experience of the forms in our world: colors, textures, lines, light.” -Julie Dubose

Miksang Photography 01

How to Stay Open and Awake to Reality in all its Richness

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Mindful Communication Book

At first, it’s a challenge just to sit with our minds. Even if we do come to enjoy relaxing with ourselves alone on the meditation cushion, bringing that confidence and equanimity into our daily lives and relationships is challenging because it is in our interactions with other people that we are most likely to close down. The experience of openness is our natural state, so why are we not open all the time?

Acharya Susan Chapman, author of The Five Keys to Mindful Communication and Greg Heffron, co-director of the Mudra Institute will teach the Green Light model of mindful communication at Shambhala Mountain Center, March 8th to the 10th. We had the opportunity to chat with Greg Heffron about this Mindful Communication workshop that they offer all over the U.S. and Canada, often to sell-out crowds.

Press play below to hear Greg on how to stay open and awake to reality in all its richness:

Also, Acharya Chapman and Greg Heffron will be at the Fort Collins Shambhala Cneter March 5th at 7:00 p.m. for a public talk and book signing: The Five Keys to Mindful Communication: The Power and Art of Gentle Conversation.

This post is part one of a three part series—stay tuned for the other parts of the interview coming up.

 

Ikebana: Conversations with a branch

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By Cynthia Drake on Ikebana with Alexandra Shenpen, Senseiikebana

Do not consider taking an ikebana class if you want to keep your view of flowers simple and safe, if you do not want to be called into a conversation with a branch, a vase, or the moon peering at you through the window. If you come to this program, be ready to play, to look at the lines and curves of stems, to sit in silence, and to encounter a universe of creative expression speaking through traditional forms.

I study with Alexandra Shenpen, Sensei because she brings together decades of experience in meditation practice, the study of Japanese forms, and artistic expression. She shares her joy of color, form, and communication and gently encourages her students to step out into our own modes of creation. And then, as is true with all ikebana masters, she oh so subtly moves one branch one millimeter and brings our arrangements to life.

Every person who feels that yearning to connect heaven and earth with flowers will fall in love with this practice.