Dear Friends,
Recently, there have been many articles about the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudí’s magnificent, monumental—and unfinished—basilica in Barcelona. When Gaudí died in 1926, he had worked on its design and construction for more than forty years. Now, one hundred years after his death, the completion of the central tower, making La Sagrada Familia the tallest church in the world, was celebrated. Pope Leo blessed the central spire in a Mass held in its nave.
While the church is beloved by many, it is also controversial for some Barcelonians, because of all the tourists it attracts and that nearby neighbourhoods are potentially threatened by future expansions of the basilica’s grounds. To help finance the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí begged for support on the streets of Barcelona. Today, visitors’ fees contribute millions each year to its ongoing construction. When asked about the timeframe for the church’s completion, Gaudí is said to have remarked, “My client is in no hurry.”
A GIFT FOR THE FUTURE
Great creative leaders and artists often envision projects that will benefit generations far beyond their own. Such a far-reaching view may also, as we know, be part of the activity of great spiritual teachers. On the other hand, in some cases, trying to secure a foothold in the future by launching gigantic constructions can be a reflection of extreme narcissism. We see much of that today. But we also have the welcome examples of those who create truly beneficial projects that will take decades and centuries to fulfill. Such undertakings can be a gift to future generations, some of whom may never know whose vision they are fulfilling! Witness Chögyam Trungpa’s 500-year vision for Naropa University. Witness the ancient Shinto shrines at Ise, Japan, dedicated to Amaterasu Ōmikami, the Sun Goddess, which are rebuilt every twenty years.
When Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was still a young tulku in Tibet, he initiated the construction of a shedra, or a school, to train monks and nuns at Surmang. This came just a few years before he had to leave the country, and many questioned why he pursued this project, knowing it would probably be unfinished. He refused to stop, and indeed the building was incomplete when he had to leave. Yet, decades later, the shedra project was renewed through the work of the Konchok Foundation started by his Western disciples, and completed and inaugurated under the leadership of the Twelfth Trungpa, his successor in Tibet. It is now a school for both monastic and lay students.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS IS GOOD BUSINESS
I often find myself concerned about the completion of the work that I’m involved with, particularly the completion of the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library at Naropa University, wondering if we’ll be able to finish it during my lifetime and that of my generation, and wondering about other projects of the Chögyam Trungpa Institute that exist now in early stages of completion.
An important message of the Sagrada Familia, as well as of the shedra at Surmang and of Naropa University—and so many other big vision projects—is that unfinished business is good business. It’s like the business of enlightenment itself, a subject that I know very little about, but I know that there’s never an end to it. (Okay, there’s never a beginning either, but that’s a topic for another letter.)
One of the greatest blessings that I feel personally, and that I believe we all have received, is to be part of something bigger than ourselves and bigger than our lifetimes. Being in the early generations who are bringing the Practicing Lineages of Buddhism to the West—and to modern society around the world altogether—we have the extraordinary opportunity to be part of something that will help others long after we are gone. Sagrada Familia means Sacred Family in English. And that is surely what we are all part of—a sacred family of the enlightened ones and their friends and relatives.
Ours is a family that has lots of conflicts and disagreements, like the neighbourhoods of Barcelona. But we also want to build something truly decent, good, and even splendid that will benefit others. So we have much to be grateful for, and we can’t walk away from this responsibility.
WORKING, ADDING, DREAMING
Personally, I have a long way to go to accept that things left undone can be the best of all. I keep projecting dates by which we will finish the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library. One reason to make these predictions is so that our supporters will have the well-deserved satisfaction of knowing that this big undertaking will be finished soon, one day quite soon… but not quite yet. And yet, I also do feel that this unfinished business is probably the best business to be in. It means we keep working, we keep adding, we keep dreaming, we keep delivering.
… And we keep asking for your help—because truly, we need your support to continue building the Digital Library. And when we succeed in putting all the recordings of Chögyam Trungpa into this library, there will still be lots to do! The goal of completing the Library, which we hope to celebrate in 2028, may be the end of one phase, but it will surely be the beginning of many others. We will indeed begin to envision the many ways that this material can be shared further in the world. For instance, once we have all these recordings available with captioning in English, people will want them captioned in Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Tibetan, perhaps. That is already happening, in fact. So, we will need to endow this library for the future.
Support the Library and Future Projects
CELEBRATING THIS FLOWER GARDEN OF DHARMA
Although there may be no real end in sight, nevertheless, there are lots of great stopping points on this journey, and many opportunities to appreciate the flowers growing along the path, waiting for our discovery! Go to the Digital Library and see where it leads you. There are lots of beauties in this garden to pick from and many choices for “the best talk he ever gave,” which we hear a lot about! There are so many of them.
In the spirit of Unfinished Business Is Good Business, combined with our ongoing motto No Talk Left Behind, I invite you to support the Digital Library. I bow to all of you who contribute, including donors, staff, and all those who use this wonderful resource, who listen to and view the recordings, and who share them with others.
Support the library
Generally, we invoke the ocean of dharma when completing one of these letters. But since it’s summer, I hope that you’ll join me in celebrating this Flower Garden of Dharma, with its roses, delphiniums, sunflowers, questions, answers, and sadhanas.
With love,
Carolyn Rose Gimian, Executive Director
Image Credits:
- Sagrada Familia images from sagradafamilia.org
- Naropa Seal designed by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
- Naikū shrine illustration by Katsukichi Hattori from History of the Japanese Architecture (open source)
- Photo of the shedra at Surmang via Shambhala Times and the Konchok Foundation
- Eternal knot banner taken by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Preserved & digitized by Shambhala Archives.
- Buddha statue with scaffolding, photo by Harsha Kiriti Kopalley (open source)
- Lotus photo (open source)