Vajradhatu

Vajradhatu was the name of the umbrella organization of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist lamas to visit and teach in the West. It served as the vehicle for the promulgation of his teachings, and was also the name by which his community was known from 1973 until 1990. Starting in 1976 it was paralleled by a governmental structure for establishing the non-denominational enlightened society of Shambhala Kingdom, which included Shambhala Training among many other activities. In February 2000, the Vajradhatu organization was renamed Shambhala International by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Foundation by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
The community of Chögyam Trungpa originated in 1970 with his arrival in North America from Scotland. The first established center of his teachings was "Tail of the Tiger" in Barnet, Vermont (now Karmê Chöling). When he began teaching at University of Colorado Boulder in 1971, a second branch of the community began to form there. When Vajradhatu was incorporated in Colorado in 1973, it consolidated Tail of the Tiger, Rocky Mountain Dharma Center, a retreat facility in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado; and Karma Dzong, an urban meditation center in Boulder. The organization grew to include Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia and dozens of smaller meditation centers called Dharmadhatus in cities around the US, Canada and later in Europe.

In the early 1970s the community grew rapidly and attracted the involvement of such notables as Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and many others. As the decade wore on, the hippies and sixties counterculture members who comprised the large part of the membership were asked by Trungpa to experiment with more formal modes of behavior, attire, address, and societal expressions in general.

In 1972 Trungpa had identified Thomas F. Rich, an American with Buddhist name Ösel Tendzin, as his dharma heir, and in a formal ceremony on August 22, 1976, Trungpa appointed Rich as Dorje Gyaltsap, Vajra Regent and Director of the First Class of Vajradhatu. As described in the 1977 article in "Garuda V", which also reproduces the proclamation (signed by Trungpa XI and the 16th Karmapa, Trungpa empowered Thomas Rich "as his regent and as a holder of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages". Trungpa further stated "There is the possibility that members of the sangha, Western people, can take over from the Tibetans".

Vajradhatu hosted visits by Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, head of the Kagyu, in 1974, Khyentse Norbu, head of the Nyingma, in 1976, and the 14th Dalai Lama in 1981. In 1976 Trungpa Rinpoche began his cycle of Shambhala teachings and, with his students, manifesting forms of Shambhala society. In 1986 he moved the international headquarters of Vajradhatu to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he died the following year. A large number of his disciples emigrated from the United States to Nova Scotia along with him.

Leadership by Ösel Tendzin
In 1987, one year after moving the organization to Nova Scotia, Trungpa Rinpoche died of illnesses related to long-term alcohol abuse. He was 47. Following Trungpa's death, senior Kagyu lineage holder Tai Situpa recommended that he himself take over leadership of Vajradhatu in conjunction with Trungpa's half brother, Damchu Tenphel, who resided in Tibet. Tendzin, Trungpa's appointed successor, declined the offer and assumed leadership of the organization.

In December 1988, the community learned Tendzin had passed HIV to a male partner in the Colorado congregation, who in turn unknowingly infected his female partner. Tendzin, who was HIV-positive, knowingly had sex with students for three years without disclosing his infection, believing that his spiritual practice protected himself and others from AIDS.

Tendzin acted as spiritual head of Vajradhatu until his own death in 1990 of HIV/AIDS, amid controversy over admissions that he had unprotected sex with students while knowing he was HIV+. Ösel Tendzin infected at least one male student with HIV; the young man later died of AIDS. It eventually came out that the Vajradhatu board of directors had known of the problem for more than two years and had done nothing about it.

Transition to Shambhala International
Following Tendzin's death, Trungpa's eldest son Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo, now known as Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, assumed spiritual and executive leadership of Vajradhatu. The community had been deeply divided and in distress over the events surrounding Ösel Tendzin's death, and repeatedly turned to the elder statesmen of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages for guidance. The succession of Ösel Rangdröl was approved by the heads of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, who encouraged the community to persevere. Jamgön Kongtrül the third, one of the four regents of the Karma Kagyu lineage in the period when the Karmapa had yet to be recognized, issued a statement that "His Holiness [Dilgo Khenstse Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage and the Sawang's teacher] and the Kagyu lineage holders are all in agreement that the Sawang Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo should become the lineage holder of Vajradhatu."

In February 2000, restated articles of incorporation were signed, officially changing the name from Vajradhatu to Shambhala International. The change of name, which began informally with the Sakyong Mipham's assumption of leadership in 1990, reflected his approach of integrating the Shambhala teachings within Buddhism and making them the unifying principle of a Shambhala Buddhist sangha. This transition enabled the organization to avoid lawsuits and consequent financial ruin.

Karmê Chöling
In 1970, Karmê Chöling was founded in Barnet, Vermont by the Vidyadhara, (literally meaning “awareness holder;” a spiritual leader of Buddhism) Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Karmê Chöling is the first teaching seat in North America of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a 20th-century Buddhist meditation master that was credited with bringing Buddhism to the western world. Originally a dairy farm, the building was purchased by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s students and was converted under his supervision into a Shambhala Buddhist retreat center. It was called “Tail of the Tiger”, but in 1974 the name was changed to Karmê Chöling, which remains its name today.

Rocky Mountain Dharma Center
The Rocky Mountain Dharma Center was founded by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1971 at Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. It was located on 600 acres in a valley in the northern Colorado Rockies.

After the death of Ösel Tendzin in 1990, Trungpa's son, Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo became head of the organization. In 1995, Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo was enthroned as Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, a chögyal, or "dharma king," who holds and propagates the teachings of Shambhala. The name of Rocky Mountain Dharma center was changed to Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center sometime in the 1990s.

In 2000, after Sakyong Mipham started the process of enclosing the previously secular teachings of Shambhala within the container of a new Buddhist lineage, Shambhala Buddhism, the retreat center was incorporated separately from Shambhala International as a 501c3 educational non-profit named Shambhala Mountain Center. The new center was independent of Shambhala International with limited oversight from the Sakyong Potrang, an organization representing Sakyong Mipham.

In September 2020, an investigative report detailed several incidents of sexual harm that had taken place at Rocky Mountain Dharma Center.