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. Our St. John's Shambhala Meditation Group has the good fortune to host many of the acharyas as visiting teachers, especially from our Atlantic Canada region.

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, Nova Scotia, 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, visit Pema's website or find information about her books.

Moh Hardin

Acharya Moh Hardin is a senior teacher appointed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and acts as his personal representative in teaching Shambhala and Buddhism. After helping establish the Berkeley Dharmadhatu, Moh served there as education coordinator until he was invited in 1979 to work in the Karme Choling practice and study department. Moh served as Director of the Halifax Shambhala Centre from 1991 to 2001. Currently he serves as Regional Acharya for the Atlantic Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, and the states of Texas and Louisiana. He visits the Shambhala Centers in these regions regularly, teaching and working with students. When Moh reflects on his dharma training, he thinks first of his good fortune to be able to attend six Vajradhatu Seminaries, as both student and teacher, where he was able to train directly under the guidance of Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Find out more about Moh Hardin on the Shambhala website.

Learn more about meditation and buddhism at shambhala.org

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St. John's Shambhala Meditation Group
55 Cornwall Avenue, St. John's,  NL A1E 1Y7
Tel. 709 739 0270    Email: shambhala.meditation@gmail.com