Dear Friends of the Chögyam Trungpa Institute,
Today I’d like to share some thoughts about the change in leadership at Naropa University and other changes in the larger world within which the Chögyam Trungpa Institute resides.
The Changing of the Guard(ian) at Naropa
October saw the departure of Naropa’s President for the past thirteen years, Charles Lief. This transition began during the summer, after Naropa had selected a new President, Paul Burkhardt. Paul and Chuck overlapped for several months, culminating in a Gratitude Reception for Chuck and Judy Lief and then the formal Inauguration of Paul Burkhardt on October 18th. Chuck will continue to work on special projects for Naropa and will be an advisor to the President and to the university. He will also continue to serve on the Advisory Board of CTI.
I joyfully attended the Gratitude and Inauguration events as the representative for CTI. At the reception for Chuck and Judy, Jane Carpenter Cohn and I presented a photograph by Robert Del Tredici, entitled “Flower Moon,” as our gift to Chuck and Judy, in gratitude for their many years of supporting the legacy of Chögyam Trungpa and helping to foster CTI in numerous ways.
At the end of the evening, Chuck spoke to the moment that Naropa finds itself in. Here are excerpts from his timely remarks:
Naropa: The Most Important Institution of Higher Education in the Country
“….We in this room are the Naropa family. I would invite us all to suspend conventional beliefs in what a strong institution is in the West. Suspend the notion of how big we need to be, how much our endowment needs to be. Suspend all of those things. Then, let us come to the realization that Naropa, I truly believe, is the most important institution of higher education in the country!”
Naropa Is the Antidote
“Graduates of Naropa are running theater companies and working in inner cities and in prisons. They’re opening clinics and providing mental health care on a scale that is completely out of proportion to our size. They are poets, chaplains, and yoga teachers. They are doing the work that can be an antidote to the difficult world that we are in. Altogether, the Naropa community is that antidote.
The people in this room, all of you, have been responsible for keeping this place alive for half a century. Our jobs together have been to keep Naropa and us completely accessible and available.
The donors, the faculty, the staff who are in this room, and generations of students are doing extraordinary work. To spend the last thirteen years as the President of Naropa, whatever part I’ve played in allowing us to thrive, has been a complete honor for me.”
Weird Turns and Extraordinary Possibility
“It was inevitable, when I was nineteen years old, and had my first meeting with Trungpa Rinpoche, that my life was going to take a weird turn. I didn’t know how many weird turns it was going to take, and there were a lot, but the unplanned journey back to Boulder in 2012 was, I think, the most extraordinary.
And it’s been extraordinary because of all of you. I have so much gratitude for what you’re doing. And now, I’m looking forward to supporting Paul Burkhardt in every way that I can, as our new president.
We’re at an exciting moment. We’re at a critical moment. We’re at a risky moment. We’re at a fragile moment. And we’re at a moment of strength. All of those put together is at the heart of what this university is. So, I invite you all to think about ways to be supportive of the institution.”
Naropa: As Crucial Today as It Ever Has Been
“Let us all acknowledge that Naropa is as crucial today as it ever has been! And I hope that our work together will flower in ways we can’t even imagine.”
THE INAUGURATION OF PAUL BURKHARDT: OUR HISTORY IS OUR FUTURE
Just days later, Naropa held a splendid ritual of inauguration for Dr. Paul Burkhardt. There was a procession with banners in the colours of the five wisdoms, a shrine to honor Naropa and its faith traditions, many hands joined in Anjali, a sash for the President, comments from Chuck Lief, and then prescient Presidential remarks from Paul Burkhardt.
Here are excerpts, demonstrating the close connections that bind together Naropa, CTI, and the mission of its founder:
“Over fifty years ago, Naropa began our great 500 year experiment. Many people here in this room were present at that founding moment.”
Enlightened Society, Servant Leadership, and Contemplative Education
“When the mindful teachings of Tibetan Buddhism came together with the creative power of the Beat Poets in the early 1970s, Naropa began developing the mission, values, pedagogy, and practices that form the foundation for an enlightened society. Today, Naropa continues to model the servant leadership—the transformational leadership—towards the world we want and we need. Naropa’s approach to contemplative education—its mindful and playful engagement with making and remaking utopia; its ongoing commitment to creating space for every wisdom tradition and way of spiritual practice; its development of courage, creativity, collaboration and solidarity in action; Naropa’s approach to contemplative education—is the medicine, the cure the world needs to quiet the rising waves of division, fear, greed, and apathy we face.”
Amiri Baraka and His Exploration of How Our Future Grows from Our History
“One of the early teachers at Naropa was Amiri Baraka, an African American poet, philosopher, and activist. Baraka’s work explored ways that our future grows from our history, emphasizing that histories of struggle against violent forms of domination provide the essential foundation for imagining and building movements to end suffering and create an enlightened society.
Baraka’s theme resonates widely, including in the Lakota scholar—activist Nick Estes’ book, Our History is the Future. In it, Estes places the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protest at Standing Rock within the centuries-long struggle for decolonization. His analysis locates wisdom traditions in social justice movements, alongside the forging of critical consciousness. This analysis inspires me, and I just love the declaration—Our History is the Future.
