Ray: Your first book, Turning the Mind Into an Ally, serves as a guide for training the mind with meditation practice. Your second book, Ruling Your World, is more broadly philosophical. At the same time, it seems designed to help people make their practice practical and relevant to day-to-day life. I already am using one…
Ray: How has the New Age musical community evolved? It seems that New Age is more widely accepted in the mainstream. But maybe there’s a little less focus and purposefulness, too, in some parts of what’s called New Age music. Dudley: People really have discovered this music’s benefit, especially in the areas of health and…
Ray: Rinpoche, what is your intention for the Shambhala community? Mipham: Right now the main theme is how Shambhala can be relevant in terms of what is going on in the world. A lot of these centers started with people just getting together and meditating. I think Shambhala can be a very strong force as…
Ray: Please describe Shambhala’s character. What distinguishes Shambhala from other Buddhist traditions? Mipham: The Shambhala teachings are coming from the point of view of integrating spirituality into everyday life, as opposed to being monastic. Shambhala is a Buddhist tradition — in particular, a Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. The first king of Shambhala was taught by the…
