The Wickwire Holm finding for Claimant #1 concluded that Sakyong Mipham committed “sexual misconduct” - a broad term that includes “sexual assault” as well as other types of misconduct that are sexual in nature. He was recently invited back to teach despite opposition. Mipham stepped back for a period of two years but still retains full control of the organization. It led to the resignation of the Kalapa Council, Shambhala’s governing body, to an investigation of some of the claims by the Halifax law firm, Wickwire Holm, and a series of “listening posts” for complaints set up by An Olive Branch which recommended policy changes.įormer guards and attendants known as Kusung wrote an open letter detailing financial mismanagement, verbal abuse, sexual abuse and physical assault by Mipham. In 2018, a group called Buddhist Project Sunshine published a series of three reports on sexual violence in Shambhala. Trungpa also founded Shambhala, a Buddhist organization and worldwide community.įor the past two years, Shambhala - led by Trungpa’s son known as Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche - has been engulfed in a major crisis. The school has been a major part of Boulder culture, famously hosting Beat poets and a variety of spiritual teachers. Naropa University was founded in 1974 by Chogyam Trungpa, a Buddhist teacher (or Rinpoche) from Tibet.