Jeremy Hayward

Jeremy Hayward met Trungpa Rinpoche in 1970 in Boston where Jeremy was teaching high school science. He had received a Ph.D. in Physics at Cambridge University in 1965 and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean to do research at MIT in Molecular Biology. Buddhism seemed like a continuation of that search for what is really real.

Jeremy spent 1971 to 1974 at Tail of the Tiger (now Karmê Chöling), where, in the summer of 1971, Trungpa Rinpoche told him, "I want you to teach." He taught Science and Buddhism at the first Vajradhatu Seminary 1973 and, in 1974, moved to Boulder and helped found The Naropa University. There, as vice-president, he bathed in a continuous stream of committee meetings, punctuated by wonderful whirlpools of Dharma study and practice.

From 1977 to 1990, Jeremy was director of education on the Vajradhatu/Nalanda board of directors. After Chögyam Trungpa first began presenting the Shambhala teachings, also in 1977, Jeremy helpedcreate the Shambhala Training programs, and he has been a central figure in the development and teaching of this program ever since. He moved to Halifax in 1984, with his wife and daughter, Vanessa.

Jeremy has written four books, the first two on science and spirituality. The third, Sacred World, discusses the Shambhala path of warriorship, fulfilling a request of Trungpa Rinpoche that he write such a book. In 1987 he attended the first of a series of dialogues between scientists and the Dalai Lama, and co-edited , Gentle Bridges, the report of this seminal meeting. Jeremy's latest book, Letters to Vanessa, contrasts the stories of the sacred world of living energy and awareness with what he calls the "Dead World" of materialism that we are conditioned to live in by wrong beliefs about reality. He says he seeks fresh language to express the heart of the Dharma without dogma, and so to penetrate the deep conditioning that can obstruct hearing "even in old dogs."

In 1999, Jeremy moved to France to take up the position of acharya in residence at Dechen Chöling, the residential Practice Center of Europe, and in March, 2000, he and Patricia Ullman were married.

Teaching Schedule