Word: naropa
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...snow lion by the Japanese artist Tatsumura. His own paintings and calligraphy decorate the other walls. Six disciples, among them a scientist, a classicist and a physiotherapist, cluster around him, each dressed, like the master, in a dark suit. All are part of Chogyam's new kingdom: Naropa Institute, named for a great 8th century Buddhist scholar, the largest Buddhist study center...
Unlike many transplanted Eastern sects, which offer little more than meditation, Chogyam's tantric teachings are what Naropa calls "both an intellectual discipline and a practical psychology based on meditation." A rigorous but still unaccredited college, sandwiched between a Chinese restaurant and a delicatessen, Naropa offers degree programs in psychology, Buddhist studies and art, as well as certificate programs in Western dance, theater and poetry. Its faculty includes Modern Dancer Barbara Dilley, Novelist William Burroughs and Poets John Ashbury and Allen Ginsberg. Says Resident Poet Anne Waldman: "Naropa is fast becoming the poetics capital of America...
Exotic Externals. The roots of Naropa go back to 1959, when Chogyam fled the Communist takeover of Tibet and went to England to study Western culture at Oxford. Once there, he decided to wear Western clothes, to "do away with exotic externals, which were too fascinating to students in the West." The next step: marriage to a 16-year-old English girl. At that heresy against celibacy, his followers in the United Kingdom rebelled, and Chogyam decided to try America...
Starting afresh with a small meditation community in Vermont, Chogyam slowly built up a new following. Then, in 1974, he launched the Naropa Institute summer program in a Boulder elementary school. About 450 students were expected. Instead, 2,300 showed up for courses that ranged from the history of Buddhism to self-exploration. The initial 41-member faculty included Psychologist Gregory Bateson, onetime LSD Apostle Ram Dass and Buddhist Scholar Herbert Guenther. Two subsequent summer schools each drew about 1,500 students, and the visiting faculty grew to more than 90 members. Encouraged by such success, Naropa went full time...