Ocean of Dharma

Chögyam Trungpa:
Spoken Words, Written Words, Beyond Words

“When he began to teach in America in the 1970s, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche seems to have caught the public imagination…. His was an influential attempt to share some of the insights and benefits of the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism with a modern audience in terms that they could easily understand and put into effect. Exceptional as one of the first Tibetan lamas to become fully assimilated into Western culture, he made a powerful contribution to revealing the Tibetan approach to inner peace in the West.”
– His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Chögyam Trungpa: Spoken Words, Written Words, Beyond Words, the first in the Ocean of Dharma conference series, asks how Chögyam Trungpa (1940-1987) used language to challenge and provoke Westerners to probe their experience, engage in contemplative practices, and explore new worldviews. This conference is an exploration of the power, and limitations, of language in our human endeavor to understand and change ourselves and our worlds. How might spoken utterance in itself challenge conditioned viewpoints and open the world afresh? What is the relationship between the spoken word and the written word, with the challenges, losses and gains of recording, preserving, and then translating the spoken word onto the page through transcribing, editing and publishing? These topics will be explored in the context of the work of this pioneering Buddhist teacher. This conference will bring together students of Trungpa, those who experienced his teachings firsthand, with scholars of modern culture to reflect upon his literary legacy.

October 20–22, 2006
Friday, 5–9 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. & 7–9 p.m.
Sunday, 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
Non-credit: $345, $275 by October 1
For-credit: REL 496w/592w, GR $630, UG $646
Location: Naropa University, Nalanda Campus
( 6287 Arapahoe Blvd., Boulder).

Friday Night Keynote: Diana Mukpo, author of Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chögyam · $15 ($10 students/seniors) Book signing to follow talk.

Opening Remarks: Martin J. Janowitz, chairman Naropa University Board of Trustees and Dr. Thomas Coburn, president, Naropa University

Saturday Night Keynote: Fabrice Midal, PhD, author of Chögyam Trungpa: His Life and Vision and editor of Recalling Chögyam Trungpa · $15 ($10 students/seniors) Book signing to follow talk.

Program Schedule

Friday, October 20, 2006

5–6:45 p.m.
Opening Reception

7–9 p.m.
Opening Keynote Address: Diana Mukpo
Opening Remarks: Martin J. Janowitz , chairman Naropa University Board of Trustees
and Dr. Thomas Coburn, President, Naropa University
Book signing to follow talk.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

9 – 9:45 a.m.
Introduction to Meditation

10 – 11:45 a.m.
Panel Dialogues
Publishing the Early Works
Sacred Society

Noon – 1:15 p.m.
Lunch

1:30 – 3 p.m.
Seminars and Workshops with Presenters

3:15 – 5 p.m.
Panel Dialogues
Expressing the Inexpressible: Vajrayana Teachings
Chögyam Trungpa’s Use of Psychological Language

7 – 9 p.m.
Keynote Speaker: Fabrice Midal
Contributions to Modern Culture
Book signing to follow talk.

Sunday, October 22, 2006
9 – 9:45 a.m.
Meditation

10–11:45 a.m.
Panel Dialogues
Chögyam Trungpa’s Literary Legacy: Planning for the Future  
Translating Buddhism into English and Other Western Languages

Noon – 1:30 p.m.  
Lunch

1:30 – 3:15 p.m.
Panel Dialogues
Editing the Shambhala Teachings
Editing Within the Arts
Tantra and Other Traditions

3:30 – 5 p.m.
Dharma Poetics

5 – 6 p.m.
Closing Reception

Call 303.245.4800 or 800.603.3117 (outside of Colorado) or e-mail extend@naropa.edu for more information or to register by phone.

Photos courtesy of The Collection of the Shambhala Archives