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New Shambhala Meditation

The enlightened society

How to motivate oneself: Introduction

Of course we know how many problems there are in this world today. Nuclear, environmental, psychological.

The real problem originates in the mind actually, which is the source of the rest.

If one cannot face the problems that our mind is causing -even without noticing- one can never face any of the problems of the world one is facing. And one cannot expect miracles to happen, but every small act of tidying our mind might has some effect to this world.

Let me stress that there is no goal in life apart from the dharma which can be translated as the truth. And in New Shambhala I am not being a Buddhist but a human being. I hope that everyone of every religion or other background is listening.

So called ordinary life is growing up, going to school, finding a job and eventually death. But there is nothing to it: We experience more pain than we want and we experience pleasure. But the quality of ordinary life can be compared to a cat chasing its own tail, it is never ending. Working for your own money is important, but only if your life can be directed towards the truth.

The truth is that suffering is a basic quality of existence. Suffering since we hold on the illusion of possessing a self. As long as we cling to that habit there will be suffering. Suffering can only be removed by removing the illusion of self. And doing so can be done in the practice of the three vehicles.

The enlightened society

What is Shambhala

In the time of the Buddha there lived a king named Suchandra. The king didn’t want to renounce his worldly responsibilities but still practice the dharma. The Buddha gave him the Kalachakra tantra. By practicing this text many of the citizens of his kingdom Shambhala became enlightened. It has been said that the realm Shambhala ascended in heavenly spheres, but Shambhala may also exist physically.

Shambhala in a pure land. Those who seek ik by travelling will not find it. But it exists in our context of space and in our current timeframe for those who have the mental capacities to see it.

The Tibetan lama Chögyam Trungpa brought the Shambhala teachings to the west. He taught them in the seventies and eighties of the latter century. But nowadays the organization that he found, which is called Shambhala, is in a crisis.

As for myself, a former student of Trungpa: I see a continuation of the establishment of an enlightened society in New Shambhala. A movement without gurus. The goal is to keep authoritarian structures as limited as possible and to strive for transmission an a small scale level. There is hardly any ceremonial or exotic stuff. You can do the New Shambhala meditation on a chair, just as well. The idea of New Shambhala is that is secular, not religious. Although some meditation of New Shambhala comes from Buddhism it doesn’t have to be Buddhist per sé. People of al religious or other background are encouraged to join in.

The New Shambhala meditation has a build up: first vehicle, second vehicle, third, than second again and at last the first vehicle. The guided meditation follows in the website.