ATLANTA SHAMBHALA CENTER
(Thank you for the opportunity)

FORMAT SUGGESTIONS

We would like every question that is posed at the congress to have a section that inquires, “What works and/or what doesn’t work at your center in regard to this issue?”

AREAS OF CONCERN

Finances

• How to deal with scholarships, and work exchange in payment for programs at local centers.
• How to instill a sense of wanting to contribute to programs with either money or labor; a sense that some exchange needs to happen. Is it always the case that some exchange needs to happen?
• How to encourage regular financial support from individual center members for their center and for Shambhala International. Should such support be packaged together with a center sending a percentage of their dues on to SI?
• What percentage of program income, as contrasted with dues, should be sent to Shambhala International as a whole; what is the reason Shambhala Training is the only department that now ask that centers to send a percent of their program income to them.
• What additional things can we, in the centers do, to stabilize Kalapa Court and Shambhala International financially so there is a sense of stability and well being that can radiate from the center of the mandala.
• What is the financial relationship between Kalapa Court, Prvy Purse and Shambhala International?

Enlightened Employer

• What are the standards Shambhala Society should adopt for supporting its paid teachers and paid administration including salaries, health insurance, retirement and regenerative activities-- such as vacations, practice center discounts, etc.

Physical Spaces

• How do we create physical spaces that are inviting and welcome and would, in and of themselves, inspire people to come to centers.
• Could there be a SI central source of   information or guidelines to help local sanghas work with their environments…(Could include such references as Patterned Language.)
• Is there a guideline about where to do the first several levels of Shambhala Training if there is in fact an option for doing it in a space without shrines or where shrines can be inconspicuously covered?

Society and Caregiving

Is there a way or ways to structure community that enhances a local community’s ability to care for its members?

• Do deleks work to accomplish this?
• Would another concept such as “units of care” be more to the point?
• What would such units look like; how would they be defined and what would their function be?
• How to identify people who need help as well as how to respond to them with appropriate resources.
• Is it possible to have suggested guidelines from Shambhala International that address these questions?
• Can the role of the meditation instructor be looked at more closely in terms of community care? 
• Is such a thing as a National Sangha Hot Line feasible. - an 800 number manned by people trained in deep listening and who had at their disposal reliable resource information; bank of  lawyer, doctors, therapists, etc.
• What forms can be developed locally and internationally in caring for the elderly and the ill?

Communications

• How can we improve communication within local sanghas, including communication between the “administrators” and sangha members and between the sangha members themselves – normal, routine communication, as well as conflict resolution – what forms or systems could be developed?
• What are the ways by which  the community at large accesses or should access administrative decisions: at the local and International levels, e.g. actual  attendance at administrative meetings, public distribution of minutes, etc.?
• Is there a view of the role of the Kasung Desung in community other than “conflict resolution?”

Public Controversy

• We are glad to hear that President Reoch is going to pursue a thoughtful, serious dialogue with the older students of Chogyam Trungpa who have issues with Sakyang Mipham, Rinpoche.  This was suggested by one of our sangha as very important.
• Can “Shambhala Buddhism” be more clearly explained and articulated? 

Involvement & Membership

• How can people enter into a local center community?  What are some forms that could help people enter into the community?
• How do we encourage people to “jump in” without them feeling they are being pushed?
• How can we increase sangha member involvement in the community so that it might approach the high level of presence, for example, that existed when the SMR came?
• What does it mean to be a member of a Shambhala Center

• Are there or should there be expected levels of commitment/participation…. financial or otherwise for members?
• What are some possible levels of membership?
• Once membership is articulated, how do we propagate the idea of membership effectively?
• How do we reconcile the idea of “membership” without creating an “insider/outsider” mentality of members/nonmembers?, OR
• How do people who have chosen to be members, wholeheartedly without judgment, welcome and include people who don’t want to become members, but do want to participate on some level in the community
• Can we identify and attempt to resolve persons’ “issues” around membership, including fear?
• Can Shambhala International or a body under its purview lead the way in discussion of the membership question?

