"I Can Do It! 2011" (Oct. 14-16 Conference)

Wisdom Quarterly, Hay House Publications
(HayHousePresents)

• I Can Do It! Conference 2011
  
• Pasadena Convention Center
  
• October 14-16, 2011

"Pasadena is the Varanasi (Benares) of the United States," according to Paramahansa Yogananda. The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh visit nearly every year as many Eastern masters before them did.

Now join a line of incredibly popular spiritual materialists, world-famous New Age thinkers, urban shamans, and Hay House authors for a weekend retreat in Pasadena!

Join Hay House for a day or the entire weekend! The conference features Colette Baron-Reid, Joan Z. Borysenko, Ph.D., Gregg Braden, Sonia Choquette, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Debbie Ford, Louise L. Hay, Robert Holden, Ph.D., John Holland, Deborah King, Brad Lamm, Denise Linn, Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D., Dr. Christiane Northrup, Cheryl Richardson, Caroline Sutherland, Eldon Taylor, Sandra Anne Taylor, Reid Tracy, Doreen Virtue, Brian L. Weiss, M.D., Dr. Darren R. Weissman, Marianne Williamson.

It's strictly a coincidence that all of the featured authors are white or Jewish, not prejudice at Hay House. Things were different in the 1940s! It's not like unintentional bias gets pointed out to the octogenarian publisher by her authors. Who dares rock the boat when there is still so much money (abundance) to be made? Happy Birthday, Louise Hay! (She turns 85 on Oct. 8, 2011). Go

Louise L. Hay A talk with 85 year-old publisher Louise Hay

Colette Baron-Reid

Joan Z. Borysenko, Ph.D.

Gregg Braden

Sonia Choquette

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Debbie Ford

Robert Holden, Ph.D.

John Holland

David Kessler

Deborah King

Brad Lamm

Denise Linn

Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D.

Dr. Christiane Northrup

Cheryl Richardson

Caroline Sutherland

Eldon Taylor

Sandra Anne Taylor

Doreen Virtue

Brian L. Weiss, M.D.

Dr. Darren R. Weissman

Marianne Williamson

Shambhala "Lineage" Festival?

with Shastri Pamela Bothwell

Ram Dass, Tsultrim Allione, and a young [pre reckless car crash] Chogyam Trungpa (allenginsberg.org)

• Sat Sept. 24th: 9:00 am-6:00 pm
• Sun Sept. 25th: 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM
• Price: $30.00 General Public
• EAGLE ROCK SMCLA, Main Shrine Room

The Shambhala Lineage Festival is an opportunity for members and visitors to celebrate and enjoy being together. It is also a time for them to further commit to the Shambhala Vision [with some trepidation about allegations of engaging in behavior more consistent with a cult than a free and open religious center]. More

Smoking, seducing, drinking, and growing rich with the gift of gab and a cult of personality, it's "crazy" wisdom (movingpicturesnetwork.com).

"Lineage" Festival?
Susan, Wisdom Quarterly
A lineage festival suggests a lineage -- a strange celebration for an organization that originated based on a charismatic leader who had broken all ties to tradition. But for the sake of legitimacy and to be a proper Tibetan Buddhist organization, it Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was humbled to that extent and affiliated itself with a sect.

Money is the measure of respectability, and the Rinpoche had tapped a rich vein of American supporters. That respectability made affiliation possible, and the vein continues to be mined. Shambhala did not come from Tibet. It came from the imagination of Trungpa Rinpoche, who had left Tibet and was living a debauched life (which any Tibetan can do while singing the praises of Milarepa, the beloved drunken "crazy wisdom" saint).

The organization makes money by selling multilevel "warrior" trainings, tithing, special programs, special donations, pricey retreats, and militaristic bootcamp outings, and donations. Ultimately, things seem to center more around money-making ventures and reliance on a questionable "guru" (the founder's jet-setting son) and social events than meditation, which it officially regards as "cool boredom" and something not to get too carried away with.

