The Surmang Relics Affair, by Edward Boyce

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The Surmang Relics Affair
by Edward Boyce
June 30th, 2023
https://edwardboyce.com/surmang

I have to start with the obvious: this event has been a torment for me. I am heartbroken by the lack of accountability. It's crushing that our leaders are still acting like this. I feel that I am being asked to be part of a cover-up. Instead, I would like to request an apology, a simple acknowledgement of what happened would work for me: "I am sorry I lied to everyone, and that I maintained that lie for over a month." Then perhaps everyone can begin to move on and heal.

Although she hasn't worked there for over a decade, sometime in 2019 Carolyn Gimian went into the Shambhala Archives and took the Surmang Relics—these are the objects that Trungpa Rinpoche carried out of Tibet on his body as he fled the Chinese, and that Diana Mukpo donated to the Archives in 2001. The relics were replaced with worthless fakes, carefully re-wrapped in archival tissue with the original labeling put back on. Then Carolyn stored the actual relics in her house for a few years (these items are insured for well over a hundred thousand dollars but this off-site storage likely nullified the policy). Then, when they were recently discovered missing, Carolyn was immediately asked about it. Even though she had them in her possession, she lied, saying she had no idea what could have happened. She maintained this lie for six painful weeks. She has yet to apologize.

This past March, Jeanne Riordan (my partner's mother) was preparing a Parinirvana Day exhibit of the Surmang Relics. When she unlocked the cabinet where the relics were stored she was shocked to find them missing. Not only were they gone but they had been carefully replaced with trinkets. The first person Jeanne contacted was Carolyn Gimian (who, we now know, had everything in her possession). Their email stream is below. Carolyn lied directly to Jeanne, telling her that the whole thing was "quite bizarre".

Beyond the weeks of daily psychological torment that this deception inflicted on Jeanne—who has spent decades working at the Archives, and trusted Carolyn as both a friend and former colleague—the suffering spread to many others. Everyone who worked at the archives was suddenly a possible suspect. People were leaving work in tears. Their friends and families were all drawn into the emotional uncertainty. There was global confusion as enquiries went out everywhere. The Shambahala Global Services board had to dedicate precious resources to investigating the dissapearance. The Sakyong's world was alerted and peppered with questions: this apparent theft creating fresh distrust and suspicion. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche was sympathetic to the pain and confusion created by the apparent theft and commisioned two separate Mo ceremonies to advise the archives staff and friends in their search for answers. Everyone experienced six weeks of stress, and suffering, suspicion, and scrambling and failure. By my count there were about a dozen people who were left twisting in the wind on this, and we are all still dealing with our experience.

Carolyn and Jeanne's Emails

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Relics

6 messages

Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com>

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Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@shambhala.org> Wed, Mar 29 at 3:25 PM

To: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

Carolyn,

Iryna and I just opened the file cabinet that holds the Surmang relics with the only key that opens that file cabinet. Do you have the other key to it? Do you know if someone else has ever had the key?

I have not even looked at the relics for years, since they were kept safely in that locked cabinet. However, someone has been in that cabinet. There are other rupas wrapped and labeled Milarepa, Padmasambhava and Naropa's skull. However the original relics are not there. Mahakala is also missing. Only the hooked knife, the phurba and the vajra and HH fingernails and paper hat are there! The only people who even know where the relics are kept and could possibly have had access are Ann Shaftel and yourself. Is there anyone else who could have known about the key? Did they get moved to somewhere else in the vault?

Please! If you know anything about this let me know immediately! I hope your operation has been good.

In great distress,

Jeanne Riordan Shambhala Archives



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Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@shambhala.org> Wed, Mar 29 at 4:04 PM

To: Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@shambhala.org>

Cc: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

We just examined the phurba. It is not the surmang relic. Also chakrasamvara is gone.

[Quoted text hidden]



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Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com> Wed, Mar 29 at 4:14 PM

To: Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com>

Hi Jeanne,

I am a week out from surgery and still very much in the recovery stage. I’m here in Palm Desert, California, as I think I told you.

