The Scorpion Seal Text

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The Scorpion Seal Text and Shambhala Termas

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"Chogyam Trungpa wrote a number of Shambhala texts throughout his life, and also received a number of them as terma......Scorpion Seal of the Golden Sun.....Received during the 1980 Seminary in Europe. A long and a short version exist....Hayward, Jeremy. Warrior-King of Shambhala: Remembering Chogyam Trungpa Wisdom Publications: 2007. ISBN 0-86171-546-2 pgs 235....

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"In 1980 and 1981, the Druk Sakyong, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, received the terma text The Scorpion Seal of the Golden Sun. As Acharya John Rockwell describes, “It was rather secret, a bit ahead of our times.” Many people were given the Werma sadhana at Kalapa Assemblies, but few realized that this practice was based on a terma. While the Druk Sakyong spoke about the Scorpion Seal to his students, and clearly stated that he wanted the community to aspire to practice it, this never happened in his lifetime. “It has been a hidden treasure,” Acharya Rockwell points out. “There has been a long deliberation about how to best open these teachings, what it would mean for people to be ready, and how they would engage on the path to the retreat that’s outlined in the terma text.”.....http://shambhalatimes.org/2009/07/02/scorpion-seal-opens/

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The Scorpion Seal Text is rarely spoken of publicly.....Trungpa Rinpoche never said too much about it.....however, in 1992, in a conversation with John Rockwell, he remembered that once Trungpa received the text in 1980, the Nalanda Translation Committee began the translation into English...Trungpa would attend some of these sessions and comment on the translation line by line....these sessions were recorded but the transcripts have never been published.....one would have to talk with the Nalanda Translation Group about these meetings.......jh

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"From 1975 to 1987, the Nalanda Translation Committee’s initial work included daily chants, the Karma Kagyu ngondro, and the Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara sadhanas. The equally important work of providing examples of realization from our lineage, such as the vajra songs and life stories of great teachers, resulted in The Rain of Wisdom and The Life of Marpa the Translator. As the Vidyadhara’s own life and teachings evolved, we worked with him in translating the unique and special terma of Shambhala that the Vidyadhara received as well as the Shambhala liturgies he composed.

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The Lute of Unceasing Sound-Emptiness: Song of the Eternal Bön View

....."It features the translation of a song in praise of the Bön view, which the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote during his youth in Tibet. ...... the Vidyadhara had a deep knowledge of the ancient Bön tradition of Tibet. And it had a major influence on his teaching, especially in his presentation of Shambhala. He was a Bön tertön who discovered Bön termas, one of which still survives...... this volume contains (1) a detailed essay on the Bön tradition written by the Vidyadhara himself, (2) an overview of his relationship with the Bön lineage, (3) a memoir of how some of these teachings were introduced in the West, and (4) a commentary on the song, based on our work with Karma Senge Rinpoche and Surmang Khenpo."

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"Shambhala, as originally proclaimed by Chögyam Trungpa, states that "there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world, which is the innate wakefulness of human beings. This is the basis, in myth and inspiration, of the Kingdom of Shambhala, an enlightened society of fearlessness, dignity and compassion." Furthermore, Shambhala vision applies to people of any faith, not just people who believe in Buddhism... the Shambhala vision does not distinguish a Buddhist from a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, a Moslem, a Hindu. That's why we call it the Shambhala kingdom. A kingdom should have lots of spiritual disciplines in it.".....Trungpa, Chogyam (1999). "Great Eastern Sun - The Wisdom of Shambhala". ISBN 1-57062-293-0

John Hopkins....February 2021

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

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Part of a Letter From Diana Mukpo....February 2021

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Werma Sadhana and Shambhala Termas

"The culmination of the Vidyadhara’s work with his students was his presentation of the Shambhala teachings. Rooted in the Kalachakra and Vajrakilaya tantras along with Tibetan and other traditions of secular warriorship from around the world, this body of teachings is well-suited for our time. Incorporating and based on Buddhist wisdom, the Vidyadhara presented these teachings as his essential work, emphasizing our celebration of the phenomenal world, our fundamental worthiness to be a part of it, and the vision of creating a good human society.