If it were not for Pema Chodron's greatness and the success of affiliated publications, there would only be a get-togethers at someone's house to read Trungpa Rinpoche railing against "spiritual materialism." Instead, we have consumer spiritualism. Come see for yourself. (Bring your wallet).

Introductory Programs-Core Path Programs-Buddhist Programs-Shambhala Training-Contemplative Arts-& Disciplines-Community Events-Adv. Programs & Group Ret.-Yoga, Body, Health-All Programs

A Lineage Would be Nice, But DIY is Easier

How and where else could Westerners dress like Tibetans under the aegis of Vajrayana -- but still do it their way? Trungpa Rinpoche gave them an in, and their money solidified it. Does it work? Is that all it takes? Is it legitimate Tibetan Buddhism? "Lineage" can just be an afterthought.

• WeDivest.org
• EndTheOccupation.org

Conscious Life Expo 2011 (video)

More Buddhas on display and being talked about than ever before (Topanga Films)

We are in this age, at this moment, witnesses to the cataclysmic transformation of consciousness apparent everywhere. The Conscious Life Expo -- which travels nationwide and stops in Los Angeles at the end of September -- explores the myriad forms this transformation takes. The Expo has FREE lectures and special events covering: alternative health, visionary science, all kinds of spirituality, and revolutions in media, art, personal relationships. As a community it helps synchronize a common intent and give grounding to the force of evolution.

• "The Visionary Conference"
• Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2011
• LAX Hilton, Los Angeles, CA
  
• "Beyond 2012 Conference" (Feb. 2012)
  

Dose of Dalai Lama for $10,000 a pop

Janine Hill (sunshinecoastdaily.com.au)

China accuses the Dalai Lama (L), seen here with Richard Gere, of being a "splittist" [separatist] bent on dividing country (AFP/Getty Images/Stephen Chernin).

Tickets to the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Sunshine Coast have sold out, but a spare $1,000 or $10,000 [Australian dollars] will still buy some time in the presence of "His Holiness."

Maureen Walshe, director of the Chenrezig Institute of Buddhist wisdom and culture at Eudlo, said tickets at $50 and $35 for His Holiness’s June 16 visit sold out in February.

Benefactor packages, ranging from $1,000 for two people in the public teaching area to $10,000 for two people in the VIP area, plus a commemorative plaque and photo opportunity, remain available.

Ms. Walshe said Chenrezig had kept general ticket prices down to make the event affordable for as many people as possible.

“There are people who say we could have charged $100 a ticket, but that’s not what we’re about,” she said.

She said the $125,000 raised by general ticket sales covered the basic costs of staging the event, including a speaker’s fee.

Further money raised by the benefactors’ packages would help cover other costs, such as transport and security, she said. “We’ve just broken even,” she said. Ms. Walshe said two $10,000 packages had already been sold. More

• Richard Gere says US must do more for Tibet
• Miss Tibet 2011 Beauty Pageant kicks off
• New star steers Tibetan transition
• DHARAMSALA, India - When exiled Tibetan spiritual-cum temporal leader the Dalai Lama announced his retirement from political life in March, he had reasons to be optimistic that the torch of self-determination for his people would be carried forward by a younger generation. The timing to separate the religious mandate of the institution of Dalai Lama from its political one seemed to coincide with free elections in which a suave Harvard-educated [USA controlled?] lay intellectual was elected as the new prime minister.
• Tibetan student wins essay, offers advice to US students
• Dalai Lama to convene free forum in Brisbane, Australia
• How to draw a proper Yeti (abominable snowman)
• Sunshine Coast prepares for Dalai lama visit

Dalai Lama "won't seek rebirth"

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in an interview with Taiwan television aired [in 2009], said he is in excellent health -- but won't seek reincarnation [rebirth]. In an interview with Taiwan's Formosa TV, which was conducted in India to mark the 50th anniversary of China's occupation of Tibet, the Dalai Lama said it would be up to the Tibetan people to decide if there should be a reincarnation after his death. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama to be the current incarnation of their supreme Buddhist leader, whose holiness has exempted him from the cycle of birth and death, and can instead be reincarnated of his own free will. More