For the past year, the Shambhala Board of Directors and the Sakyong Potrang Board of Directors have been working to resolve different approaches to the structure and governance of Shambhala and the role of the lineage.
After helpful conversations involving Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the boards have now agreed to conduct an assessment of possible structural options, which include different degrees of integration and separation.
This assessment will be carried out over the next month by experienced members of the community who each board will appoint. They will work in pairs with each other as independent assessors to identify the many detailed issues that need to be clarified.
This assessment will be an important contribution to the next stage of discussions about the future relationship between the lineage of Sakyongs, the various entities in the Shambhala organization, and its communities of practitioners.
The assessment will focus on six areas:
- Practice and Education
- Governance Structure and Authority
- Culture, Conduct and Decorum
- Dorje Kasung
- Physical and Intellectual Properties
- Interconnections and Communication
Each area holds within it a wide range of topics that will be explored, such as texts and practices, local centers and groups, care and conduct, ownership of properties and many others.
This assessment is intended to be an impartial exploration of these topics and their implications to various structural options. It is not a mediation or negotiation. Nor will it make any decisions. It will provide practical underpinning for durable future agreements.
The community will be updated as this process unfolds. We expect the first update possibly in the next month of the Year of the Metal Ox after the assessors have been able to get their work underway.
Shambhala Board of Directors
Mark Blumenfeld
Phil Cass
John Cobb
Susan Engel
Lilly Gleich
Peter Nowak
Tai Pimputkar
Susan Ryan
Paulina Varas
Sakyong Potrang Board of Directors
Alan Goldstein
Alex Halpern
Sharon Hoagland
Landon Mallery
Cody McGough
Robert Taylor