Last night a few of us gathered to absorb the incredible gift of traditional Irish music performed by guest musicians Jon Sousa and Adam Agee. These two musicians came to us from Boulder, Colorado after a long stop-over in Ireland where they learned to play such tender, tantalizing, rollicking, heartbreaking and sometimes funny sets of tunes with names such as: Muireann’s Jig, The Broken Pledge, Spike Island Lasses, Molly Ban, Paddy Canny’s Toast, The Bear Island Reel, The Man of the House and the Steam Packet (to name a few).

Jon Sousa is a phenomenal guitar and banjo player. He fell in love with music from an early age, first listening to the 70’s folk albums in his mother’s record collection then journeying on to rock music and heavy metal after which passing through the realms of electronic dance music making his way on to West African percussion and finally landing in the world of traditional Irish music (He regularly returns to the previous realms). Jon holds a BA from Naropa University in Music and an MA in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick in Ireland. His greatest desire is to serve the Divine and the awakening of human consciousness through music. (In Shambhala terms - his music awakens the dralas!)

Adam Agee’s fiddle music is alive, imperfect, dynamically fluid, and colorful. Raised in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California and Boulder, Colorado, Adam came first to Ireland in 2004 and based himself in Ennis, County Clare. He currently lives in Boulder, CO and has been performing traditional music for the last 16 years. His driving ideal is to uplift culture through nurturing creative relationships.

The candles were lit, the peonies were unfolding their silken petals, and our hearts danced with the music. Truly, the dralas did descend. Stay tuned for more community events like this, and do join us if you are inspired.

Congratulations to Greg Smith, Jim Infantino and Simon Spiller from Boston for successfully completing the recent Shambhala Guide Training at Karme Choling!!! The program was intense and powerful, directed by Acharya Arawana Hayashi and Assistant Directed by a wonderful group: Charlie Trageser, Gail Flynn, Joe Inskeep and Ree Katrak. There were 28 participants from all over the mandala, Sarah Lipton coordinated, and while the program began in the snow, it ended with brilliant sunshine and stunningly green meadows.

The Boston community is excited to welcome these new Shambhala Guides! Ki Ki So So!

Jim Infantino spontaneously composed the poem below upon reflecting about the experience.

The cliffside temple

The world is inside out.
Listening is all
The effort and effortlessness
The wisdom and the reward.

The better you get,
the lonelier you become.
This is a moment to celebrate
To self liberate, to be celibate,
Author a cry to which no one responds.

We are thoroughly fucked.
Don’t dress it it up
Don’t insult yourself.
Start accepting it.

Unimaginable one,
Dwelling in the form of the beloved
Perched day after day in despair
Drinking and vomiting
Receiving gifts, giving thanks
Finding inspiration neither in the sky
Nor the rotting den of ascetics,
I feel my heart open at the thought of you.

How stupid it is to be cool.
Our faces smeared with dog shit
Criticizing each other’s footwear.

Space itself shines with the light
Of innumerable points of view
Beauty and wisdom
Pain and desire
Shame and regret
Heaps and fear and brilliance
Motes in emptiness
Listen!

~ Jim Infantino, on the occasion of Shambhala Guide Training at KCL, April 28-May 2, 2010

In a dimly lit, rearranged community room this year, on March 20th, about 15 members and friends of the Boston Shambhala Center joined together for an evening of celebration and community in honor of International Shambhala Arts Day and the first day of Spring.

Sarah Lipton and Trish Nuzzola led the first hour of investigation into some basic Shambhala Art principles and teachings. Spontaneous storytelling and song were demonstrated, and the group enjoyed trying their hands at doing 3 line “calligraphy”. Everyone was brave enough to close their eyes and try an unknown piece of food and come up with a one-word poem. Nobody guessed that it was chili spiced mango! The conversation about Shambhala Art/Dharma Art was lively and engaging and went on much longer than anticipated.

Shambhala Art Day has been designated by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche to occur on the spring equinox. It is a day when the entire Shambhala International community and friends are invited to celebrate art forms and disciplines that embody the Dharma Art teachings of the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. These teachings encourage the creation and manifestation of art that wakes up the viewer as well as its maker to a sense of unconditional sacredness within the phenomenal world.

In “Dharma Art”, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche says, “A work of art is created because there is basic sacredness, independent of the artist’s particular religious faith or trust. Sacredness from that point of view is the discovery of goodness, which is independent of personal, social, or physical restrictions.”

