The Chogyam Trungpa Institute
Chogyam Trungpa founded Naropa University in 1974 as a place to foster both intellect and intuition, and to spark curiosity and deep inquiry.
His view and his work have infused Naropa and its development. The Chogyam Trungpa Institute was established at Naropa in 2017, the 30th anniversary of his death, to highlight the work of its founder, providing a comprehensive digital platform as one avenue to access his extensive lectures, poetry and art. Naropa envisioned and is launching the Institute with the close collaboration and support of the family of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Shambhala Archives and the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project. Carolyn Rose Gimian, the founding director of the Legacy Project, has been appointed as the first director of the Institute.
The Institute will foster and serve a broad community of those interested in the work of Chogyam Trungpa.
Through various initiatives, the Chogyam Trungpa Institute will encourage a critical assessment by scholars and practitioners of Chogyam Trungpa’s body of teachings and his place in the development of Buddhism in the West. The Institute will also seek to support new directions that honor the spirit of his work, through expositions, classes, research, debate, and other means.
Potential Institute Projects
- An academic center of excellence and a research center
- A home and central access point for CHELA, the Chogyam Trungpa Electronic Library and Archives, a digital platform for Chogyam Trungpa's extensive audio, video, and visual archive
- A center to collect and provide access to oral histories and biographical resources
- A collaborative effort: working cooperatively with the family of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Shambhala Archives, the Allen Ginsberg Library, faculty and staff at Naropa University, the Chronicles of Chogyam Trungpa and other institutions and organizations to provide access to relevant documents, personal papers, and historical materials
- A place to train future editors, cultural historians, artists, buddhologists, Chogyam Trungpa scholars and caretakers for the extensive written, audio and visual materials related to his life and teachings
- A publisher for lightly-edited monographs and other collections of writings related to his work, in cooperation with Naropa University Press and Shambhala Publications
- An exhibit space
- A Chogyam Trungpa faculty chair
Donate
Help us chart our course! We welcome your donations large and small, as well as your
input to help us define and build the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project. If you are planning
to make a major gift, please consider joining the Legacy Circle, which is described
below.
You can make your donation here.
For further information about the Institute or its projects, write to cti@naropa.edu. If you know others who might like to join the Legacy Circle or give to this project, please tell us about them.
All donations to the Chogyam Trungpa Institute are tax deductible in both the United States and in Canada.
The Legacy Circle
Join the Legacy Circle and help create the Chogyam Trungpa Institute as a true legacy
institution honoring and furthering the work of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
The Legacy Circle will be a group of supporters who want to contribute to the direction and development of the Chogyam Trungpa Institute through financial gifts and critical input into our programs and vision. We will solicit your input through gatherings each year, both actual and virtual. Your early investment in the Chogyam Trungpa Institute helps us build a collaborative foundation. Your insight and perspective helps us build the community in which it will flourish.
Be an inaugural member of the Legacy Gold Circle by making a gift of $1,000 or more. Your gift may be a one-time donation or a monthly donation of $100 or more. A print of one of Chogyam Trungpa’s paintings will be sent as a gift to all Gold Circle Members.
Those who give $10,000 or more will join the Legacy Diamond Circle and will receive a special gift as well as unique opportunities to contribute to the Institute’s development.
To join the Legacy Circle you may make a gift online or mail a gift to:
Naropa University
Office of Development
2130 Arapahoe Avenue
Boulder, CO 80302