I don’t have any idea what may have happened with the relics. Quite bizarre. I haven’t been in the Archives in a couple of years, and haven’t looked in that cabinet for a long time.

I would suggest that, before anyone leaps to a conclusion, it would be better to proceed with the presumption that there’s an innocent explanation — I really don’t know. I have no way of knowing, actually.

I”m not coming up with anything that helpful, I’m afraid. And I’m still on drugs!

Please keep me posted, of course. I’ll be back in Halifax on May 1st. Not much I can do from here. Of course, when I’m back, I would do everything I can do help.

Hoping it’s a false alarm.



XOXO Carolyn

[Quoted text hidden]



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Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com> Thu, Mar 30 at 9:42 AM

To: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

Thanks Carolyn, so sorry to bother you. Hope your recovery goes well and you can be up and about again. We’ll figure this out. It is a mystery

Love

[Quoted text hidden]



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Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com> Thu, Mar 30 at 1:23 PM

To: Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com>

Dear Jeanne,

Please keep me in the loop and let me know if there’s anything I can do at this distance —Not a bother. Love,

Carolyn

[Quoted text hidden]



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Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com> Sat, Apr 1 at 12:31 PM

To: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

Carolyn,

I have been in touch with Landy and David Brown. They do not know anything about the relics whereabouts. They feel very badly that they are missing and will inform SMR.

I am afraid this news could cause further damage to our already fragile sangha. Please advise.

Landy just wrote back to say that we should call the police.

So sorry this is happening while you are not well.

[Quoted text hidden]



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More about the relics

4 messages

Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com>

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Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com> Mon, Apr 3 at 5:08 PM

To: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

Dear Carolyn,

How are you doing? I hope you are recovering quickly difficult I can imagine, considering the serious surgery you just underwent.

I have informed SGS about the missing Surmang relics. They will direct any further action. I’m sure the Board will know soon. I’m assuming you informed LDM. She must be very upset.

Did you tell me that you have the briefcase with the Trungpa seals in safe keeping? The database still has the location in the vault but I think I remember you saying you were keeping them? I have looked for it but can't find it in the vault.

Thanks and let’s keep in touch.

I only hope this does not fracture the sangha more deeply. Love and be well soon, j



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Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com> Tue, Apr 4 at 12:10 PM

To: Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com>

Hi Jeanne,

Thanks for checking in. I am recovering pretty well from the surgery, but the physical therapy is very demanding and quite tiring. I am still taking a small dose of some heavy duty medication at night, but hope that I’ll be done with that soon.

I’m going to try to attend part of the Feast today by zoom. I don’t know how long I’ll last, but I really would like to be there, if only for a little while. Wishing you a cheerful sweet sour Parinirvana Day. Hard to believe it has been 36 years.

Good that you’ve informed SGS about the relics — and that they’ll take it from here.

Re the seals: As you know, the seals of the Trungpa’s belong to Lady Diana. They were in the vault for many years. However, about 6 to 8 years ago, she made the decision to remove them from the premises of the Archives. So, luckily, you don’t need to worry about them.

I think it’s a very heartening sign that the Sadhana of Mahamudra feast is bringing so many people together this year — let’s hope for more harmony as we go forward.

I’ll be back in Halifax late on April 30th. It’s been a very long time away (almost 4 months). I’ll be so happy to be home.

Thank you for all the work that you and your staff are doing to preserve Rinpoche’s legacy. Sending love,

Carolyn

[Quoted text hidden]



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Jeanne Riordan <xxxxx@gmail.com> Wed, Apr 5 at 1:24 PM

To: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

Dear Carolyn,

Thanks for letting me know about the seals, that is a huge relief! I have been asked to share some of the email content you sent to the SGS Executive team, and I have done so. I hope that is ok.

Everyone is very worried about the whereabouts of the relics and so they will be in touch about it. Wasn't the feast amazing! I love that Sarah and Mara brought kids! First Parinirvana ever for them. The shrine room was full and everyone feasted so well together. And Wendy and Lynn were amazing...thanks for letting us use the Library audio. Lynn was so helpful in finding an appropriate talk and presenting it.

