The Rigden shrine and thangka highlights the Shambhala image of monarch as ruler of the phenomenal world. Shambhala centre shrines are also an expression of who we are as a community of practitioners. The Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche said that having put energy into the creation and care for a shrine, a sense of liveliness then radiates out to the viewer, providing a mirror of their being.
Shrines, in general, are meant to remind us, provoke us to wake up from our delusions. The main shrine is the heart of any Shambhala Centre. In doing so, the Sakyong points out the unique spiritual inheritance of the Shambhala community – an inheritance that braids together the Tibetan Buddhist vajrayana lineages of Kagyü and Nyingma with the direct, imperial transmission of Shambhala wisdom. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche designed this thangka to be placed on public shrines in Shambhala centres throughout the world.
The details of the iconography are highly symbolic, each one pointing to an aspect of the view, the training, or the full realization of this basic nature. Like all shrine imagery in the non-theistic traditions of Buddhism, the thangka aims to remind viewers of qualities inherent in themselves and their lives. Last, Principle 9 is about the integration of four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Constance Z Stober, Descriptive GeometryA.
Principle 8 focuses on how to teach ELLs to use the English language. The Shambhala Principle: Discovering Humanity's Hidden TreasureSakyong Mipham, What Will I Tell JoeMrs. The Primordial Rigden thangka mirrors to viewers an image of their enlightened nature, their basic goodness. Principles 6 and 7 deal with how to teach ELLs to acquire vocabulary and build reading ability. Hanging on the wall above the shrine is a thangka (painting) of the Primordial Rigden. Every two or three weeks (it’s noted in the calendar), we do a practice called the Sadhana of Mahamudra.This practice is about an hour long, and involves reading aloud (in English) a sadhana or text, which was written by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1968 while on retreat in Bhutan.
In many Shambhala Centres, the main hall now contains the Rigden shrine, designed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche to be the main public shrine in all Shambhala Centres. Offered by the Office of Practice and Education