We are all fully committed to the perpetuation and continued transmission of those teachings.

Thus, we will ensure that those who wish to receive the texts, transmissions, and sadhanas associated with the Shambhala termas will have that opportunity. This includes the Werma Sadhana. We know that many of you have worked diligently to prepare for this practice, and Diana Mukpo will facilitate access and support for students to receive it within programs at Shambhala centers, as well as to empower others working outside the organization to transmit the lung so it can be more broadly accessible.

With this, we will facilitate an expansion of the opportunities for students to receive this practice, as well as The Letter of the Black Ashe and the other core texts of the Shambhala tradition. We recognize this is a significant change in how these practices have been offered in the recent past. However, we view this expansion as a continuation of the Vidyadhara’s original approach whereby the lung or “reading transmission” for Werma practice was given by various preceptors at a culminating assembly of warriors.

To address questions that may arise from these decisions, we have posted two articles online, with links below. These offer brief histories of how these practices were introduced to students in past eras. We hope these accounts will demonstrate that there are many legitimate ways to receive them. Ultimately, they are tools to help us live our lives infused with warriorship, decency, fearlessness, and confidence. The more people who are practicing them, the better.

We have begun to plan a ten-day assembly that is tentatively scheduled to take place in July this summer at Shambhala Mountain Center.....The second program within the assembly will be an intensive retreat for Werma practitioners and those ready to receive the practice. This will include a lung for the practice itself, given by a preceptor who was authorized by the Vidyadhara to transmit it, as well as several days of deep training with experienced teachers. Remote digital attendance for this lung and training will be an option."

In the vision of the Great Eastern Sun,

Diana Mukpo

Complete Letter.....https://www.ldmletter.com/

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"Shambhala, as originally proclaimed by Chögyam Trungpa, states that "there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world, which is the innate wakefulness of human beings. This is the basis, in myth and inspiration, of the Kingdom of Shambhala, an enlightened society of fearlessness, dignity and compassion." Furthermore, Shambhala vision applies to people of any faith, not just people who believe in Buddhism... the Shambhala vision does not distinguish a Buddhist from a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, a Moslem, a Hindu. That's why we call it the Shambhala kingdom. A kingdom should have lots of spiritual disciplines in it.".....Trungpa, Chogyam (1999). "Great Eastern Sun - The Wisdom of Shambhala". ISBN 1-57062-293-0

John Hopkins....February 2021

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

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A Bön Song by Chögyam Trungpa

A Bön Song: The Lute of Unceasing Sound Emptiness by Chögyam Trungpa

The Lute of Unceasing Sound-Emptiness: Song of the Eternal Bön View

We are pleased to announce our new publication, The Lute of Unceasing Sound-Emptiness: Song of the Eternal Bön View. It features the translation of a song in praise of the Bön view, which the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote during his youth in Tibet.

The Sadhana of Mahamudra and “Mamo Chant” describe how “the sacred mantra has strayed into Bön,” which makes Bön sound problematic. So it may come as a surprise to learn that the Vidyadhara had a deep knowledge of the ancient Bön tradition of Tibet. And it had a major influence on his teaching, especially in his presentation of Shambhala. He was a Bön tertön who discovered Bön termas, one of which still survives.

In addition to the song, this volume contains (1) a detailed essay on the Bön tradition written by the Vidyadhara himself, (2) an overview of his relationship with the Bön lineage, (3) a memoir of how some of these teachings were introduced in the West, and (4) a commentary on the song, based on our work with Karma Senge Rinpoche and Surmang Khenpo.

The book is perfect bound with a cover painting by the Vidyadhara never before published.

82 pp.

Published by The Nalanda Translation Committee....https://www.nalandatranslation.org/

From 1975 to 1987, the Translation Committee’s initial work included daily chants, the Karma Kagyu ngondro, and the Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara sadhanas. The equally important work of providing examples of realization from our lineage, such as the vajra songs and life stories of great teachers, resulted in The Rain of Wisdom and The Life of Marpa the Translator. As the Vidyadhara’s own life and teachings evolved, we worked with him in translating the unique and special terma of Shambhala that the Vidyadhara received as well as the Shambhala liturgies he composed.

