The Kootenay Shambhala Centre has been offering online courses and other online programming for a number of years. This service is meant to support students, extend our Centre’s reach, and build community.

If you have any questions about the service―or if you participated in any of our core path programs (such as Shambhala Training weekends or other Way of Shambhala offerings) in the last few years and would like to revisit the teachings, but you’ve lost the info you need to access the participants-only webpage(s)―just let us know, at info@nelsonbuddha.com.

This year’s Pacific Northwest Winter Retreat―at Camp Pringle, on the shore of Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island―is set to run from December 18, 2010 to January 1, 2011.

The retreat comprises two two-week programs (each with one-week participation options): a Half-Dathun mindfulness-awareness meditation retreat open to all; and, for Shambhala Vajrayana Seminary graduates, a Ngondro and Werma Retreat.

Click on the following links for full descriptions, on the Victoria Shambhala Centre’s website:

• Pacific Northwest Half-Dathun
with Margaret Jones Callahan
Camp Pringle, Shawnigan Lake, BC
December 18, 2010 - January 1, 2011

• Pacific Northwest Ngondro and Werma Retreat
with Brian Callahan
Camp Pringle, Shawnigan Lake, BC
December 18, 2010 - January 1, 2011

Learn more about our regional community on the Kootenay Shambhala Centre’s Pacific Northwest Shambhala Community page.

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The Kootenay Shambhala Centre is pleased to present Earth Dharma, a five-class course with Russell Rodgers, on Thursday evenings, from May 20th to June 17th.

We will explore our relationship with the earth, our present ecological predicament, and how meditation and other practices can help.

Everyone is welcome. Online participation (through audio recordings and other resources) will be possible. For a full program description click here.

Shambhala members from across the Pacific Northwest are gathering in Bellingham, Washington this Saturday and Sunday (March 27 and 28) for the Pacific Northwest Shambhala Leadership Conference. The program includes practice, teachings, workshops and celebration to build our regional community.

Warmest wishes from Nelson to all conference participants!!

If any of you―Amber, Ann, Bonnie, Cynthia, Dan, Dian, John, Katherine, Ken, Lesa, Lisa, Marcia, Mark, Paul, Rick, Shelley…?―want to share your impressions of the conference, you can use the comments section below.

The 100 Mile House Shambhala Meditation Group has just launched a blog, and they’ve wasted no time putting it to work. One post publicizes the Great Eastern Sun - Drala - Windhorse retreat they’re hosting at Mahood Falls, BC from August 30th to September 5th, 2010; another features Mahood Falls photos from a recent retreat.

To follow the Group’s activity, visit their blog: 100 Mile House Shambhala Meditation Group.

May basic goodness continue to flower in central BC!

The document linked here―Practices for the Earth (PDF)―contains an essay written by senior Kootenay Shambhala Centre teacher Russell Rodgers outlining the teachings he presented at last summer’s Kootenay Public Weekthun 2009: Touching the Earth meditation retreat, and describing the approach used to deliver the teachings.

He submitted the document for the possible benefit of Shambhala teachers, environmentalists and others.

Topics include:
• Container Principle
• The Root of Ecological Problems
• The Senses: Our Gateways to the Natural World
• Making a Heart Connection to All Living Beings
• The Eco-dharma of Emptiness
• Drala: Working with Presence
• Introduction to the Lhasang

An “Afterthoughts” section provides additional material.

You can offer feedback by leaving a reply below, or by emailing Russell Rodgers at info@nelsonbuddha.com.

“The success of our community, and its future, is going to depend heavily on the visible and ‘feelable’ kindness that is in our mandala,” said the Sakyong, Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, at the concluding session of the Fourth Shambhala Congress, which took place in Halifax in November. “We can be doing a lot of things right when it comes to programs, but if there is not a feeling of kindness, nothing is really going to stick.”

The Sakyong’s Council has now formally decided that the key strategic objective for the immediate period, in line with the Sakyong’s wishes and the aspirations expressed by the Congress, would be to “deepen community and manifest a culture of kindness.”

The aim of this post is to invite anyone in the Pacific Northwest Shambhala community (or beyond) to participate in a collective contemplation of what it means to deepen community and manifest a culture of kindness.

What inspires you about your local Shambhala community? How does kindness manifest there? What do you find challenging―or even alienating? What else…? Join the discussion in the comments section below. All respectfully expressed thoughts and feelings are welcome.

For related pre-Congress discussion, see the post Exploring community.

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The Abhidharma is the collection of the Buddha’s teachings on the composition and functions of the human mind.

If you are looking for a Buddhist Studies course offering a more in-depth exploration of these teachings than is presented in the Way of Shambhala curriculum, consider taking this one: Looking at Mind: An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology.

Taught by David Marshall, this course is scheduled to run at the Kootenay Shambhala Centre on six consecutive Thursdays, from February 11th to March 18th, 2010. Everyone is welcome. Online participation―through audio recordings and other materials―will be possible.

For a full course description, go to our Looking at Mind: An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology page.

Tonight, for the second time in as many weeks, Acharya Allyn Lyon drew a large crowd to the Kootenay Shambhala Centre’s Monday Open House. In her talk, titled “Shambhala: A Buddhist Shamanic Journey for Modern Times,” she spoke about a path of working with the energies of the world to restore balance in an age of rampant materialism. Click on the icon below to listen to her talk.

Download “Shambhala: A Buddhist Shamanic Journey for Modern Times,” with Acharya Allyn Lyon (MP3: 53 MB; 58 min)

ALLYN LYON was appointed an acharya in 2000, after several years serving as Director of Shambhala Mountain Center and in other Shambhala administrative positions. Since then she has been traveling and teaching while creating a home base in Tepotzlan, Mexico, where she is the resident acharya. Her main interest in teaching dharma is the nature of mind and how it functions: “What is mind? How does practice work with mind? What is real?” But if there’s a bottom line, Allyn says, “it’s that I really enjoy practicing the dharma, teaching and sharing my love of the dharma with students.” For more about Acharya Lyon, click here.

The Kootenay Shambhala Centre is pleased to confirm plans to host a Ten-Day Mahamudra Retreat with senior teacher Susan Chapman, from October 22nd to 31st, 2010.

This program is open to Rigden Abhisheka graduates and Shambhala Vajrayana Seminary graduates who have completed 20,000 prostrations if practicing Kagyü or Rigden ngöndro by number.

Save the dates and stay tuned for more information.