Buddhist retreat faces scrutiny

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office this week confirmed it’s investigating “possible criminal activity” at the Shambhala Mountain Center, a scenic Buddhist retreat in the foothills west of Fort Collins.

Sheriff’s officials will not specify what type of allegations are being looked into, and they declined to comment further.

“LCSO has received information about possible criminal activity involving the Shambhala Mountain Center,” said David Moore, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. “Investigators are sorting through that information to

see where it leads.”

News of the Larimer County investigation comes months after Shambhala International, a Buddhist organization founded in Boulder in the 1970s, became embroiled in a sexual misconduct scandal surrounding its leader, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

The allegations surfaced in a three-part report called the Buddhist Sunshine Project that detailed allegations from anonymous women with first- and secondhand accounts of sexual misconduct by Mipham and other high-ranking Shambhala officials. Some of the misconduct detailed in the Sunshine Project report is alleged to have taken place at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes, which is about two hours northwest of Denver.

Mipham stepped aside from his leadership position over Shambhala International — now based in Halifax, Nova Scotia — in July. He conceded in a letter to his followers that past relationships he engaged in had caused “harm” but did not address the broader allegations of misconduct or any illegal activity.

“I struggled to find my way and fumbled with unhealthy power dynamics and alcohol. I failed to recognize the pain and confusion I was creating,” Mipham wrote in the July 10 letter.

In August, Michael Scott, Mipham’s attorney, refuted the allegations in the Sunshine Project report: “The Sakyong categorically denies assaulting anyone, sexually or otherwise, sexual contact with minors, or any other criminal offence.”

Carol Merchasin, a retired attorney who contributed to the Sunshine Project report, told The Denver Post she was contacted by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office in November.

She said she was interviewed by investigators twice, and their questions revolved around allegations of sexual contact with minors.

Merchasin said she has no firsthand knowledge of the allegations and interviewed only the woman who described the alleged criminal activity.

The woman who made those allegations also has been contacted by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, Merchasin said.

Shambhala’s Colorado mountain retreat

The Shambhala Mountain Center is one of the organization’s two international programming hubs in the United States. It features a sweeping wooded campus where the Sakyong and other teachers come to lead meditations, and has been visited by the Dalai Lama.

Michael Gayner, the Shambhala Mountain Center’s executive director, said the retreat has not been contacted by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. He said he’s not aware of any criminal investigation.

“SMC is committed to the safety and well-being of its participants and community members, and it is the policy of SMC to fully cooperate in any governmental inquiry,” Gayner said in a statement.

Shortly after the allegations were brought to light last summer, the Shambhala Mountain Center’s staff affirmed its support for victims of sexual assault. “We stand with the women who have come forward. We will do what is right, even if it jeopardizes our existing power structures or financial position,” the statement, signed by 63 staff members, said.

After the Sakyong stepped down for a period of self-reflection, the nine members of the Shambhala’s governing body, the Kalapa Council, resigned. An interim board replaced the council as the governing body of Shambhala, and Canadian law firm Wickwire Holm was contracted to conduct a third-party investigation on behalf of Shambhala International.

The results of that investigation are expected to be made public in January. They will be released after the interim Kalapa Council reviews the findings to ensure the report “maintains the confidentiality requested by individuals,” the board said in a statement.

Mipham plans to remain in his period of reflection until January, when he will make a statement, Shambhala officials said.

After a series of articles in Boulder’s Daily Camera newspaper last summer about the allegations against Mipham, the Boulder County district attorney’s office offered to make a presentation at the Boulder Shambhala Center on how victims can report sexual crimes. The Boulder center’s executive director and District Attorney Michael Dougherty exchanged a phone call, but there was no follow-up from the Shambhala Center and a presentation was never arranged, said Shannon Carbone, spokeswoman for the Boulder DA’s office.

Leaders with the Boulder Shambhala Center, established as the first of more than 200 meditation centers now under Shambhala International, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Sunshine Project report does not include any claims of wrongdoing at the Boulder Shambhala Center, and the Boulder Police Department confirmed that it’s not investigating any allegations involving the center.

Deep roots in Boulder

Shambhala was founded as a secular, Western-focused form of Tibetan Buddhism in Boulder in 1970. Its founder, Mipham’s father, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, has had a checkered history of his own. Trungpa was known as a charismatic teacher and leader but also was reported to have been a heavy drinker and womanizer. Neither Trungpa nor Mipham proclaimed to be celibate monks, and both married.

Trungpa died of liver failure in 1987 at age 48.

Trungpa also founded Boulder’s Naropa University, the country’s first accredited Buddhist university. The Sunshine Project report triggered Mipham’s removal from Naropa’s Board of Trustees. The board found the accounts of sexual misconduct to be “credible and believable” and voted to remove Mipham from his symbolic nonvoting board seat.

The shake-up in Shambhala’s leadership has caused ripple effects for the community. Donations to some mediation centers have dwindled, causing one in New York to shutter. Other meditation centers have taken steps to distance themselves from their one-time leader.

The Shambhala Mountain Center is in the midst of a capital drive as it needs to construct a wastewater collection system. Currently, $150,000 remains to be raised of the $2.7 million price tag, according to the center’s website.

“I think that, for everyone, it is good that this is being investigated,” said Merchasin, the Sunshine Project co-author who says she was interviewed by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.