Our Lineage

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is the head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, a spiritual and family lineage that descends through his family, the Mukpo clan. This tradition emphasizes the basic goodness of all beings and teaches the art of courageous warriorship based on wisdom and compassion.

Rinpoche is the son and heir of the Vidyadhara, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. His background embraces both Eastern and Western cultures. Born in India, he received spiritual training from his father and other distinguished lamas and received further education and training in Europe and North America. He now travels extensively teaching worldwide.

"When we talk about enlightened society, we aren't talking about some utopia where everyone's enlightened. We're talking about a culture of human beings who know the awakened nature of basic goodness and invoke its energy in order to courageously extend themselves to others."

Visit mipham.com for more information about Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was one of the most dynamic teachers of Buddhism in the 20th Century. He was a pioneer in bringing the Buddhist teachings of Tibet to the West and is credited with introducing many Buddhist concepts into the English language and psyche in a fresh and new way.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the former supreme abbot of Surmang Monasteries in Tibet, is known as the foremost meditation master and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. In the early 1970s, he founded Naropa University, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America, along with over 100 meditation centers worldwide and authored two dozen books on meditation, poetry, art and the Shambhala path of warriorship.

"The Buddhist tradition teaches the truth of impermanence, or the transitory
nature of things. The past is gone and the future has not yet happened, so
we work with what is here -- the present situation. This actually helps us
not to categorize or theorize. A fresh, living situation is taking place
all the time, on the spot. This noncategorical  approach comes from being
fully here, rather than trying to reconnect with past events. We don't have
to look back to the past in order to see what people are made out of. Human
beings speak for themselves, on the spot."

Read Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's biography on the Shambhala International website.

Acharyas (Senior Teachers)

The acharyas of Shambhala are senior teachers appointed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. As the Sakyong's representatives, the acharyas, who are empowered to offer refuge and bodhisattva vows, bring the continuity of the lineage into the living teaching environment of local Shambhala centers. Los Angeles has the good fortune to host many of the acharyas as visiting teachers, and we are extremely honored to have a special ongoing relationship with Acharya Allyn Lyon who spends extended periods of time here twice a year. Shambhala Meditation Center of Los Angeles also hosts ongoing programs using the video and audio tapes of Acharya Pema Chödrön.

Pema Chödrön

"Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. It is all we ever have so we might as well work with it rather than struggling against it. We might as well make it our friend and teacher rather than our enemy."

Acharya Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun, resident teacher at Gampo Abbey, and the author of such popular books as The Places That Scare You, When Things Fall Apart  and Start Where You Are. Her life experiences as wife, mother, and school teacher, and her years of study and practice with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche uniquely empower Pema to speak to Westerners, both Buddhists and non-Buddhists.

For more information on-line, visit Pema's website or find information about her books.

Eric Spiegel

Eric Spiegel has been of student of the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche since 1971when he was given a copy of Trungpa’s book “Meditation in Action”, just after his 19th birthday. "It was the first time I realized that someone else knew who I was and how I saw the world," he says. He began working at Naropa Institute when it was founded in 1973. On the Vajra Regent's instructions, he moved to Karmê Chöling in 1978 and made a genuine connection with practice and teaching. Eric gave the first-ever talk on the Shambhala teachings at Karmê Chöling in February, 1979 and his time there helped establish a deep relationship with meditation practice.

Returning to his home town of New York City in 1980, Eric "stumbled" into a 22-year career on Wall Street, becoming treasurer of a private investment firm. When the firm was acquired in 2000,
Eric has been involved in an ongoing contemplation of death and dying as part of his life and practice. He has worked extensively with people with HIV, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, helping them explore the nature of mind as their physical conditions evolve. This has often resulted in pastoral work helping family and friends of those who have died to connect with the raw and wakeful tenderness of impermanence.

Since 1980 Eric has been active in the growth and development of the Shambhala Meditation Center in New York.  As a senior teacher there, he finds that his background and experience help him present the teachings of both the Vidyadhara and the Sakyong.
In addition to teaching the traditional syllabus of the Shambhala Community, Acharya Spiegel teaches on understanding the transitions of Life and Death, and on relating with the power and energy of Wealth from a sane, empowered view point  – and on the general lack of insight into this topic that pervades our culture. 

Emily Bower

Emily Bower has studied closely with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche since 1991. She served as his editor for several years, helping with his book Turning the Mind Into An Ally, along with many poems and practice texts.

She is a professional book editor, currently working at Shambhala Publications.

Learn more about meditation and buddhism at shambhala.org

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