In the early 1970s, an organizational frame-work began to develop in support of the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's steadily expanding teaching activity. In 1970 some of Trungpa Rinpoche's students preceded him to North America and established "Tail of the Tiger" (later Karme-Chôling) a rural retreat near Barnet, Vermont. It was here that Trungpa Rinpoche gave his first American seminar in 1970.
Soon after his arrival at Tail of the Tiger, Trungpa Rinpoche traveled to California on his first American teaching tour, at the invitation of Samuel Bercholz, founder of Shambhala Publications, a Berkeley publishing house established in 1969 to disseminate the teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche.
In 1971, following Trungpa Rinpoche's decision to settle in Boulder, he and a group of his students established a meditation center there, naming it Karma Dzong, and a rural retreat in northern Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Dharma Center. But while he now had a home in Boulder, Trungpa Rinpoche spent much of his time traveling and teaching. Since Trungpa Rinpoche spoke witty, idiomatic English, wore Western clothing, and was comfortably familiar with Western culture, he succeeded, where no Buddhist teacher had before, in establishing a connection with North American language and custom, and his message was well received by a wide audience.
As Trungpa Rinpoche attracted more and more students, local meditation and study centers were established in communities throughout Canada and the United States, in addition to the centers already established by Trungpa Rinpoche and his first North American students. In 1973, Trungpa Rinpoche founded Vajradhatu, with headquarters in Boulder, as an international coordinating association for all these centers, followed in 1974 by the Nalanda Foundation. To ensure that the spiritual development of this expanding community kept pace with its organizational growth, Trungpa Rinpoche continued to travel widely and frequently on teaching tours across North America.
While he was impressed with the enthusiasm and energy which greeted his message, Trungpa Rinpoche was also concerned with the post-1960s dilettantism, or "spiritual shopping", of many North Americans, and he therefore devoted much of his energy to ensuring that his students embraced the "disciplined" meditation practice which Buddhists view as essential for the attainment of basic sanity or enlightenment. This sort of teaching, aimed at the spiritual and intellectual development of the whole person, obviously required a suitable and specialized environment, hence the establishment of Vajradhatu and Nalanda. However, Trungpa Rinpoche was also active as a messenger, as well as a teacher. While much of his teaching was delivered in the form of extended, intensive seminars at Vajradhatu centers, he also gave frequent public talks in many cities and towns across North America, so as to introduce Buddhist philosophy and meditation to new audiences.
At the same time, Trungpa Rinpoche's own family was also growing . In 1971, his first son, Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo, born in northern India in 1962, came to live with Trungpa Rinpoche and his wife, Diana Mukpo. In that same year, Diana Mukpo gave birth to Tendzin Lhawang Tagtrug, followed in 1973 by the couple's second child, also a son, Arthur Gesar Mukpo. All three boys were later recognized as reincarnations of important Tibetan Buddhist gurus, and Ösel Rangdröl was invested by Trungpa Rinpoche with the title of Sawang (Earth Prince) in 1979.
The video recordings of Trungpa Rinpoche's seminars at Karmê-Chöling (formerly Tail of the Tiger) and of his public talks and seminars in Boston were donated to the Shambhala Archives in 1992, by Mr. Jeff Krouk. The remaining tapes were either donated to the Archives in 1992 by the Naropa Institute or were donated by the individual creators of the recordings.
Between 1992 and 1994, the Vajradhatu Archives, in partnership with the Naropa Institute and the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, implemented a Video Recovery Project, in which many of the recordings in this fonds were transferred to more stable video formats. Item level descriptions of transferred videos were prepared during the project.
The fonds consists of black and white video recordings of seminars and public talks delivered by Trungpa Rinpoche at various locations across the United States, and of several important ceremonies involving members of his family which he conducted during the 1970s.
Although the recordings in this fonds capture only a fraction of Trungpa Rinpoche's prodigious teaching activity during this time, they present an interesting cross-section of this work, since both intensive seminars delivered to his more advanced students and public talks intended for a general audience are contained in the fonds.
Many aspects of Trungpa Rinpoche's teachings are recorded here, on such themes as "Zen & Tantra", Buddhist aesthetics, "Tibetan Buddhism & American Karma", and the three main "Vehicles" of Buddhist teaching, Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.
The fonds is arranged in the following series:
1. Seminars
2. Public talks and seminars
3. Ceremonies
Title based on the contents of the fonds.
Video reels show evidence of the problems inherent to the 1/2 inch
reel to reel video format, notably deterioration of signal, loss of lubricant
or binder, and oxide shedding.
Video reels transferred in Video Recovery Project were vacuum-cleaned
during transfer.
Most video reels were donated to the Shambhala Archives by the Naropa
Institute or by Mr. Jeff Krouk in 1992.
Videocassette copies, in S-VHS, 3/4 inch-SP, and VHS formats, are available
in the Shambhala Archives.
Due to preservation concerns, access is permitted to videocassette
copies only.
Copyright is held by the Shambhala Archives and by Diana J. Mukpo.
Inventories attached to series descriptions.
Non-RAD item level descriptions available.
Further accruals are not expected.
Related materials may be found in the following fonds of sound recordings:
Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche fonds; Naropa Institute events
fonds. These are described in: Guide to the Sound Recordings of Vajradhatu
Recordings: Volume One and Volume Three respectively.
Photographic records relating to portions of this fonds also exist,
and are described in: Vajradhatu and Nalanda Foundation Information Office
Photographic Fonds: Finding Aid.
Return to description list.