Society contains profundity and sacredness.The sacredness of society is potent and powerful. I’m sure many people would not accept such an idea. They would think that we are trying to sneak something into the idea of society, to impose some foreign element or idea on it. However, it seems genuinely important to see the spiritual aspect, the visionary aspect, of society. We have to see not only the basic happenings but also their basic quality of energy, the energy that they contain. Work, sex, and money are actually the energy outlet of society, its energy radiation, the expression of its sacredness.

~ Teachings by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, taken from works published by Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources. TO SUBSCRIBE, unsubscribe, see and share the quotes online or read the Ocean of Dharma blog, visit the website at http://oceanofdharma.com

In late November, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, our spiritual teacher and leader in Shambhala, sent us a letter from retreat called the Letter of the Morning Sun. If you have not already read it, do so with the link given above.

Within this powerful letter and call to action, the Sakyong has asked each and every one of the members of the Shambhala Buddhist community to deeply contemplate three questions and then respond to them by sending in our answers by January 31st.

It is the Sakyong’s wish that we all take time to contemplate his letter. He is asking us to reflect on how we plan to apply the Shambhala teachings in our lives and our world in the coming years. This is a very personal and practical exploration. Therefore, the Sakyong feels that it is important for each of us to contemplate the three questions in his letter for some time before responding.

The Sakyong is encouraging both individual and group contemplation where possible. In response to this, please join Shastri Carolyn Krusinski and Executive Director Jill Blagsvedt at the Boston Shambhala Center this coming Sunday, January 23rd from 1-4pm. Please consider submitting your individual response after you have had a chance to participate in a group contemplation.

Many of us are already doing so much to offer compassion and sanity to the world, based on what we have learned. Appreciating our enormous potential as a community, the Sakyong is pointing to what he sees as a ten-year window of possibility for deep societal change. Each of us will be challenged by his questions in our own way.

To help us with this contemplation, we may want to ask ourselves: How can we apply ourselves individually and collectively to shifting the social paradigm in the world? What do I wish to offer? What will it take for this to be accomplished? What initiatives have I already begun, and how might I develop these further or change course in the coming years?

“I hope this gathering can be a way for us to open our hearts and find our inspiration for being of benefit to others.”
~ Director Jill Blagsvedt

Join us on Sunday for our community contemplation on these questions and to learn more about how to respond to the letter. Please register online so we know to expect you.

by Boston Shambhala Member Chris Magnus

It all started because one day I woke up with the simple idea to “build something with rocks,” something that would make a barren spot on the hill south of our cabin look a little nicer. When the Vermont cabin was originally built, the excavators bulldozed a cut out of the wooded hill as a convenient way to get some fill for the nearby building site. With the top soil removed, the scrapped area just remained raw and barren. Over the years we tried adding back topsoil and various plantings, but nothing we did seemed to bring it back to life.

The original intent was just to “add some rocks, a landscaping feature”—an idea that everyone seemed to like. Then with help from various friends and many dinner conversations, the thought just began to grow. How about a cairn? A rock offering? How about a stupa?

As usual with my “mind-only” projects, the physical reality loomed up to confront my ambitions. I never imagined how much work was involved. It took a year, many tons of gravel and the help of my neighbor just to get the site level and stable. Over the next five years, a decreasing number of interested friends and I gave our weekends over to mindfully selecting, breaking, lifting, carrying and placing rocks. Anyone who spent more than an hour on the “rock pile” gained a very direct and sometimes “penetrating” appreciation for what it meant to handle rough-cut Vermont slate (and of course the miraculous benefit of subsequent heavy doses of Ibuprofen). We got the base and half
of the second level of the structure into decent shape and even added a cedar pole in the center. Things were looking quite promising, that is until a Boston surgeon told me I needed two hip replacements.

We lost about three years while I was slowly recovering from my operation, and none of us were getting any younger. The chance of ever finishing the project looked quite bleak. Over time the neglected pile of rocks started to look more like a mocking tribute to my delusional thinking than an inspired offering.

Things did not change until another of my Vermont neighbors came over to help down some dying trees last fall. He spotted the half finished cairn on the hillside, and surprisingly, he was actually curious. Even more surprising, he even recognized what were to trying to do. He had lived in Ladakh and had run into cairns and stupas trekking though the Himalayas. He even had an idea on how the project might get completed.

My neighbor had been a member of the White Mountain Trail Crew for many years and continued to stay in touch with the group. Caring for the trails often means working with stones and in some cases, building and maintaining the small cairns that mark the trails in the rock fields above tree level. The new crews were looking for projects to train on. This could be a way for the crew to get some more cairn experience, maybe have some fun, and even maybe earn some spending money.

On a beautiful sunny morning last summer, the Trail Crew showed up, a team of four men and two women in their 20’s. Naively thinking I would have to teach these kids about rocks, I felt compelled to give them a short talk on handling stone, building techniques, group mindfulness, safety and so on. They all listened politely not saying a word. When I finished my fatherly words of guidance, I asked if there were any questions. After a few minutes of awkward silence, my neighbor came up to me, took me aside and quietly assured me, “Chris, I think you will find they know how to do this kind of work”.

