Taking Action

Shambhala’s Culture of Service and Vision of Contributing to Society

Shambhala Chicago and all of its programs and classes are made possible by individuals generously offering their talents, efforts and time.  The founder of Shambhala, Chogyam Trungpa, came from a long line of people who Serve and this means that Helping Others permeates Shambhala’s Culture and Vision of Enlightened Society.  His son and our Teacher, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, continues this Vision and teaches us that helping and having compassion toward others is central to our health as a community.

Volunteering and being of Service, therefore, is a cultural foundation in Shambhala.  Our path as a community and on the individual level is to contribute to the world in ways that are the most helpful and allow all of us to lead happy and healthy lives.  If you’re interested in social action projects that directly engage a variety of communities and/or groups, see how you can Take Action below!

Taking Action in Shambhala Chicago Social Action Projects!

Social Action is a relatively new, yet vital, component to the Shambhala community.  In 2013 Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, our Teacher, and other senior teachers held an event entitled “Imagining Peace” and the energy around this event and that came afterwards sparked additional Social Action initiatives.  These are aimed at helping communities of people directly where the goals are to help increase our collective health and improve our relationships with one another.

For those of us who are greatly inspired to help causes that are working toward social change and improvement then these projects will likely be the most appealing.  While some volunteer roles require special skills others do not.  This means that there’s a very good chance that you’ll be able to contribute your efforts so that we can all Take Action together!  If you’re inspired to take action in the world by helping, want to help with our social action projects, would you like to form a committee around a different social action project or would like to learn more, just send an email to us at: [email protected]

Below is a short video excerpt from the Imagining Peace Conference that took place in March of 2013: