While the Shambhala Sun is always in the East, the West Coast Shambhalian certainly knows how to enjoy a good setting sun once in a while. Especially those of us who live on the West Side of Los Angeles, a good 25 miles (that’s L.A. miles, folks!) from our main center over in Eagle Rock.

View Larger Map

Although the hard core amongst us will brave three or four highways through Hollywood and other exotic locale to visit our East Side brethren for a good talk or a Werma Feast or our routine check-ins with acharya and mentor Allyn Lyon, most people visiting the West Side Shambhala group for the first time have trouble believing that we actually drive all the way to Eagle Rock for programs. In fact, most West Siders (myself included!) are reluctant to go east of the 405 very often.

Because of the increased amount of foot traffic at the West Side Shambhala events - Sunday evening sittings (4-6pm), Thursday evening talks about Shambhala Arts, “The Way of Shambhala” courses, Shambhala Levels, free meditation instruction, and so forth - the L.A. sangha is rallying to find a larger, permanent home for the West Siders.

Most significantly, this year’s Shambhala Ball (February 20 at the Eagle Rock Center) will dedicate its proceeds to the West Side Shambhala group and its building search. West Siders have been assigned with the task of planning this year’s party. They have been practicing for this task for months, organizing occasional forays into local dance clubs to sample of the DJs.

Being a West Side Shambhalian is not just party-planning and sunsets over the beach, however. A few dedicated sitters make up the “West Side Steering Committee.” This group meets regularly, discusses administrative and financial matters, and cultivates leadership amongst its ranks. I hasten to add that these meetings often mitigate any fatigue they might engender by featuring delicious cookies and chocolates! This is the sort of committee I can commit to!

And no discussion about the West Side Shambhala group is complete without mentioning the fearless duo that has lead it fearlessly for four years:

Stanley Weiser and Tom Gottlieb, both deeply devoted students of the Sakyong and his father, attend nearly every sitting session, maintain the financial stability of the burgeoning organization, and even make sure all the doors are locked when we leave the Santa Monica Zen Center on Sunday evenings.

So, West Siders, don’t despair! While the trek to the East Side might be long and hard on your gas mileage, and though that trek is usually worth it, you can look forward to a future in which some of those East Siders might venture West. And they’ll probably want to see the setting sun while they’re at it.

by Alex Milsom

When I woke up Monday morning this week, on a bunkbed in an uninsulated cabin in the Buddha North fields of Dorje Denma Ling, I had one question on my mind: is this really worth it? Yes, I had slogged through my Rigden Ngöndro, yes, I was excited to see the Sakyong and find out what this mysterious Rigden Abhisheka was all about, but it was definitely too cold to get out of the sleeping bag to go to morning drill with the kasung and it was certainly too cold to practice! I’m no Milarepa, after all! I asked myself, “What am I doing here? What is anyone doing here when they could be living in California?”

Fortunately, I ran into some fellow Angelinos – Pearl Werbin and our fearless center co-director Melanie Klein. They seemed to be better-prepared with elegant some shawls and jackets. Despite the threat of zero-degree weather (that’s Celsius; and whatever that is in Farenheit, it sounds cold to me!), we managed to remain cheerful throughout.

Tatamagouche, a little outpost village a couple hours from Halifax, is the closest urban area to Dorje Denma Ling, the Shambhala land-center located in Nova Scotia. For those of you who resemble me in your total ignorance of Canadian geography, Nova Scotia is a peninsula – quite nearly an island – connected to the Province of New Brunswick. It is nearly at the same latitude as Maine and is also nearly the size of that state. In other words, it is quite remote. People there say “eh” sometimes, they don’t switch lanes gratuitously like we do in L.A., and are even friendly at ten at night in the drive-through line at the fast-food restaurant when you can’t figure out their coins and you are used to nice weather.

View Larger Map

Did I mention that it’s cold there?

Despite my early-program jitters and my fear that I would freeze to death in my cabin, upon seeing fellow Angelinos and seeing all the people with whom I had endured dathüns, oryoki meals, endless toasts, long hours in shrine rooms all over the world, and Vajrayana transmission, I knew I was where I belonged. Next time, though, I will bring a warmer jacket.

Marcia Sibata practicing Kadö at the L.A. Shambhala Center. Photo by Anne Saitzyk.

Marcia Shibata brought the elegant vision of Kadö, the “Way of Flowers,” to the Los Angeles Shambhala center in two workshops in August. Shibata has studied Ikebana extensively in Japan and had received instruction from the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, on the contemplative aspect of flower arranging. It is a practice rich with an appreciation for the natural world. As Shibata explained to her students, even the word “Ikebana” reflects the Japanese school’s empathy with the life and death of flowers: it is derived from the words “Ikeru” - to keep alive - and “Hana” - flowers.

The “Way of Flowers” is a tradition that goes back thousands of years in Japan and China, but in recent times has evolved into more of a decorative art. Shibata’s vision is to return Kadö to a meditative practice of subject and object. Flower arrangements become a reflection of the mind of their creator. During practice, the room in which Ikebana is done becomes the kado-jo, or practice hall in which the Way of Flowers can be explored. The journey of creating the flower arrangement is as important as the final result. The ultimate outcome is an Ikebana that mirrors a harmonious and balanced world.

Ms. Shibata lives in Vermont but will return to Los Angeles in January of 2010 to conduct another series of workshops on the way of flowers.

And go to the L.A. Shambhala Center’s Flickr Page to look at the full array of photos by L.A.’s own Anne Saitzyk from the weekend!

*Blume

Have you noticed a lot of empty gomdens next to you during Sunday morning meditation practice? Have you been having to fill in all the MI shifts and umdze spots on the Westside ROTA schedule? Have you been wondering why?

Well in the past month, there’s been a mass migration of Shambhala students to Shambhala Mountain Center in the mountains outside Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. For the very first time, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is giving teachings about his father’s terma, The Scorpion Seal, to senior students in the mandala. The prospect of receiving these teachings, after years of practice, has magnetized long-time Shambhala students from all over the world. Thirteen participants in the Scorpion Seal (last time I counted) hail from the City of Angels!

You may wonder what these people had to go through in order to qualify to receive these teachings. Some of the Scorpion Angelinos have been practicing with the Shambhala and Buddhist sangha since the days of the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In fact, a few days ago, Pamela Bothwell was wearing a lovely dress during her shift as the Sakyong’s secretary. When I commented on the dress, she explained that she had also worn it while serving the Sakyong’s father as well.
Read the rest of this entry »

by Laura Landau

On Friday night, the Los Angeles Shambhala Center was honored with a public talk given by the Venerable Changling Rinpoche. Changling Rinpoche, enthroned by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and a student of the late Penor Rinpoche, has been invited by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche to teach at Shambhala Centers throughout the Mandala.

Changling Rinpoche gave us teachings about the only real wealth we possess: nothing belongs to us except our own self-confidence. When we develop self-confidence, we can work with anything. We develop this confidence and we work with regret in the same way: by working with our minds. It isn’t enough to know that we’ve got a problem; we need to discover the method to work with that problem.
Read the rest of this entry »