Greetings from Gampo Abbey

Fall was a very full season at Gampo Abbey. The passing away of our beloved elder Ani Tsultrim Palmo was our most poignant time. See the item below, and click the link at the end to learn more about Ani Palmo’s fascinating life.

Along with saying our final goodbyes to Ani Palmo, we said goodbye to residents who returned to lay life and welcomed several new residents to the Abbey. We also welcomed Barbara Badessi as our new Director and extended our profound thanks to Les Ste Marie for his years of devoted service as Director and wished him well in his new role as Chagdzo (bursar) for the Abbey.

Our study and practice life was very rich in the fall. We had two shedra classes, an Ocean of Dharma retreat, and a Way of Shambhala program. They are described below.

And we are pleased to present a series of talks by Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, now available on the Gampo Abbey website.

As we put this newsletter together, we are excitedly getting ready for our annual Yarne retreat, which begins January 13 and concludes March 6. Gampo Acharya Ani Pema Chödrön will lead the intensive retreat and teach on the Four Limitless Ones (boundless love, compassion, joy, and equanimity).

We hope you enjoy reading about the goings on at the Abbey, and we look forward to being in touch again next year.

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The Passing of Ani Tsultrim Palmo

Our beloved senior monastic Ani Tsultrim Palmo passed away on October 19. During her last few days in hospital in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia, not far from the Abbey, she was attended to with great care by the staff there, many of whom have known her for several years. She was also wakefully accompanied 24 hours a day by the residents of the Abbey and by other sangha members who live in the area. She was surrounded at all times by the love and care of all of us at the Abbey and the larger sangha, her family. At the moment of her passing she was listening to the voice of her beloved sister in the dharma and teacher, Ani Pema Chödrön, who had recorded the Tibetan Book of the Dead in preparation for this day.

A sukhavati was held at the Abbey on October 22. Abbey residents and local sangha members shared loving remembrances of Ani Palmo, and many messages of appreciation were read from sangha members from around the world. A 49-day ceremony was held on December 6 and was followed by a joyous celebration of Ani Palmo’s life.

To learn more about Ani Palmo and her life, including an interview with her from 2007, click here.

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Fall Shedra Classes

Uttaratantra Shastra with June Crow

The vast array of the Buddha’s teachings can be categorized into three "turnings" of the wheel of dharma. The first turning focuses on explaining the dynamic interaction we have with our world, how this results in a cyclical existence characterized by suffering, and how we can attain liberation from this. The second turning focuses on the lack of solidity or inherent existence of all that we are and experience and emphasizes the development of compassion for all beings.

The third turning focuses on "Buddha Nature" – the inherent and originally unstained and awake quality of our minds that we only need uncover and realize to attain enlightenment. Of the rich tradition of commentaries explaining and expounding these teachings, the Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra by Maitreya is one of the most important. For two weeks this October the Gampo Abbey community studied this inspiring text under the skilled guidance of long-time Buddhist practitioner June Crow.

Our class was rich with lively discussions about how these teachings can influence the view we have of our daily lives and our practice and we left with a greater appreciation of the profound treasure that is with us all the time.

Paths and Bhumis with Israel Lifshitz

In December, Israel Lifshitz taught a four-week class on the paths and bhumis to enthusiastic Abbey residents. Using a root text from Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye and a commentary by Acharya Lama Tenpa, he described the five paths that are traditionally laid out in the spiritual journey – the path of accumulation, the path of preparation (also called the path of joining), the path of seeing, the path of familiarization (also called the path of meditation), and the path of no more learning.

Israel paid particular attention to the path of accumulation and described in illuminating detail the development of shamatha in this path including the obstacles to shamatha and their antidotes, as well as the ten root afflictions described by Asanga. After describing the nature and fruition of each of the five paths, Israel then related the paths to the ten bhumis and the mastery of the ten paramitas. He concluded the class with a description of the fruition of the path – Buddhahood and its kayas (bodies), wisdoms, qualities, and activities.

Israel’s great teaching skill and his knowledge and passion for the subject made for a most interesting class. We all now have a better idea of where we are on the path and what lies ahead.