• How to encourage/inspire older students to intermingle in community sittings & programs and levels as participants, or in roles as coordinators and aides, not just teachers, directors, administrators etc.
• What are some social forms that would help community members interact socially across lines of geography, race, age, class or length of membership at the centers. E.g. interest groups, such as film, poetry, etc.
• How can people be inspired to contribute generously of their spirit, time, expertise and money?
  1. How do we identify person’s skills and encourage them to use them in the community
  2. How do we bring along new leadership

• How could mentorship be a path for people to get involved in and learn about a local center?
1. What areas might mentorship most likely be implemented
2. What roles could meditation instructors perform as mentors
• Most people who come to our center want to connect with community…How can we make   “SUNDAYS” work as a primary day for connecting with community!
• How do we utilize Shambhala Training Levels and other programs as opportunities to introduce new people to the larger community?
• What are the most effective ways of integrating volunteer energy into the center and how do you prevent volunteer burnout?
• What group meditation practices are most effective in bringing the community together: Sitting, Sadhana of Mahamudra,Sadhana of Mahamudra Feasts,  Maitri Bhavana, Practices for Special Efforts (such as practices for Turbulent Times that Sakyong asked us to do)

How to Address Practical & Avocational Needs of Community

• Many of the people who come to our centers not only want to explore a spiritual path, but they   have personal practical needs with which they need help, such as:
  1. How to work with dying friends;
  2. How to be a good parent; 
  3. How to have intimate relationship  
  4. How to initiate personal change in livelihood or relationships
  5. How to determine right livelihood
• Since there is currently no central support for this type of programming how can we be more forthcoming with this kind of help?
• What guidelines would there be for community trade people, business people, medical people, poets, crafts persons, artists and others who want to share their expertise at local centers through presenting programs?
• How can we identify and distribute information about professional resources available through the sangha, locally, regionally, and globally?

Diversity

• How can we attract young people to our sangha
• What are ways to involve youth once they are attracted
• What is our attraction for older people who haven’t grown old in the sangha
• How do we attract and support multicultural groups in urban areas.

Family/Households

• For the most part our society is made up of household units.  How can we strengthen the view and practice of being householder practitioners, including support of  parents, children, teenagers, elders.
• How do we maintain the integrity of the teachings and container and still make them accessible to householders or students who can’t commit the length of time and money   to do programs away from home?  (For example, could urban weekthuns be designed that would count toward the dathun requirement necessary for advanced training?

Cultural Support

• Shambhala Arts not only enrich our culture, but are powerful magnetizing elements. Why aren’t our Shambhala Arts supported from the center of the mandala and how can they be?

Social Outreach

• When we talk about social outreach, how do we see it evolving?  Is social outreach under the auspices of the “organization”, locally or internationally, as an official function? or  “included in the Shambhala mandala’s umbrella, or a local center’s “umbrella",  because of , and dependent on individual members  own aspirations and interests with minimal or no official  administrative and financial support. (For example, the Prison Dharma Network)
1. If it is becomes an “ official function” of the   “organization” how is one worthy activity chosen over another?
2.  If it’s dependent on individual members aspirations and interests, is there potential for conflicting demands on the resources and facilities of a local center?
3. What other areas do we need to consider in addressing the question of What is the place of Social Outreach and how does it integrate with the rest of the community activities?
• How can we move back and forth between the Shambhala Container and the larger population without  contaminating or becoming contaminated.  What are the forms that could develop which would allow us to engage properly in the world while simultaneously maintaining a container that cultivates sanity?

Community Outreach

• How do we act as Shambhala Ambassadors other groups who are interested in having someone come and speak.
1. In case, as well as other presentations of the center to the public, such as open houses, what are the criteria for persons representing the Shambhala Center?
• How do we make the existence of Shambhala Society known to larger society?
• The neighborhood where a center is located matters.  How can we instill the importance of investigating the connection to the neighborhood where we’re located and how to act as good neighbors?

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