I think that generation can take over completely now. They are well prepared. Just details to pass on... Sending you lots of warm thoughts and wishes for a speedy recovery.

Love,

[Quoted text hidden]

[x]
The Recovered Surmang Relics

After these emails, the search for who could have taken the relics continued its daily, anxiety inducing grind for over a month. Every intern or researcher who had logged into the archives' database for years was considered a suspect and their actions were reviewed. Hand wringing about police involvement and insurance claims and community schisms continued week after week. Finally in early May the deception stopped and Carolyn alerted the Shambhala Global Services Board, and by extension the staff at the Archives, that she had everything in her possesion. That same day, Diana Mukpo presented a detailed letter to the board outlining a series of complaints relating to her donor intent with these objects. In a later email to me, below, Diana said "Carolyn should have returned them but at this point quite honestly, I’m glad that she didn’t."

Even when Carolyn disclosed that she had them, she didn't volunteer to return the relics to the archives, instead telling the SGS Board that she was going to move them to a secure location. Apparently it took a zoom call with SGS's legal council present to remind Carolyn that she doesn't get to decide where these relics go simply because she took them.

Diana and Carolyn have previously made clear that they want these objects to go to The Chogyam Trungpa Institute at Naropa where Carolyn is the executive director.

Shortly after admitting that she had them all along, Carolyn spoke with Tillie on the phone. Carolyn stressed that if this went public "it would be very bad for Jeanne", then later in the call suggested that Jeanne come to the Profound Treasury retreat, "completely free, of course". When Tillie was trying to impress on Carolyn the gravity of the mess everyone went through, by relating how there were several summer interns at the Archives who were under suspicion of theft because of their login activity, Carolyn replied "Oh, please do let me know if there is anything suspcicious about that person, because they have applied to work at CTI." But of course that person's name had been cleared, when Carolyn revealed that she had taken the relics.

So after all this, Carolyn didn't reach out to the staff at the archives or SGS regarding the torment they had experienced, she didn't offer an apology or acknowledge any wrongdoing. In the absence of any formal resolution or apology I emailed Carolyn and Jim, below, trying to engage with Carolyn. Carolyn didn't acknowledge receipt of my email for over two weeks.

After Carolyn failed to call or meet with me, I told her I was going to ask for help with all of this and I reached out to her longtime friends and colleagues Judy and Chuck Lief. Judy is the leader of the Profound Treasury Retreat (a program that Carolyn helped develop) and Chuck is the president of Naropa University and I suppose he is technically Carolyn's superior in her work at the Chogyam Trungpa Institute. Chuck did a zoom call with me and Tillie and was sufficiently concerned that he said he would initiate an investigation at Naropa. He explained that the university has the resources to do objective, transparent investigations into its staff and that this seemed to warrant that.

After the call Chuck later emailed to inform us that he had spoken to both Carolyn and Judy and that Carolyn was going to step back from her teaching responsibilities at the Profound Treasury Retreat.

Tillie has initiated a care and conduct process with Shambhala and there is some hope that there could finally be a mediated conversation between Carolyn and the people whose simple ability to do their daily work was affected for six weeks by her deception.

There are a lot of unanswered questions here and there are obviously larger questions about leadership and archival access that people at Naropa and Shambhala Global Services and The Chogyam Trungpa Institute are going to have to consider.

I'm not exactly clear what Chuck is doing at Naropa around Carolyn's leadership role. It appears that he has opted to personally lead an inquiry within the CTI advisory board, of which Carolyn is a member. I'm not sure if there is a parallel process happening with an objective investigation at the university and I'm not clear why Chuck would delay initiating one.

Chuck leading a conversation with CTI looks to me, as a concerned party from outside the organization, like a self-investigation. I don't understand how you conduct an unbiased investigation of your longtime family friend and coworker who has been accused of wrongdoing?

As someone who thinks Trungpa Rinpoche's legacy deserves some real distance from the persistant 1970s ethical standards of some of his first generation students, I don't understand how this self-investigative approach is the best way to preserve CTRs reputation.

