SHAMBHALA TRIATHLONS TO SUPPORT SURMANG

So far,  New York and Boston Shambhala Centers have  held successfull Triathlon events.  More events by other centers are still being planned for later in the year.  Please click here to read about the Boston and New York events. 

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has personally taken the lead in fundraising for Surmang in the past by running marathons dedicated to Surmang.  Now that he has stopped doing marathons, he’s asked the sangha to take over for him in this endeavor. 

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in Tibet, 2001 photo by Peter Seidler

"I have now run nine marathons over the past years to support the rebuilding of Surmang Dutsi Til. Thank you to everyone who supported me in this effort....However, it's now time for you to take over from me in running (or sitting, or walking) for Tibet, to complete the vital dharma projects that we are supporting there." 

              --Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche

The Shambhala Triathlons consist of sitting meditation, walking, running, or bicycling on behalf of Surmang Dutsi Til.  NOTE!!  Centers are free to imporvise the form this takes.  A special website for the Shambhala Triathlons has been created at http://shambhalatriathlon.pbwiki.com:80/  

  To find out more about our SPRING TRIATHLON FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN FOR SURMANG please click here!  (This page will evolve as the situation progreses!)

To read more about our progress at Surmang, please click on SHEDRA UPDATE REPORT,  April 2, 2009

Clerestory on the lhakang roof, Surmang shedra, March 2009

  raing in Boulder, winter 2008)

WELCOME!

The Surmang region and monasteries in eastern Tibet have, for many centuries, been the home of the Trungpa tulkus (incarnate lamas) and a major place of practice for Tibetan Buddhism.   When the Communist Party' took control of  Tibet ,  the 11th Trungpa Rinpoche escaped from Surmang (his spiritual home)  in the late 1950s.   The practice of Buddhism was forbidden for many years and the Surmang monasteries were razed to the ground during the Cultural Revolution.  

During this period, the abbot of Surmang, Chögyam Trungpa XI Rinpoche, after escaping into exile, became one of the first and most influential teachers of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, founding the Shambhala network of contemplative centers.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, successor to his father as the head of the international Shambhala community, has now accepted major responsibility for the rebuilding of Surmang, working closely with the people of Surmang. A crucial element is the shedra (school) for monastic and lay students. At present, there is no school in the Surmang Dutsi Til valley.

The Konchok Foundation, founded in 2001 by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche together with Lady Diana Mukpo (widow of Trungpa XI Rinpoche), provides financial and other support for the rebuilding of Surmang, especially the Surmang shedra. Support is also provided to the Trungpa XII Tulku and to a number of monks who are undertaking extended group meditation retreats in the area. The foundation also provides some resources to other monasteries closely associated with Surmang or with Mipham Rinpoche.

Beyond the specifics of these efforts, the Konchok Foundation is helping to initiate a remarkable coming together between two communities of people, Tibetan and Western, who share a common dharma lineage tradition but are distant from each other geographically and culturally. Exchange visits have now included travel by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche to Surmang in 2001 and 2004 and by Surmang Khenpo Tsering Gyurme to North America every year since 1999. Commencing in 2004, the two communities began working jointly together on the rebuilding of Surmang. In the next several years, we will also be working together on educational programming in Tibet, and on teaching visits to the West.

Please contact us for more information.

Khenpo Tsering helped us to revise this introduction to our website.