Leader of Boulder-born Shambhala International apologizes for past relationships in which women felt ‘harm’

BOULDER (CO)
Daily Camera Boulder News

June 28, 2018

By Carina Julig

The leader of Shambhala International, a Buddhist group founded in Boulder, released a statement this week apologizing for past relationships in which the participating women have expressed “feeling harm.”

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is the spiritual leader of Shambhala, a Buddhist organization created in the west in the 1970s by Mipham’s father, exiled Tibetan monk Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

The Canadian-based organization’s U.S. headquarters are located in Boulder, along with the Buddhist-inspired Naropa University, which also was founded by Trungpa.

The organization has been the focus of sexual misconduct allegations for the past several months, after a report called “Project Sunshine” was published online in February detailing a culture of sexual abuse by the organization’s senior teachers. The report contained several anonymous accounts from victims.

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