Carolyn’s devotion to Trungpa Rinpoche is cleary ocean deep, but her actions in this strike me as coming from someone with a tight grip. I wish for her to soften, I wish relaxation for her, I wish for her a mind that wants to ask questions about our experience, I wish for her to enjoy peace. I also wish these same things for myself, and for all of the people involved in this, and I don't think keeping quiet and carrying on with business as usual is going to work anymore. I don't think our shared "love for the Vidyadhara" is a replacement for actual accountability and a transparent conversation.

I think a public apology is warranted by Carolyn and I think she should engage in mediated conversation with the people she harmed.

To my friends and family: I'm sorry if I have been a bit distracted these past few months, I didn't see this coming.

Eddie's Email to Jim and Carolyn

Ahoy! Productions Mail
Edward Boyce <eddie@ahoyproductions.com>
The Surmang Relics
Edward Boyce <eddie@ahoyproductions.com> Fri, May 19, 2023 at 12:48 PM
To: James Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>, xxxxx@suchns.com

Dear Jim and Carolyn,


I’ve been avoiding you both as I process my feelings around the stolen Surmang Relics and the fakes left in their place. I want to communicate my experience with you directly so that we can meet, and touch in with each other, in the wake of this upsetting period in my life.

I’ve just spent the last six weeks watching Jeanne Perks in a constant state of pain and distress. I’ve spent the last six weeks watching my friend and neighbour Wendy Friedman living in a continual sense of failure and loss and sleepless worry. I’ve watched Tillie wrack her brain, day and night, over the myriad possibilities of “who could be the thief?” I’ve heard a steady stream of reports of Archive employees in tears, as they worked under a cloud of criminal suspicion and general sadness. I’ve watched as multiple Mo ceremony readings arrived from Dzongsar Khyenste Rinpoche’s world about how to proceed. I’ve been a sounding board in conversations about the merits of involving the police, and the insurance implications of not reporting a crime. And it just kept going on, week after week, as everyone became more and more disheartened and tortured about the dawning truth that these deeply affecting power objects may never come back into public availability.

And then it turned out Carolyn had been lying to everyone the whole time. She was lying from the first moment that the theft of the Surmang Relics was discovered at the Shambhala Archives.

When Jeanne emailed her on day one of the discovery, Carolyn replied that she had no idea what could have possibly happened, and that the whole thing was “quite bizarre”. Six weeks later we now know that Carolyn took the relics from the Archives. These are heavily insured objects from the 14th century that are valued at several hundred thousand dollars and she replaced them with worthless, mocking fakes (the discovery of which was creepy for all involved, and felt like a spiteful insult from the unknown thief). As I understand things, Carolyn hasn’t been an employee of the Archives for many many years, and she had to request a code to the door from an unwitting Kasung, but she was still known and trusted and that allowed her to wrap these fakes in archival tissue and then replace the original labelling, and take the actual Surmang relics out and stash them in her house, for a few years. And finally, when Jeanne went to prepare a parinirvana day exhibit of the relics, the theft was discovered and Carolyn lied directly and continually to her longtime friend and colleague: putting Jeanne and a large array of innocent, hard working people through over a month of misery, stress and emotional uncertainty.

That behaviour in itself is, beyond looking a lot like a felony crime, troubling. But what is emerging in the aftermath is perhaps worse. I am now finding myself witnessing what looks like a gaslighting campaign. There seems to be a complete lack of basic accountability happening. There is a parade of justifications for this behaviour, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear apology for lying to everyone and causing so much pain and confusion.

I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that the level of stress and worry that Jeanne was experiencing during this time will have health implications. Tillie and I talked about that continually during the five week period when the increasingly clear outcome seemed to be that the theft would not be resolved: “I’m worried Jeanne is going to have a heart attack,” and “We need to do everything we can to help Jeanne find some peace around this,” and “Jeanne looks like a wreck, this is killing her.”

Something that is now coming to light in different conversations is that Carolyn had stopped trusting Jeanne years ago when Jeanne opted to continue studying with the Sakyong. But Jeanne didn’t know this. Perhaps Carolyn needs to clearly state a new reality? Does she view everyone who studies with the Sakyong as untrustworthy, as an adversary, as lacking in proper devotion to Trungpa Rinpoche? She signed her emails with “Love, Carolyn”, but she was lying to Jeanne’s face and strategizing. She took things to extremes.