After a short break to enjoy the small art exhibit donated by the participants, and the sense-pleasing food arrangement, including dried hibiscus flowers, chocolate treats and hot peppers, we gathered together again for an impromtu-style coffeehouse. Caitlin Cianflone went first and passionately read a poem by Trungpa Rinpoche called “When a Cold Knife is Planted in Your Heart”. Ivan Orlinsky followed shortly with an experiment - he read the same poem! Another poem of Trungpa’s was read, and then John Bailes treated us to some of his own poetry. Harmonica music could be heard drifting across the room between “acts”. Sarah shared some spontaneous singing and read some of her own poetry as well. This was followed by a funny song and performance by Melissa Silva in which she wore a graduation cap, played a homemade instrument, and sang a dharma song to the tune of “I’ve been working on the railroad.”

We all had a blast and look forward to coming together again soon to do this again! If you are interested in joining us, or looking for more information about Shambhala Art at the Boston Shambhala Center, please send an email with your interest to: info@shambhalaboston.org.

Enjoy these photos (click here)!

This original recipe is from a friend I visited in Boulder last week. Somewhere in between comfort food and Thai coconut rice, the final product tastes nutty, sweet, and spicy all at once. I had never had anything quite like it! Taste often as you cook and season to your own palate. We served it with steamed kale on the side.

2 cups forbidden rice (black rice)
2 cups coconut milk
1 3/4 cups water
1 tablespoon fresh-ground nutmeg
4 whole cardamon seeds
1 cup black currants
Pineapple (for garnish)

1. Soak the rice anywhere from an hour to overnight. The longer black rice is soaked, the fluffier it will be.
2. Add rice, water, and half of the coconut milk to a large pot. Turn on medium-high heat until boiling. Then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add remaining coconut milk, nutmeg, cardamon seeds, and black currants. Stir to combine and simmer for ten minutes, or until rice reaches desired texture.
4. Remove cardamon seeds. Garnish with sliced pineapple.

Shambhala Day at the Boston Shambhala Center this year was full of energy, celebration, laughter and tears. The shrine room was packed with almost 100 people. We started early with the set-up (and a big huge thank - you to the 15 and more people that helped with the Neutral Day Cleaning on Saturday and all the setup work!!!). People started to stream in to the Center at around 10 am in time to practice together the Sadhana of Mahamudra and the Elixir of Life. We had a boisterous and crowded lunch break in the community room and then resumed to watch the Year in Review followed by the Kasung’s presentation of the colors and then a delightful shouted ROAR to the entire Shambhala mandala through Shambhala Online.

Tears and joy were shared by all as we listened to the Sakyong’s recorded message of love and exciting tidings of a Royal Baby. Then the usual assortment of Board and Director addresses, a successful fundraising appeal, the throwing of the I-Ching and various Oaths and De-Oathings. The event at the Center culminated with a rousing rendition of the Shambhala Anthem, we quickly cleaned up, and a few of us even went bowling.

Enjoy the photos! And thank you for celebrating this new year of the Iron Tiger with us!

It was a small voice piping up near the back row: “Are you enlightened?”

They were 66 squirmy but attentive 5th graders sitting in the main shrine room on cushions that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. The gong rang once, twice, and the group quieted down to silence.

From my position at the back of the room, I could watch them watching each other and watching the teacher, Gail Flynn of the Trident Booksellers and Cafe. Upon receiving meditation instruction, they each settled into a form that looked reminiscent of a meditation posture. What was striking to me mostly was the power of their silence - that 66 10 year olds could quiet down together and begin to question what it might be like to discern their thoughts, questioning what it means to open your heart.

They were curious - about the room, about the Buddha, about the shrine and the water and how to do walking meditation, about the banners on the wall, and about why we keep our eyes open when we sit. Gail rang the gong again and asked them to listen, to listen until they couldn’t hear anything anymore, saying: “Where does the sound go?”. Some of them giggled in response, and another one said: “nowhere, it just goes away.” The same question was asked about anger: “When you are angry at your friend, where does your anger go to?” “We forget about it” was one response, another was: “We feel bad about it so we let it go.” I’m telling you, these kids were insightful.

