Lodro Rinzler is an author and renowned meditation teacher who has led trainings at Google, Harvard, and the White House. His many books include The Buddha Walks into a Bar and How to Love Yourself.

In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Lodro discuss the Shambhala tradition of Buddhism that Lodro teaches in—specifically, its goal of creating an enlightened society. They speak on how to truly cultivate kindness and what it takes to be a mindful leader during difficult times. Lodro comments on what he calls “The Four Exhilarations” and “The Four Dignities,” and in a culmination of the discussion, explains his overarching mission in teaching meditation to the world. (62 minutes)

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Excerpt – So, Shambhala stems from Tibetan Buddhism, specifically out of these four major schools that are often considered within the Tibetan Buddhist world. There’s the Sakya school, which stems from the Gray Earth Sakya monastery. There’s the Gelugpa school, which people commonly know as the Dalai Lama as the head of that particular school. And then, there are the Kagyu and Nyingma schools.

So, this stems from the Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism—Nyingma being the ancient lineage—one of perhaps the oldest lineage of Buddhism actually becoming Tibetan Buddhism, you could say—and the Kagyu lineage. And Trungpa Rinpoche was actually recognized at a young age as the head of the monastery in that Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and studied with many Nyingma teachers in addition. So, it sort of carries both of those lineages.

And then the Shambhala teachings have a really interesting emphasis on being in the world. So there’s an old story—it’s probably a much longer answer than you wanted for your very first question. I apologize.

TS: Take your time.

LR: OK. But there’s an old story dating back to the time of the Buddha of a king named Dawa Zangpo. Dawa Zangpo heard tell of the Buddha in whatever way people did back then—I’m guessing YouTube—and went in search of him, and was disappointed when he realized that the Buddha only hung out with monastics. He only taught monks and nuns. And he said, “You know, I would love to be able to practice these teachings, but I can’t abandon my kingdom. I have a family, and a kingdom—all these people who are relying on me. I can’t just walk away from them.” And the Buddha is said to have sent his monastic followers out of the area, and imparted what was known as the Kalachakra tantra on Dawa Zangpo—a set of teachings that is really a beautiful set of teachings. The Dalai Lama actually teaches in parts these same empowerments regularly.

And he—Dawa Zangpo—took these teachings to heart, went back, started practicing mindfulness, compassion practices, doing all of this wonderful work that ultimately seeped into the rest of the kingdom. It’s sort of like for anyone who’s been meditating for a while, the question comes up like, “Oh, how do I start talking to my family and my friends about this?” And he sort of exhibited a sort of “show, don’t tell” mentality of, “Oh, I’m just going to embody the teachings.” And people got interested, and they slowly seeped out into the entire society.

And so this particular kingdom invited people from all backgrounds—all ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, you name it. And this kingdom was known as Shambhala.

So, this is the namesake from which this lineage comes from—this sense of open inclusivity, society based on kindness. And it’s interesting because Tibetan Buddhist traditions are often thought of widely as monastic, and this is very much a householder lineage. It does have monastic components. People do practice at our one abbey in Nova Scotia. But more often than not, it’s actually people going about their day-to-day lives and embodying, and studying, and practicing these teachings.

So, I don’t know if that answers all of your question, but this is sort of where it came from and also why I got inspired by it. That sort of “be in society, be in the world” aspect.

TS: Yes. It’s interesting that you would highlight that right in the beginning. I know you’ve done some talks and emphasized this teaching on creating enlightened society—and that’s a possibility for us as human beings, even in this time. And I’m inspired by that. Here you are as a young person holding the torch, if you will, for creating enlightened society during a time that many people consider to be a very, very, very dark time in our world. And I wonder how you can help people cross the bridge, if you will, from the pain of our time—the pain of racism, terrorism, environmental destruction, et cetera—and a vision that seems unattainable: creating a society based on kindness.

LR: Yes. No easy feat.

TS: It’s a bridge. It’s a bridge just to help us, yes.

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SF Source Insights at the Edge Jul 2017