MINNEAPOLIS SHAMBHALA CENTER

The following represents the comments and suggestions garnered from the Minneapolis community in response to the

Shambhala Congress Vision:

To set the background for our comments in this regard we interpreted the presentation of the Congress Vision to center around two broad themes or objectives (hereafter referred to as the themes of the congress or simply the themes) and multiple discussion topics relating to specific ways in which those themes might be addressed, expanded upon and carried out.

In addition to these goals of vision we also singled out three goals of practice that we would like kept in mind as the congress is planned.

• Networking.  The Shambhala Congress should provide fertile ground for community members from across the mandala to meet, share ideas and build upon the collective wealth of knowledge.
• Modeling Community.  The Shambhala Congress itself should be a model of how communities can work together toward a common vision in a rich and equitable manner.
• Standing Working Groups.  The Shambhala Congress should lay the groundwork for the creation and support of ongoing, mandala-wide committees that can interact throughout the year to brainstorm pertinent topics and develop practical guidelines and processes that will move our mandala in the direction of its vision.  Each year, then, the Congress would provide a forum for these committees to convene (physically rather than electronically), assess their progress and re-energize themselves.

That said our comments regarding the discussion topics is as follows:

1. Blossoming Outward.  Although “blossoming outward” was mentioned as a theme of the congress, none of the mentioned discussion topics related to the specifics of how we might carry that out.  In particular we saw the second and third bullet points listed under the heading of “blossoming outward” as being critical discussion topics.
1. Extending our wisdom to other organizations. 
2. Deepening our dialogue around issues of social change and global politics. 
2. Building the Shambhala Mandala.  It was thought that the discussion topic labeled “Building the Shambhala Mandala” is too broad to be simply one among the many topics.  This topic might need to be cast more precisely, possibly building in the following way:
1. Sense of inclusion.  Some centers feel close to the heartbeat of things while others might feel they are on the fringe or frontier.  There is little cohesiveness in the mandala beyond the uniformity of the teachings.  How can we create the sense that we are all part of the same whole and that that whole is a tightly woven tapestry?  This sense begins with a strong vision and authentic leadership much of which is already in place but…
2. Communication.  Having the vision is not enough.  In general it seems that the day to day logistics of communication and organization is missing.  How shall we handle communication among the many Shambhala centers, between centers and International, and between International and the centers?  Do the lines between International and the centers need to be opened up so that they flow freely in both directions and, if so, what might that look like given the limited budget of International?  How can Centers have a clearer awareness of other centers so that the manadala begins to feel more like a web rather than a wheel?  But communication is not the end... 
3. Resource sharing.  The point of clear communication is the practical application of the adage “strength in numbers”, i.e. knowledge and resource sharing that will fit the pieces together.  Each center has its own strengths and blind spots.  How can we quickly communicate what has worked and what hasn’t worked so that every center is not reinventing the wheel?  How can we foster mentoring relationships to make sure tacit knowledge is passed on?  Might we build the mandala in chunks by cultivating a stronger sense of regional unity with regional ownership of leaders and resources?
3. Shambhala Norms and Customs.  We would like to have some discussion about how we might manifest Shambhala in our day to day working and home lives not simply in our centers and programs.  How do Shambhalians behave?  How would people—strangers, colleagues, co-workers, and neighbors—know us to be Shambhalians?  In what ways do we practice in addition to formal practice?
4. Principles of Conduct.  We would like to have discussions around the principles of conduct and again discuss how these could be better incorporated into our living, our home and working lives.  Particularly we would like to discuss conduct around sex and power and also discuss how to deal with things in a crisp and formal way when misdeeds do occur.
5. Shambhala History.  Start capturing a Shambhala history and learn how we can reconcile our principles of conduct, our norms and customs with the crazy wisdom embodied in and emanating from an enlightened teacher.  When people ask us “How is that not a cult?” or “Didn’t your teacher die of alchoholism?” how might we respond?  Everyone has their own answers to questions like these and, to be sure, part of this path is discerning our own answers.  However, there is also a lot to gain by listening to the answers of those who have been around for a while.  Before too many first generation Shambhalians—people who knew Trungpa personally—die off it would be good to start assembling this first hand knowledge, start creating a sense of what has gone before and generating some feeling of being part of something not only in space but in time.  Why isn’t there a biography of Trungpa picking up where Born in Tibet leaves off?  
6. Death and Dying.  There needs to be a discussion of death and dying both in how we care for our aging contingent and how we can offer practical help for people who would like to deal with their dead in a Shambhala or Buddhist way.  Some of this relates back to norms and customs but also brings up very practical questions surrounding topics that Americans in particular are often loathe to discuss.  What is the best way to remember Shambhala in my will?  Are there any Shambhala retirement communities?  What is appropriate care for elderly or senile loved ones?  How can I help my loved ones through a painful or otherwise difficult dying process?  What support is there for a Buddhist/Shambhala funeral and how can I go about getting it done?

Planning and conducting the Congress

1. Registration.  The congress should center around plenary sessions, keynote speeches and presentations and informal, informational gatherings to support networking.  In addition, there should be breakout sessions in the morning and afternoons each day for working groups to take up particular topics of discussion.  These groups should be 10-15 people organized around a particular discussion topic in a format that suits the participants.  In addition it would be good if participants focused on one discussion topic throughout the congress in order to create some momentum and energy in the work.  In this way these breakout sessions would be like tracks for which the participants could sign up.  In order to provide for an appropriate size and format conducive to the participants we should have people register for the topics that they are most passionate about (listing their 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd choices) and also indicate their preferences for format.
2. Poster Sessions.  With networking being one of the main purposes of the Congress we felt something like a poster session might be a perfect opportunity to share ideas and meet people from other centers who are doing innovative things.  These would be informal gatherings in a hall where people could set up a pre-made poster outlining something that went well at their center.  Participants could then wander around and quickly pick up on things that might fly at their own centers.
3. Participant Packet.  It might be nice if people could receive a packet upon registration that contained a set of 30 or 40 “business cards” listing the participant’s center, name and address in order to facilitate networking opportunities.  This packet might also contain a three ring binder and encourage anyone with information to disseminate to three-hole punch their literature or even make three hole punches available at the congress.

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