Acharya David Schneider's Visit

March 24 - 27, 2005
Davis Shambhala Meditation Center

We are very pleased that Acharya David Schneider will be returning to Davis at the end of March. David is one of the senior teachers in the Shambhala community, and we have been very fortunate to have regular visits from him over the years.

He will be giving a community talk (“Who or What Is or Are the Rigden(s)?") to be followed by a reception beginning at 7pm on Thursday, March 24, 2005, that is open to everyone.

"The Rigdens are the manifestation of the energy, brilliance and wisdom of [that] completely enlightened space." - SMR

Teachings regarding Rigden traditionally have been introduced at advanced Shambhala Training programs, however, the principle of Rigden is starting to show up everywhere at our centers, at all levels of practice. Some of you may have heard about a new practice being introduced at seminary, called "The Primordial Rigden." On Sunday mornings, we "pay homage to the Rigden King." Who or what is that, and why should we pay homage to him or to anyone at all? Soon, a Rigden tangka will be adorning our shrine (in place of the blue Vajradhara that now is there). As so many of the principles in Shambhala Buddhism, Rigden is not easy to describe in a few words, and quite mysterious to many. Who better to help dispell some of this confusion than Acharya David Schneider, one of the senior teachers in our sangha who is known to many of us as a warm and brilliant teacher and a dear friend of our Davis sangha. For more information, please contact Marie Endres, who will be coordinating the event, at mwendres@omsoft.com or (530) 756-2771. Suggested donation $10.

Also, David will be the director of the Shambhala Training Level III scheduled for March 25-27. If you have been thinking about taking Levels II and III this time around, that is just one more good reason to do so, since it will be a real treat to hear Shambhala teachings from such an accomplished teacher. If you have already taken Level III, you may consider staffing or (space permitting) re-taking the level. In any case, everyone who has taken Level III is encouraged and welcome to come for the talks on Friday evening, and Saturday and Sunday late afternoon, and the final reception on Sunday.

Besides teaching in Davis, David will also be teaching a Dharma Art program at the San Fransisco Shambhala Center the weekend before (March 18-20), which is sure to be fantastic.

David Schneider became a Buddhist practitioner in 1967. In January, 1971, he met Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and he says, that did it. In April of the same year, he saw Suzuki Roshi and Trungpa Rinpoche together; that really did it. He move into the San Francisco Zen Center, took up studies under Richard Baker Roshi, and in 1977, he received ordination as a "monk"-actually unsui or "cloud-water person." In 1984, in the formal Zen Shuso ceremony, David was ordained as a head monk at the Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco. In 1985 David was accepted by Trungpa Rinpoche as a student. He attended Vajradhatu Seminary in 1986 and staffed Seminary again in 1988. David wrote a book about Zen teacher Issan Dorsey called Street Zen, published in 1993 by Shambhala Publications. 1994 followed with a book of collected poems, Essential Zen, which he co-edited with Kazuaki Tanahashi. In 1995, David was appointed director of Shambhala Europe by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, a position in which he served until the Spring of 2003.