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Ocean of Dharma Retreat

The Abbey hosted three programs at our Sopa Choling Retreat Center November 1 through December 15. Individual retreatants from Canada, the US, and Holland did their personal practices in their rooms for two weeks and then joined a Ngondro/Werma retreat led by Acharya Eve Rosenthal through November 30. Joining them were retreatants from Canada and the US, plus two life monastics from the Abbey. As Acharya Eve commented, the powerful Sopa Choling shrine room overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence is full of blessings from the years of practice that the three-year retreatants have done there. Then a small, but mighty-in-their-exertion group of Maritimers sat a half dathun in that same shrine room, from December 1-14, led by Cara Thornley and assisted by Zane de Noncourt.

In her first talk, Acharya Eve talked about the right place for the best teaching for the best sangha during the best time with the best results. At least one retreatant concluded that this retreat had all those qualities!

Adding to the glorious atmosphere were seals and whales swimming about, a bobcat, and a sky-blazing eagle! It was, as advertised, an Ocean of Dharma practice for those six weeks.

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Fearlessness in Everyday Life

In December, Shastri Alice Hasprey, assisted by Richard Hasprey, taught Fearlessness in Everyday Life, the third Way of Shambhala program. (Ani Pema Chödrön taught the first two programs, Contentment in Everyday Life and Joy in Everyday Life, at the Abbey last spring.) In this five-class program that mixes teaching, discussion, contemplation, dharma art, and work in small groups, we are taught to gently touch and get to know our fear. Once we are intimate with our fear and its companion, hope, we can go beyond it and soar fearlessly through open space, like the mythical garuda.

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Talks by Judith Simmer-Brown

In this set of six talks given at the 2004 Yarne retreat at Gampo Abbey, Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown discusses the three levels of vows taught in Tibetan Buddhism:

• The Hinayana Pratimoksha vows of individual liberation
• The Mahayana Bodhisattva vow to liberate all beings
• The Vajrayana samaya vow of Sacred Outlook

She lays the ground work for this exploration by describing in engaging detail the kleshas, our afflictive emotions, as the cause of our suffering. This leads naturally to an extended discussion of karma and the different ways karma can be understood.

Click here to go to these talks.

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Openings for Residents in 2011

Gampo Abbey has a limited number of openings for our residential monastic training program for 2011. The next entry date is April 2011.

Under the direction of Ani Pema Chödrön, the year ahead will continue our exploration of how the Shambhala teachings provide the backbone of monastic training at Gampo Abbey. As a member of the community you must be willing to fully commit to participate in this ongoing experiment in creating enlightened society. On a day-to-day level this means fully surrendering to the daily schedule of participating in: morning and evening chants, 3 to 4.5 hours of meditation practice, and 4 hours of service to the community.

We practice silence together from 7:30 pm until lunch the following day. Living at Gampo Abbey is demanding both physically and psychologically; it is not a place to come and be comfortable but rather an environment designed to assist you in waking up. All residents, whether lay or monastic, follow the five precepts of abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying, or taking intoxicating substances. Gampo Abbey is a non-smoking environment.

We require a minimum nine-month commitment. Preference will be given to those who have taken refuge, are interested in taking temporary monastic ordination during their stay, and who have completed the first three Shambhala Training levels. Program fees are $225 per month; this includes shared accommodations and three vegetarian meals per day.

For more information on the residential monastic training program and to download an application form, please visit our website.

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Supporting Shambhala Monasticism

It was the heartfelt wish of the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche that the monastic tradition be developed and nurtured in the West. Each year at this time, the monastic community at Gampo Abbey reaches out to ask for financial assistance from its friends and supporters. As we enter our second quarter century, under the spiritual guidance of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, holder of the Shambhala lineage; our Abbot, the Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; our main teacher, Gampo Acharya Pema Chödrön, and the senior monastics, the Abbey community is committed to developing monasticism within the tradition of Shambhala Buddhism drawing from its Kagyu and Nyingma lineage.

Please keep the Abbey in mind when you are making your end-of-year donations. Please visit our Support page to help us. And thank you very much for your support!

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