Likewise, at Naropa, and throughout his work, Amiri Baraka argued that a people’s history—their culture, their music, their poetry—tells and retells the ongoing story of past struggles and evolution and also prefigures ways we might move forward into a more mindful and liberated future. Our future is built by remembering, reclaiming, reflecting on, and continuing the visions, struggles, lessons learned, and the victories of the past, not by ignoring them, and certainly not by allowing them to be erased. A central tactic of authoritarianism is the erasure of historical records, institutions, monuments, and straight-up historical facts to wipe out our consciousness of struggles for liberation, and our access to the wisdom and praxis forged in movements.
But Not at Naropa.
Since the founding sparks flew some fifty years ago, Naropa has brought together teachers and artists from different cultures and wisdom traditions. The philosophies, performances, and the spiritual practices from peoples’ pasts are living history books of their lives, struggles, and resilience. Bringing them alive through practice and performance today is not a passive remembrance, but an active process of asserting these histories as a foundation for future action.”
Naropa’s Own History Is the Future of Higher Education
“Given the current active attacks on history, on ethnic studies, on academic freedom, and on truth itself, we can say now that Naropa’s own history is the future. Naropa’s history is the future of higher education, the future the world wants, the future the world needs.
At Naropa, the disciplines of mindfulness, courageous compassion, and creative expression are woven into the culture of the learning community. They invite us to engage the world not with fear or cynicism, but bravely with presence, purpose, and care. In closing, I offer my intentions and aspirations for our community this year. May we be brave and courageous in our learning and practice. May we be wise and timely in our planning and actions. May we be compassionate and kind with one another AND ask for honest feedback and accountability. May we remain steady and support and believe in one another when the world feels uncertain, even threatening. May we know and truly feel the love and the power of the Naropa community. Through our creativity and our solidarity, may we transform the crises facing the world into portals towards a more beautiful, just, and flourishing future for all!”
FARE THEE WELL TO FOUNDING MOTHERS OF SHAMBHALA
If all this were not too much to take in, there were other seismic shifts in the past months.
On September 11th, Diana J. Mukpo, the widow of Chögyam Trungpa and long-term protector of his teachings and his mandala, passed away after a long battle with cancer. She had been instrumental in founding the Chögyam Trungpa Institute, had served on our Advisory Board and had ensured that the Institute could publish the audio/video recordings of Trungpa Rinpoche’s work, long into the future. She was a close friend and a long-term mentor for me. You can learn more about Lady Diana, as she was affectionately called, at the Chronicles tribute site, and the Shambhala tribute site.
Lastly, in late October, Martha Bonzi passed away. A founding donor to Naropa University, she gave with extraordinary generosity and humility to provide the funds that allowed Naropa to grow, establish, and expand itself. She also funded many other parts of the mandala that Chögyam Trungpa established in the West. Her generous gifts supported preservation, digitization, and transcription of his teachings at the Shambhala Archives, as well, presaging the work of the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library.
These powerful and wise women are cornerstones in the creation of Shambhala. Please join me in saluting and bowing to them both in thanks.
Let us also remember this invocation: Our History Is Our Future! And let us make it so, remembering that The Future Is Open.
Within these changing times, while saying goodbye to these and many others who have created and protected the Shambhala world, we must also find the resources to carry this work into the future. Paul emphasized that Our History Is Our Future. Chögyam Trungpa proclaimed: The Future Is Open! (This was also the title of his book on Karma). By that, Trungpa Rinpoche meant that, although we inherit much from the past, including many challenges, we also have the ability to make decisions that will alter the future. In that vein, I invite you to consider a gift to Naropa and a gift to CTI. We need your support, both now and going forward, to ensure that these endeavours flourish in the future.
At the Lief Gratitude Reception, the Chuck and Judy Scholarship Fund was announced. It will benefit students at Naropa for generations to come. You can learn more and give at this link.
And to donate to CTI, to allow us to complete the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library and to also fund other important projects, please follow the link or scan the QR code below:
Support the Digital Library
In closing, we join with Naropa in celebrating its past, its present, and its aspirations for the future. With deep appreciation and a bow of thanks for all you give and do,
Carolyn Gimian, Executive Director
Imagery Credits:
Photo of Rocky Mountains: Open Source Photo.
Photo of Carolyn Gimian and Jane Carpenter Cohn presenting “Flower Moon” photo by Robert Del Tredici to Chuck and Judy Lief (seated). Photo used by permission of Naropa University.
Photo of Chuck and Judy Lief giving remarks, used by permisison of Naropa University.
Chögyam Trungpa speaking at a podium at Naropa University, Photo by Hudson Shotwell.
Photo of President Paul Burkhardt delivering remarks at the Inauguration, used by permisison of Naropa University.
Photo of President Paul Burkhardt Exchanging a Bow with Mark Wilding, Co-Chair of the Naropa Board of Trustees; used by permission of Naropa University.
Photo of Amiri Baraka and Allen Ginsberg at Naropa, courtesy of Naropa University.
Photo of Paul Burkhardt and family in Anjali at the Inauguration, used by permission of Naropa University
Photo of Lady Diana Mukpo, taken by Carolyn Rose Gimian with help from Marvin Moore. Used by Permission.
Photo of Martha Bonzi in an Easter Bonnet, taken by Helen Bonzi. Used by permission.
Sunset photo by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.