New York City’s Interdependence Project is bringing new meaning to the idea of mixing meditation and everyday life!

To learn about the wide-ranging work of the Interdependence Project, visit http://www.theidproject.org/.

Transition Nelson, part of a global movement to address this century’s converging challenges by enhancing community resilience, is organizing the Imagine Transition festival to give everyone a chance to communicate their vision of Nelson’s future.

Click on the image below for details.

Responding to climate change effectively requires understanding it deeply.

For a Buddhist view on the roots of climate change, read the excerpt from the new book A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency, featured in yesterday’s Shambhala Times post Buddhadharma and the Planetary Crisis. Also, see the other Shambhala Times articles tagged Buddhist Response to Climate Change.

If you’d like to join in the Kootenay Shambhala Centre’s efforts to bring this view down to earth through practical action, locally and beyond, contact Russell Rodgers or Jim Northcote at info@nelsonbuddha.com.

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The Kootenay Shambhala Centre is hosting a “Sounds of 350″ gathering in support of a binding climate change agreement at the December United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The gathering will include time for silent contemplation, chanting practices designed to clear obstacles, and 350 recitations of a mantra from the Heart Sutra, which helps dispel fixed modes of thinking.

Everyone is welcome.

For more information go to 350.org/node/13088 or contact Jane DiGiacomo at info@nelsonbuddha.com.

12 Nov 2009 - Sakyong welcomes Charter of Compassion launched today; Shambhala members invited to give support

The Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, welcomed the new global initiative, Charter for Compassion, that was launched today by an inter-faith coalition of leading religious teachers and scholars.

The Charter of Compassion, compiled over a two-year period as a result of broad internet consultation and a high-level drafting commission, was initiated by author Karen Armstrong who announced the results at the recent Peace Summit, held at the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education in Vancouver.

Following the summit, the Sakyong responded positively to her appeal for international support and issued the following message, affirming the intention of the charter:

“Compassion is a core value of world culture,” he said. “It is at the heart of all spiritual traditions. It is a pith instruction of the Buddha. It binds us to our common humanity. In a deeply divided world, it is the vehicle that enables us to transcend our differences.

“Compassion is a path of practice. It can be pointed to in words, but never captured. Thus this charter and the campaign that will radiate out from it — like compassion itself — is a work in progress. It is part of a global realization that the time has come when compassion must rise to the forefront of our collective consciousness.”

To read the full text of the charter and learn about how it is being unveiled around the world, please click here. Read the rest of this entry »

Transition Nelson is part of a global movement to address the converging challenges of the 21st Century by enhancing community resilience. (Several Kootenay Shambhala members and friends are involved or exploring involvement.)

Click on the image below to visit Transition Nelson’s new website.

Canadian journalist, broadcaster and author Gwynne Dyer is scheduled to speak at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson on October 20th about geopolitical implications of large scale climate change.

Here are some related links:
• Climate Wars - Gwynne Dyer at the Capitol Theatre
• A synopsis of Gwynne Dyer’s book The Climate Wars
• Gwynne Dyer’s website

The message below was posted on the worldwide Shambhala email announcement service earlier today.

For information about the Kootenay Shambhala Centre’s environmental activity, click on any of the related subject tags in the sidebar―e.g., protecting the earth―or contact Russell Rodgers, our Touching the Earth liaison, at info@nelsonbuddha.com.

Dear sangha,

A cheerful summer to you! This spring and summer have been exciting times for environmental action within the Shambhala sangha. The Sakyong, Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche offered his mindful instructions on Protecting the Earth in support of Earth Day 2009 and in July urged sangha members to sign the Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change.

Along with the Sakyong’s encouragement, the Touching the Earth working group launched the 2009 Shambhala Green Commitment initiative. We have been delighted so far at the positive actions centers are taking throughout the world and eagerly await responses from the remainder of the mandala. Read the rest of this entry »

In an article posted on the Shambhala Times today, former Shambhala Europe Director Chris Tamdjidi discusses discovering the world’s magic as a key aspect of environmental protection. See Buddhism and Ecology: Environment as our Teacher.

Lisa Hill (with partner Julian Gonzales) coordinates Awake in Action, the Vancouver Shambhala Centre’s social action arm. She gave an hour-long talk on the group’s history, organization and activity to some thirty people at the Kootenay Shambhala Centre’s Open House on May 18th. Click on the icon below to listen to her talk.

Listen/Download “Awake in Action,” with Lisa Hill (MP3: 54 MB; 59 min)

Lisa has volunteered for WISH, a drop-in centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, which serves women and transgendered people working in the sex trade, and for Vancouver’s Citywide Housing Coalition on the issues of inadequate housing and homelessness. She aspires to raise awareness of the personal and societal benefits of mindfulness-awareness meditation. She gratefully acknowledges Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and His Holiness the 17th Karmapa for their compassionate encouragement to all of us to take an active roll in caring for the world.