The Shambhala Principle: May 7

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche’s new book, The Shambhala Principle, opens with these words: “We humans have come to a crossroads in our history: we can either destroy the world or create a good future.” The book invites us to a global contemplation of the basic goodness of humanity and human society. In particular it talks about the relevance of this principle to education, health care, economics, human rights, our attitudes to wealth and money, and so on.

The Shambhala Principle, which will be released Tuesday, May 7, offers the principle of basic goodness as a way of addressing the personal and social challenges that we face. Do we, as humans, have confidence in the basic goodness of humanity, as well as of society itself? The book revolves around a dialogue between the Sakyong and his father, the legendary Chögyam Trungpa. The Sakyong says of his father that, “Whether his responses were direct or mystical, he continuously returned to the topics of basic goodness and enlightened society.  Not only did he show me how I could become confident in their existence through awareness and meditation, he also taught me how basic goodness is a socially viable standard that could stabilize and transform our world.”

This book is an invitation to readers to reflect on their own basic goodness and the basic goodness of society, and then contemplate the question, Can we rouse our energy and confidence to create a good world that is founded on this principle?

At Shambhala Boston we will be celebrating the release of the book at Under 30 night on Tuesday, May 7, which the Sakyong has deemed “Basic Goodness Day,” with Nick Kranz, and on Wednesday night at Open House with Esther Seibold. These evenings will be based around an exploration of themes presented in the book.