Zen Blog

Buddhist leaders urge the US Senate to fairly assess impeachment evidence, two scholars create a database of Jataka tales, and Tibetan Nyingma master Garje Khamtrul Rinpoche dies. Tricycle looks back at the events of this week in the Buddhist world.

Clerk of the US House of Representatives Cheryl L. Johnson (2nd, R) and appointed impeachment managers carry the two impeachment articles from the U.S. House of Representatives to the U.S. Senate on Jan. 15. | Ting Shen/Xinhua/Alamy Live News

The American Buddhist nun and bestselling author Pema Chödrön has stepped down as an acharya (senior teacher) at Shambhala International in response to the group’s handling of the allegations of sexual abuse against Shambhala lineage holder Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Pema Chödrön, who had remained a part of the organization after the Sakyong stepped away from teaching and administrative duties, decided to resign after the Sakyong announced that he would resume teaching and a transitional board of directors invited him to lead an upcoming event in France. 

In her letter to the board, released publicly on January 14, 2020, Pema Chödrön wrote, “I have decided to step down as an acharya.  As you know, I haven’t actually served as an acharya for a long time, and I have been considering retiring for a few years.  And now, the time has come.”

She said she was “disheartened” at the Sakyong’s decision to start teaching again:

I experienced this news as such a disconnect from all that’s occurred in the last year and half. It feels unkind, unskillful, and unwise for the Sakyong to just go forward as if nothing had happened without relating compassionately to all of those who have been hurt and without doing some deep inner work on himself.

Then came the letter from the Board informing the Shambhala community that they have invited the Sakyong to give the Rigden Abhisheka [an initiation ceremony] in June, and I was dumbfounded. The seemingly very clear message that we are returning to business as usual distresses me deeply. How can we return to business as usual when there is no path forward for the vast majority of the community who are devoted to the vision of Shambhala and are yearning for accountability, a fresh start, and some guidance on how to proceed?  I find it discouraging that the bravery of those who had the courage to speak out does not seem to be affecting more significant change in the path forward.

Once a month, Tricycle features an article from Inquiring Mind, a Buddhist journal that was in print from 1984–2015 and now has a growing number of back issues archived at inquiringmind.com. To remember the spiritual teacher Ram Dass, who died last month at the age of 88, we are reprinting Inquiring Mind co-founder Wes Nisker’s interview with Ram Dass after he suffered a stroked in 1997. The article first appeared in the Fall 2000 “Impermanence” issue as “Interview with Ram Dass: A Stroke of Luck.” Be sure to check out related articles in the archive, such as Joseph Goldstein and Robert Thurman’s explorations of impermanence and scriptural quotations on impermanence, translated from their original Pali by Buddhist scholar Andrew Olendzki. If you feel so inclined, consider making a donation to help Inquiring Mind continue adding articles to its archive!

♦

When he is not out promoting his new book, Still Here (Riverhead, 2000), or appearing at conferences and benefits, Ram Dass can usually be found at home these days. He lives in a modest house in Tiburon, California, where he likes to sit in a big overstuffed armchair and look out a picture window over the waters of the San Francisco Bay and nearby Marin County hills. He and Inquiring Mind editor Wes Nisker recently met there for a conversation.

Ram Dass (RD): I love my little cabin here overlooking the bay. I’ve always taken vacations near water, so it feels a little like I’m on vacation here. You can hear the cars passing on the road, which runs right beyond these bushes, but you can’t see the road. You look out at the bay, which is so calm, and then you hear the road, which is a river of mechanized humanity. So from my home, I can hear the river of humanity. And then at night, I see their lights across the water in Sausalito. It’s like being on vacation here.

Wes Nisker (WN): Does it seem as though your stroke helped to put you in vacation mode?