Shambhala Training was originated by the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the renowned Tibetan meditation master, who was one of the first major teachers of Buddhism in the West and a lineage holder of the Shambhala teachings. Trungpa Rinpoche's interest in the Shambhala teachings dated from his years in Tibet, where he was the supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries. As a young man, he studied Buddhist texts that discuss the legendary kingdom of Shambhala, the path to it, and its inner significance. After teaching Buddhism in the West for over fifteen years, Trungpa Rinpoche began in 1976 to present the Shambhala teachings in a nonsectarian program of study and meditation practice.
Trungpa Rinpoche describes this path as based on "the principles of sacredness, dignity and warriorship." In the autumn of 1976 the first public programs offering this training, called "Weekend Intensive Meditation Programs," were held; however, its acronym, "WIMP," was considered inappropriate and the program was renamed "SIT" or "Shambhala Intensive Training." Shortly thereafter it adopted its present name, Shambhala Training Program. Trungpa Rinpoche designated his chief student and spiritual successor, Ösel Tendzin, as co-founder of the program, which was established on February 22, 1977, by resolution of the board of directors of the Nalanda Foundation, an educational organization founded by Trungpa Rinpoche in 1974 in Boulder, Colorado.
Management of the program was placed under the direction of Karl Springer, a member of the board of directors of Nalanda Foundation. In 1978, Trungpa Rinpoche and Ösel Tendzin, working with a group of seasoned students, began to train them as teachers, called "program directors," of the Shambhala Training Program. In March of that same year, Trungpa Rinpoche presented the teachings of Shambhala Training for the first time at a public talk at the University of Colorado in Boulder. By that time the program had been developed into a series of five weekend programs, or "levels." The first three levels were taught by trained program directors; level four was presented by Ösel Tendzin; and level five by Trungpa Rinpoche.
The first level four and level five programs were held in February and November, 1979, respectively, in Boulder, Colorado. Also in 1979, a course of advanced training for program directors, called "Shambhala Education," was created; later some of the material in this program was incorporated into a series of graduate level programs which followed the completion of the first five levels of training. Shambhala training currently offers a three-part program of study and practice: the Heart of Warriorship, which consists of five levels of training; the Sacred Path of Warriorship, consisting of six levels of training followed by a two-week residential program called the "Warrior Assembly"; and the Shambhala Training Seminary, a three-week residential program.
Each program offers meditation instruction and practice, talks on the Shambhala teachings, group discussions and individual interviews. In 1983 the Shambhala Training Program moved from Boulder, Colorado, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, at 1084 Tower Road. After Trungpa Rinpoche's death in 1987 the program was carried on under the direction of Ösel Tendzin until his death in 1990. It is presently under the direction of Trungpa Rinpoche's eldest son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. The international administration is headed by education director Jeremy Hayward, an early member of the Nalanda Foundation board of directors, who has supervised the program from 1982 to the present time, and associate director Shelley Pierce.
A collection of the teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche on Shambhala, many of which were presented by him in the various levels of the program, were published in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior (Shambhala Publications: 1984). A second volume of teachings is in preparation as of the writing of this description. Sound recordings of Shambhala Training events were created or acquired by and retained in the custody of Vajradhatu Recordings in Boulder, Colorado, a department of Vajradhatu, an association of Buddhist churches founded in 1973 by the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Vajradhatu Recordings recorded Nalanda Foundation events, of which Shambhala Training Program was a division, pursuant to its policy of creating a permanent record of the teaching and administrative activities of Trungpa Rinpoche and other principal teachers and administrators of the Foundation and its divisions. Vajradhatu Recordings (now Kalapa Recordings) retained custody of these sound recordings until their transfer to the Vajradhatu Archives in 1989.
Fonds consists of sound recordings of Shambhala Training events, including
administrative activities; public talks and seminars; graduate and undergraduate
level programs and associated activities; Shambhala Education talks; and
talks to program directors. The majority of these activities were conducted
or presided over by the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, or his
successor the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin.
The fonds is arranged in the following series:
1. Administrative activity
2. Graduate level talk or program
3. Public talk or seminar
4. Shambhala Education talk
5. Talk to directors
6. Undergraduate level talk or program
Title based on contents of 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.
Photographic records related to portions of the fonds are described
in the Vajradhatu and Nalanda Foundation Information Office Photographic
Fonds Finding Aid.
Related materials may be found in the following fonds of sound recordings:
the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche fonds; the Vajradhatu fonds;
the Vajradhatu Seminary fonds; the Nalanda Foundation fonds; the Naropa
Institute events fonds; and the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin fonds.
An inventory of verbatim transcriptions of portions of the fonds exists.
Inventories accompany series descriptions.
For additional details see the Vajradhatu Archives Database of Holdings.
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