What is Parinirvana Day?

April 4, 2023 by Allison_Armstrong
A stone urn, draped with a garland of yellow flowers, holds numerous lit sticks of incense. Someone with pink nail polish, is offering a handful of other incense sticks, about to add them to the urn.“The essence of warriorship, or the essence of human bravery, is refusing to give up on anyone or anything.”
― Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the WarriorWhat is Parinirvana Day?

By Jessie-Lee Wallace

Parinirvana is a day that we recognize and reflect on the passing of a great teacher— our Vidyadhara, our Founder, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Rinpoche (an honourific title meaning precious jewel) brought Shambhala Buddhism to the western world, after escaping Tibet as a young Lama in the 1960s.

He brought with him the vast and precious teachings of the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Buddhism and translated these ancient teachings for our modern context today.

His was known and loved for freshness, vision, and compassion—and sometimes outrageous teaching style.

His influence can still be seen and felt in some of the places that he helped to found: the original Vajradhatu connecting and creating over one hundred meditation centers, Naropa University, a groundbreaking Buddhist University, and places like Karmê Chöling (then Tail of The Tiger) one of the oldest practice centers in North America, plus dozens of books, and translations. It is tough to sum up his lasting impact simply, but we at OSMC are part of his legacy of teachings, too.

To help connect to his lineage and reflect on his life and on the teachings and practices that he created and shared, we practice the Sadhana of Mahamudra, a seminal work about the age of materialism we are living through right now.