Born in the Nangchen region of Tibet in March 1939, Chögyam Trungpa was eleventh in the line of Trungpa tülkus, important figures in the Kagyu lineage, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Among his three main teachers were Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen, HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Khenpo Gangshar.

The name Chögyam is a contraction of Chökyi Gyamtso (Tibetan: ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: Chos-kyi Rgya-mtsho), which means "Ocean of Dharma". Trungpa (Tibetan: དྲུང་པ་, Wylie: Drung-pa) means "attendant". He was deeply trained in the Kagyu tradition and received his khenpo degree at the same time as Thrangu Rinpoche; they continued to be very close in later years. Chögyam Trungpa was also trained in the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the four schools, and was an adherent of the ri-mé ("nonsectarian") ecumenical movement within Tibetan Buddhism, which aspired to bring together and make available all the valuable teachings of the different schools, free of sectarian rivalry.

At the time of his escape from Tibet, Trungpa was head of the Surmang group of monasteries.

On April 23, 1959, twenty-year-old Trungpa set out on an epic nine-month escape from his homeland.Masked in his account in Born in Tibet to protect those left behind, the first, preparatory stage of his escape had begun a year earlier, when he fled his home monastery after its occupation by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). After spending the winter in hiding, he decided definitively to escape after learning that his monastery had been destroyed. Trungpa started with Akong Rinpoche and a small party of monastics, but as they traveled people asked to join until the party eventually numbered 300 refugees, from the elderly to mothers with babies – additions which greatly slowed and complicated the journey. Forced to abandon their animals, over half the journey was on foot as the refugees journeyed through an untracked mountain wilderness to avoid the PLA. Sometimes lost, sometimes traveling at night, after three months’ trek they reached the Brahmaputra River. Trungpa, the monastics and about 70 refugees managed to cross the river under heavy gunfire, then, eating their leather belts and bags to survive, they climbed 19,000 feet over the Himalayas before reaching the safety of Pema Ko. After reaching India, on January 24, 1960 the party was flown to a refugee camp.

Shiwa Okar is featured in a work composed by Chögyam Trungpa, particularly a long verse epic composed in Tibet called The Golden Dot: The Epic of the Lha, the Annals of the Kingdom of Shambhala, and in terma he revealed beginning in 1976. The Golden Dot was lost in Trungpa Rinpoche's flight from Tibet in 1959.

Trungpa Rinpoche began to reconstruct the original text after escaping Tibet, and it is this later work to which we refer. The first chapter describes the creation of the world by nine cosmic gods (shrid[sic] pa 'i lha) who appear in the form of native Tibetan deities known as drala (dgra bla), or war gods. These gods represent primal or originary aspects of the phenomenal world. For example, one of these lha stood for all kinds of light. Glancing in many directions, this deity created all of the lights existing in the world, including the sun, the moon, the light of the planets and stars, and the inward luminosity of consciousness itself. Another represented space and the sense of direction ... In Trungpa Rinpoche's epic these were directed by a ninth lha called Shiwa Okar ... a sort of absolute principle behind creation and the nature of reality. After these nine cosmic deities have created the world, [Shiwa Okar] goes to the things they have created and invests each one with an animistic spirit, a drala.

Trungpa..."The Pon Way of Life" in Himalayan Anthropology...Himalayan anthropology: The Indo-Tibetan interface (World anthropology) ...1978 (Reprinted in "The Heart of the Buddha": 1991)

"Shambhala, as originally proclaimed by Chögyam Trungpa, states that "there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world, which is the innate wakefulness of human beings. This is the basis, in myth and inspiration, of the Kingdom of Shambhala, an enlightened society of fearlessness, dignity and compassion." Furthermore, Shambhala vision applies to people of any faith, not just people who believe in Buddhism... the Shambhala vision does not distinguish a Buddhist from a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, a Moslem, a Hindu. That's why we call it the Shambhala kingdom. A kingdom should have lots of spiritual disciplines in it.".....Trungpa, Chogyam (1999). "Great Eastern Sun - The Wisdom of Shambhala". ISBN 1-57062-293-0

John Hopkins....February 2021

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com