As you might guess, I was the one who ended up taking notes. The crew immediately went to work without hesitation. They worked six straight hours the first day and four the next. They self-organized with a minimum of discussion and wasted movements. There were no breaks. They worked without food, without gloves, without injury and without “personal issues”. They solved all the building problems themselves and improved on their skills as they went. I watched, made a few suggestions, but the execution was all theirs. They split, moved and stacked more rocks in ten hours than the rest of us had managed in eight years.

Now visible from the cabin, the ten-foot cairn with its spray of colorful banners stands nobly alone amongst the trees on the cleared knoll, exposed to all the elements, strong and dignified, and marked with what stone workers refer to as the look of “one hand”. I could not be more pleased with the results.

To the White Mountain Trail Crew, my neighbors and my dear friends, thanks for being so kind, thanks for all the help.

To see photos of the process and the completed stupa, click here.

In our effort to “turn the flower outward” and push the Boston Shambhala Center’s envelope beyond its present limits, Shambhala members interested in reaching out to the greater Boston community are dedicating their merit to those facing life-limiting illnesses. Individually and as a group, our collaboration with hospice volunteering is another step towards sharing our practice, exertion and heart with patients and their families, who are facing a time of major transition fraught with fear and uncertainty. Putting other people before ourselves is a powerful way to cultivate compassion and attract blessings. The power of meditation practice mixed with organized group service for others in need is a potent catalyst towards creating an enlightened society.

Join us for five weeks of hospice training with The Beacon Hospice office in Charlestown, MA.

The Beacon Hospice approach to care creates a patient and family environment of hope, comfort, and dignity. This approach is extended through our volunteers, who can make an enormous difference in someone’s life. Volunteering takes many forms. From working directly with patients at the bedside, to knitting lap blankets, to working in the office…there is something for everyone.

Please join us for this hospice volunteer training, which is scheduled for five consecutive Thursday evenings, February 3rd – March 10th from 6-9pm. Please feel free to contact Jill Hurley with any questions at hurleyjill@hotmail.com.

Note: this training will NOT be at the Boston Shambhala Center. Contact Jill Hurley for more information.

Paul Adams offers a window into the joyful celebration that was Children’s Day in Boston.

Please join Boston’s longest running LGBT Buddhist meditation group Sunday, January 9, 2011, at the Boston Shambhala Center (646 Brookline Avenue, Brookline, MA) from 7-9 pm for an evening of meditation, dharma and socializing. All are welcomed to attend and meditation instruction will be provided.

Our January topic is “Awakening to Our Habits.” Resolved to make some changes in 2011 but hindered by some familiar habits? In an audio talk by Pema Chodron and in discussion, we’ll explore how to recognize and work with our habits and engage them in meditation practice. Chodron has called the teachings we’ll be working with: life changing in her own practice.

INCLEMENT WEATHER NOTICE: If this event needs to be canceled because of weather-related circumstances, we will post a notice by 3pm on Sunday.

The Boston Shambhala Center is accessible by public transportation (http://boston.shambhala.org/Directions.php), and free parking is available for those who are driving.

There is a suggested donation of $5 for this program.

Volunteer opportunities to support the group are available — please reply to this message if you’d be willing and able to help out.

poem by Shastri Frank Ryan

we were never promised
that snowflakes
softly drifting at midnight under a waning moon
would conform;
that the stranger we just met
penetrating eyes soft voice
would understand;
that the crowds on 7th Avenue
bristling energy, seeming intent
would bring meaning;
that our yearning hearts
endlessly open and responsive
would be other than now

~ December snowstorm
East Coast
December 26, 2010

Over 40 community members gathered in October to share inspirations and explore our goals for “Offering Shambhala to Greater Boston.” I’ve posted parts of the gathering in previous posts, but the full report is now available here: Community-Gathering-Notes-Oct-2010 It includes our opening contemplations and responses, small group notes, and all aspirations (that we could read!).

A sampling of aspirations from our Shambhala community:

- I aspire to practice in my household in a way that will bring liberation beyond its walls because we have been able to go deeply into kindness and compassion.
- Expanding the Boston Shambhala community should include further cultivation of inter-generational relationship between practitioners of differing experience, reducing the cliquishness, and increasing the sense of united love, respect, support, and worth among and between members of our sangha.
- May we cut through the distractions of our lives and focus our attention on what is really important.
- I want the physical, financial, and emotional health of the BSC to flourish.
- That we not be to meek in our body, speech, and mind in terms of offering to ourselves our family, our sangha, our world.
- May we find a building and afford it that will inspire the Sakyong to unite guests for tea and give many teachings.

All community members also received from me a letter in the mail which included the Raising The Banner campaign brochure and the Executive Summary – Boston Expansion Plan. With these three documents you should now be up-to-day with our community process. Please contact me or any members of the Board of Trustees to become involved or get more info.