This was a group of three 5th grade classes - the school called us to see if we could host their students for an hour’s talk and meditation instruction. This wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago! And it was only one of 8 phone calls in a week requesting us to teach meditation to children of all ages. It is apparent that meditation has become a house-hold word, that people have heard of it, and that they know meditation has incredible benefits. Compassion was a word these children had heard of. To be in that room with them was inspiring, moving, and full of lungta. It seemed like the Great Eastern Sun was shining very, very brightly, even though it was a cloudy day.

Come celebrate the New Year with us this Friday, February 19th! Jim’s Big Ego - starring Shambhala sangha member Jim Infantino - will be performing live onstage upstairs at the Boston Shambhala Center. Join us from 7-9:30 for drinks, light hors d’oeuvre, dancing and celebration.

Come prepared: There will be a cash bar, donations will be accepted for the musical entertainment, and Jim’s Big Ego’s CD’s will be on sale.

Please RSVP by registering, so we can plan accordingly.

I am the new editor of our community life news magazine, and I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and the capabilities of this web page. This “magazine” can help us communicate about all aspects of this practice both on the cushion and in our daily lives, helping us stay in touch with and learn from one another. Wherever you are on your path, I hope you will find this forum to be an enhancement to your involvement in this community. I will be updating this page 1-2 times a week, and I encourage you to contribute as often as you would like. Here are some loose guidelines for what sort of content may appear here:

Announcements. If there is an occasion in your life that you would like other members of our community to know about, such as a birth announcement or a wedding announcement, you are welcome to submit it to this page. General community news will also appear here.

Your Experiences. You are welcome to share any experiences you have that relate to this practice. Whether you have just completed a program either here or at another Shambhala center and would like to write about it, or you have just had a thought-provoking experience in line at the grocery store you feel is worth sharing, please submit it to this page.

Art. I know that there are a number of very gifted artists in our community, and my hope is to spotlight one artist each month. We have the ability to upload video, audio, images, and of course text onto this page, so whatever your medium of choice is, you are welcome to showcase your work here.

Interviews and Profiles. If you know someone in this community whose life, experiences, or perspective you would like to spotlight, and you have their permission to do this, you are welcome to submit an interview or profile to this page.

If you would like to submit or you have questions or suggestions, simply email me at magazineeditor@shambhalaboston.org. Feel free to approach me at the center - I am always there on Tuesdays for Under 30 Night, and I will now be present more regularly Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. I welcome your feedback, as it will help me create a community life news magazine most beneficial to you.

Yours in the dharma,
Deanna Kaplan

Sitting with Joyful Disappointment, by guest writer Jim Infantino

Recently, one of the bigger mysteries of my life was solved. Not only solved, but tied up neatly, with a big fat happy ending. All of my fears about that situation were, though far from baseless, ultimately not realized. I should be overjoyed, and I am. However, it is also true that part of me feels let down, and I find that fascinating.

The story goes like this: In my teenage years, I had a friend, who was a girl - not really a girlfriend, but someone that I spent tons of time talking to. She seemed to really get me, and I felt like I really got her, and we drank copious quantities of coffee in diners and cafes between classes, and after school all over lower Manhattan. She was a dancer, and very pretty and had a sharp perception that cut through all my bullshit. I was enthralled. Gradually, I began to notice that her life had taken a darker turn. She had quit dancing, started smoking more, stopped eating. She came to school less and less, she cut her hair short, died it black, spent nights out with her older aunt in punk clubs, all the time getting thinner and thinner. I was scared for her. I tried to talk to her, tried to help in some way, but the forces in her life moving her in this direction were beyond me. Our talks became more and more rare, her depression seemed to deepen daily. Then she stopped coming to school at all. Her phone number was disconnected. I asked around about her, but no one knew anything. I stopped by her house, walked around her neighborhood repeatedly, but there was just no sign of my friend anywhere.

Months went by. As I began to accept that my friend was gone, and since I had no further information, I began to make up stories about why she was gone. Read the rest of this entry »

To one and all
Among the snowflakes
settling on each other
like accumulations of karma or of understanding
or of neither,
To everyone who will enter this year -
every foot fall, every glance, every opening
that lets the wind come in -
May you be at home in the warm and vast
freedom to which the dharma points
with everlasting kisses for everyone.

~ poem by Arthur Dion

“The poem is intended as a salute to our sangha on the first morning of 2010. It was composed spontaneously as written; this is the original. It emulates the tradition of spontaneous poetry within our lineage, which I understand to have been given to us by the Vidyadhara.”