The Vajradhatu Seminary was founded in 1973 by the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a program of advanced training in Buddhist study and meditation practice. The tradition of intensive periods of study and practice goes back to the time of the Buddha, who instituted a three-month retreat during the Indian monsoon season. In the epilogue to his autobiography, "Born in Tibet" (London: Unwin Hyman Ltd., 1987), Trungpa Rinpoche says, "As students became more completely involved with practice and study, I felt there was a need for more advanced training in the tradition of Jamgön Köngtrul the Great and of the Kagyü contemplative order. A situation was needed in which a systematic and thorough presentation of the dharma could be made. Accordingly, I initiated the annual Vajradhatu Seminary, a three-month intensive practice and study retreat for mature students . . . Periods of all-day sitting meditation alternated with a study programme methodically progressing through the three yanas of Buddhist teaching: hinayana, mahayana and vajrayana."
The programs were offered by Vajradhatu, an international organization of Buddhist churches founded in 1973 by Trungpa Rinpoche, but their size and scope necessitated separate administrative staffs and faculty. Admission was by application, with final approval at the discretion of the presiding teacher. In addition to teaching the main class, the presiding teacher customarily performed traditional Buddhist ceremonies, convened meetings of teachers, meditation instructors and administrators, and presided at social occasions. The curriculum also included additional required and elective courses taught by senior students. At the conclusion of the program, participants could request permission to begin the preliminary practices [Tibetan: "ngondro"] of the vajrayana. Trungpa Rinpoche presided over the first seminary in 1973 and twelve subsequent seminaries, held annually except in 1977 and 1987.
After his death in 1987, the program continued under the direction of the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin in 1988 and 1990, and the Sawang Ösel Mukpo (now Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche) in 1992 and 1994. The originals and all copies of the sound recordings produced at Vajradhatu Seminaries were transferred, at the conclusion of each program, to the custody of Vajradhatu Recordings, a department of Vajradhatu, an association of Buddhist churches founded in 1973 by the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. No copies, other than for conservation or transcribing purposes or for use in limited study at Vajradhatu centres or by authorized individuals, were made.
Vajradhatu Recordings (now Kalapa Recordings) retained custody of these sound recordings until their transfer to the Vajradhatu Archives in 1989. The fonds consists of sound recordings made at fifteen seminary programs from 1973 to 1990 by Vajradhatu Recordings pursuant to its policy of creating a permanent record of the teaching and administrative activities of the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and other principal teachers and administrators of Vajradhatu. Although all of the seminaries adhered to the same basic curriculum, as the program evolved the kind and number of activities-talks, classes, ceremonies, liturgies, administrative meetings, and social events-grew and were documented in sound recordings. The main lectures, including the question and answer periods following them, predominate.
Lectures from the thirteen seminaries taught by Trungpa Rinpoche comprise a unique cycle of oral instruction in the meditative discipline and philosophical view of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan buddhism. The lectures are delivered in English, rather than in Trungpa Rinpoche's native Tibetan tongue. Trungpa Rinpoche learned English in India and at Oxford and thereafter spoke it as a matter of choice. He taught his Western students in English, a practice which was generally not followed by other Tibetan teachers in the West. This marked the first time that teachings on Buddhism, and particularly the advanced teachings that Trungpa Rinpoche transmitted, were systematically presented to Western students in their own language and idiom. At his request, recordings of his principal lectures were transcribed, edited and published in limited editions as the Vajradhatu Seminary Transcripts.
Title based on contents of the fonds.
Extent includes duplicates.
Some audio reels show evidence of deterioration.
As a conservation measure a number of audio reels have been exercised
and copied to both digital and high-quality cassette formats.
Portions of the fonds are restricted to authorized students. Access
to those records is by arrangement with the Archives Director.
Inventories accompany series descriptions.
For additional details see the Vajradhatu Archives Database of Holdings.
Further accruals are expected, including the sound recordings from future
Vajradhatu Seminaries presided over by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
Related materials may be found in the following fonds of sound recordings:
the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche fonds; the Vajradhatu fonds;
the Nalanda Foundation fonds; the Naropa Institute events fonds; the Shambhala
Training events fonds; and the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin fonds.
Videocassette recordings related to portions of the fonds are in the
custody of the Archives; a partial inventory is available.
Photographic records related to portions of the fonds are described
in the Vajradhatu and Nalanda Foundation Information Office Photographic
Fonds Finding Aid.
An inventory of verbatim transcriptions of portions of the fonds exists.
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