This is a lightly edited transcript of a recent Town Hall Meeting
in Halifax. The Town Hall Meeting is a form of community consultation
that the Halifax community has been experimenting with over the
last year. At the first one, last April, President Reoch read
the Sakyong’s Treatise on Society and Organization, which
was followed by some remarks by the President and an open microphone
discussion. At the latest meeting, the community was invited to
inform our Shambhala Congress representatives on the issues that
the community members wanted them to address during the Congress.
-> Click
here to discuss online.
This is a paper prepared by Mr Alex Halpern, of the Board of
Shambhala International about the need for a new structure of
partnerships within a strengthened mandala.
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here to discuss online.
This is a note prepared by the President, based on recent conversations
with the Sakyong.
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here to discuss online.
The Plain-Vanilla Corporate Option, anonymously submitted.
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here to discuss online.
This is a summary of extensive work contributed by Mr Chris Tamdjidi,
Director of Shambhala Europe, who worked closely with Mr Alex
Halpern of the Board of Shambhala International to develop possible
options that could be considered by the Shambhala Congress.
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here to discuss online.
As part of the preparation for the Shambhala Congress, the President
is transmitting to the Shambhala community the results of two
recent investigations into the financial health of our mandala.
Mr Jim Rosen of the Shambhala Trust was asked to examine our financial
systems and assess our overall financial well-being. Mr Chris
Tamdjidi, Director of Shambhala Europe, was asked to assess the
financial health of the major practice centres throughout our
mandala. Their findings are an important wake-up call for our
community. You will find Mr Rosens report on the Shambhala Congress
webpages now. Mr Tamdjidis report, now in its final stages of
completion, will be posted within the coming two weeks.
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here to discuss online.
This resource paper is based on work done by Ms Connie Brock
of the Shambhala Trust who kindly looked into some the issues
surrounding the mandala's fund-raising difficulties and assessed
options for new funding models. This paper has three parts:
- Overall assessment of the current situation with recommendations.
- Note and recommendations on fund-raising.
- Options for a new economic model with a proposal for a New
Economic Model Working Group.
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here to discuss online.
A brief history of the recent developments at Shambhala Mountain
Center submitted by the Shambhala Mountain Center Board of Directors.
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here to discuss online.
The Shambhala mandala is committed to creating enlightened society.
This commitment involves devoting ourselves to personal transformation,
helping to develop a compassionate community of practitioners,
and contributing to the creation of enlightened society in the
world at large. This resource paper sets out four aspects of this
aspiration in relation to the care of people within our own community
and ways of dealing with disputes and complaints.
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here to discuss online.
A proposal for a tiered unified membership policy by Chris Tamdjidi,
Director of Shambhala Europe.
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here to discuss online.
A discussion about expanding Shambhala International's current
membership policies by Wendy Layton.
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here to discuss online.
This submission by Nick Wright addresses the topic of how people
become involved with Shambhala.
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here to discuss online.
Is it true that many members of the Shambhala community are already
deeply engaged with social issues? In preparation for the Shambhala
Congress, President Richard Reoch asked a small number of Shambhala
Centres to survey their members to find out.
-> Click
here to discuss online.
CENTER AND GROUP INPUT
These are reports submitted by Shambhala Centers as part of the
first phase of the Congress—advance consultation. Over the past
few months, local communities gathered to discuss the issues and
concerns they would like addressed at the congress in November.
It is not too late to make contributions. Please send your reports
to congress@shambhala.org
and we will post them here.
Shambhala Centers
Individuals
Advance Discussion by
the Community
The purpose of posting all the topics and proposals in advance
of the meeting in Halifax is to enable centers and groups to discuss
them and give suggestions to the representatives they are sending
to the meeting. This feedback will be taken into account in shaping
the next steps taken on each of these issues.
In early June Richard Reoch circulated a set of questions under
the heading Going Deeper. He has selected a number of extracts
that reflect the range of responses: these are available in Going
Deeper Responses.
As the discussion papers are posted, the community will be notified
by announcements on the Shambhala News Service.
In addition, there will be a series of conference
calls with the President and the facilitators for each topic
to encourage advance discussion of these issues across the community.
These will start at the end of September and continue weekly throughout
October. |
