Director’s Letter: The Miracle of the Digital Library
Dear Friends of the Chögyam Trungpa Institute,
Greetings! I’m writing today from a house in the Nova Scotia countryside, where I’ve been coming for more than two decades to work on Chögyam Trungpa’s books and other projects.
This summer I’m here to complete the manuscript of Trungpa Rinpoche’s talks on his root teacher, Jamgon Kongtrul. What a gift it is to be doing this work, especially in the solitude of this place.
For the first time, I have excellent internet here, after years of wrestling with little or no internet service. So, I no longer have to rely on DVDs, CDs, cassette tapes, or other physical media. I didn’t have to lug the media players or download huge audio/video files onto my laptop before I left for retreat. All the recordings I need are available to me here to stream – what a wonder!
THE MIRACLE OF THE DIGITAL LIBRARY
With this great connectivity, I could be playing video games all day on my computer! But now there’s the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library. So instead, I’m making good use of the Library’s audio and video recordings. Imagine if we had had the Digital Library during COVID!
As well as using the Digital Library for work, I use it for enjoyment. What a miracle it is that I—or any of us—can be anywhere in the world (with decent internet) and can have access to Chögyam Trungpa’s talks, with interactive transcripts and excellent captioning. I watch videos on my laptop in the evenings. Some nights, when my eyes are tired, I especially treasure being able to put in my airpods, lie in bed, and use my phone to listen to a recording from The Battle of Ego or The True Meaning of Devotion. I’m going to rate this a Five Star Retreat, as far as access to teachings is concerned.
Thanks to Staff, Donors, Users and All!
Please join me in thanking every member of the Digital Library team for all their efforts! The staff so diligently plans our monthly releases, corrects the audio and video files, transcribes talks as well as copy editing, captioning, posting, and describing them. They also create the newsletters and other communications that come with interviews, playlists, amazing graphics, and other adornments.
Let us also offer our thanks to all the donors to the Digital Library. Earlier this year, CTI compiled some statistics on donations to the Library. Since establishing the Chögyam Trungpa Institute at Naropa University in late 2017, we have had more than 600 unique donors, with new supporters popping up every month. The Pema Chödrön Foundation and several other organizations have made regular contributions to the Library for a number of years, as well. We could not do this work without these loyal supporters.
Half the World’s Countries Love the Library!
And finally, thanks to everyone who is accessing the Library. Use of the Library is truly the heart of the Library, what keeps it fresh and relevant. People are listening to talks and watching videos in more than 120 countries. When I wrote that number here, it sounded like a lot of countries, so I asked the BBC Science Focus online to tell me how many countries there are in the world. The answer: Depending on how and who you count, there are between 193 and 237 countries. So, amazingly, the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library is being used in around 50 percent or more of the countries in the world. That is astounding.
The Library receives more than 10,000 unique visits a month. More than half our users are from North America. The UK, Germany, and Australia each have more than 1,000 visitors; India, the Netherlands, France, and Brazil have between 500 and 1,000 visitors; with China and Spain close behind. Unique visitors from Bhutan are over 350; we have at least one recorded visitor from Rwanda, North Macedonia, Jordan, and Iraq to name but a few of the other countries where our work is being accessed. In summary, we have engaged a world-wide audience—modest in numbers but impressive, nonetheless.
Welcoming an Extraordinary Gift
We recently received word that the Khyentse Foundation is giving CTI a grant of $100,000 over two years, to help us complete the General Collection of the Chögyam Trungpa Digital Library. We are honored and so appreciative to receive this contribution and this gesture of confidence in our work, which will help us to meet our goal of completing the library by 2027, the 40th Anniversary of Chögyam Trungpa’s Parinirvana (or death). Thank you, Khyentse Foundation for your generous support!
We aspire to finish this phase of our work while many senior students of Chögyam Trungpa are “still vivid,” a sweet euphemism for “still with us.” But that is not our only motivation:
We need to think big and think long term. The world is in a difficult spot, to say the least. Many things we felt were solid now feel precarious and endangered. We are the guardians of materials that can be an important part of the future of this planet, an essential part, I would say. So let’s truly guard them and let’s get them out there. Let’s do this thing! Please continue to help.
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We love hearing from you. Please also continue to send your feedback, comments, questions and input to us:
contact
With great appreciation and affection from all of us,
Carolyn Gimian, Executive Director
Imagery Credits:
Top Photo: Taken by Carolyn Gimian while on retreat in Nova Scotia, 2025
Map: Google Analytics heat map showing global visits to the Digital Library website
Khyentse Foundation Lion Logo, used by permission