 Shambhala Congress
The Shambhala Congress, first convened in 2003, is the principal community-wide gathering for discussion and consultation on matters of concern to the community as a whole. It is open to any member, and occurs every two years in different locations around the world. Its purpose is to explore major issues of concern in a consultive process and provide a structure of exchange between representatives of the entire community and the Sakyong, the President of Shambhala and other leaders of the Shambhala Community. Read more...
The 2009 International Shambhala Congress is being held in Halifax, Nova Scotia on November 9-11, 2009. The theme of this fourth Shambhala Congress is "Exploring Community", and we are doing just that in preparation for the Congress. John Smith and Lesa Ricci will be representing the Portland sangha at the Congress: listening and speaking on everyone's behalf. For the Center Directors and the Council, developing the Portland community has been one of our main priorities this year, and preparing for the Congress fits beautifully with our vision for our Center.
John Smith and Jay Stewart organized a series of consultation sessions to gather questions and comments about our sense of community. This gathering of input prepares us to connect with other centers and the Shambhala leadership at the Congress in Halifax.
The consultation process started at the Harvest of Peace community celebration. People wrote their comments on sheets of paper and John and Jay collected these. You can view them here.
Beside a series of informal conversations, John and Jay held
sessions after a Tuesday night open house, after a Sunday Nynthun, and at a Community Meeting on October 18th. they also conducted interviews with individuals and leadership groups (the PSMC Council, the Sangha Care Council, the Diversity Working Group, and the Family care group).
- Phone interviews with anyone who wishes to express their views. Call John Smith at 503-234-3979 or Jay Stewart at 503-234-2898. Or get in touch by email.
- Here our Community report which represents input through October 25, 2009.
- They also are conducting an online survey that is open through November 3, 2009
At each step along the way, the material gathered up to that point was summarized for the current participants. There will be a final report back to the community prior to the Congress.
At the Congress we will share the following items:
Here are the videos that were created during this process:
This is a great opportunity to take one more step in manifesting enlightened society together, now!
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