Finally, if these dharma treasures do have a mystical power, a connection with the unseen world, Carolyn unilaterally dissected the heart from the Shambhala Center in the night during a very vulnerable time.


I don’t know what the best way forward is in all this, but the story that is going around right now is way off the mark. The whisper campaign about the state of the archives (where people have been working diligently and with continual effort for years); or the discussion about the Sakyong and the archival objects in his possession, which have been repeatedly demanded back by the Archives; or that recovery from a hip surgery somehow erased Carolyn’s memory of this vivid theft for over a month; or the self-serving logic that the theft itself is proof that the relics needed to be stolen for their own protection; these conversations skip completely over Carolyn’s actions, her lies, and the deep and lasting pain they have caused.


This email may read harshly, but I am actually trying to resist the judgement and righteousness that swells up when someone hurts you. My recent life experience has shown me that judgement is not helpful and that you never have all the information. You never understand the other person’s intentions and their reality. I suspect that Carolyn didn’t view her actions as an actual theft from a non-profit organisation, and that she didn’t anticipate that the employees of that non-profit would suffer deeply. I also suspect that when she lied to Jeanne and Tara Templin, that she felt it was the best thing for the situation in a wholistic way, taking into account Trungpa Rinpoche’s legacy and family. I can imagine that Carolyn views the umbrella organisation that oversees the archives as trending toward failure and that the relics aren’t safe there. That’s all actually quite understandable and I can love the Carolyn who did that.


But what I’ve learned from committing actions myself that were judged harshly, and that caused people lasting pain, is that there is no limit to how often and how loudly you can apologise to those you hurt. And that has to start with a shared reality, apologies don’t land at all if someone feels they are being gaslit.


Currently I’m not sure that we are living in the same reality around some of the basic facts here. Carolyn, are you maintaining that you simply forgot you had these precious relics when Jeanne emailed you? Are you saying that you continued to forget about them and the fakes you had put in their place for another five weeks? Can we agree that you lied directly when asked about these relics, and maintained your silence as the situation continued to metastasize?

I hold you both in such high regard. My relationship with Jim is one of the most powerful, and effortless dharmic connections I’ve made in this life. I feel like Jim and I were family in another life. I feel like I have access to Trungpa Rinpoche’s mind when I spend time with him. And Carolyn, I only have to glance at my bookshelf to see the deep influence your dharmic efforts have had on my daily existence. The words you have shepherded into print have been my lifelong spiritual compass.


I hope we can heal this situation. I hope if you understand my hurt feelings, and the way that I experienced this, we can re-establish trust. Maybe you can fill me in on things I don’t understand. If it turns out that you are both hardcore gangsters for the dharma, and sometimes the bullets fly for the clan, and people get hit, I can respect that. But if that *is* the case then I need you to show those colours proudly. Otherwise, I feel like a pawn in a game; collateral damage in a hidden, strategic campaign; someone injured by a war that you are fighting in the shadows.


My impulse to just brush this whole thing away, to simply try to forget about it, is strong. Yet, as somebody who recently caused hurt with my own lies, I am living by a vow of non-deception these days. So I am choosing not to deceive you both about my feelings on this: it hurt like hell to find out that Carolyn had the keys to unlock so much worry and stress, and yet she didn’t do it, she let us all slow cook. I was mad when I found that out, and it broke some trust for me.


As always I would be up for a drink and a cigarette and a long talk with either or both of you. I trust your devotion, and I view you as my vajra sangha and I love you both.

Sincerely,

Eddie
Jim and I met, but I didn't hear back from Carolyn at all until I mentioned to Jim that she hadn't acknowledged receipt for over two weeks.
Jim replied immediately and we met shortly thereafter. But the first thing he said to me was "I had nothing to do with this and I'm not Carolyn. We learned long ago that we don't act as proxies in each other's business." So, I didn't really have much to talk to him about regarding this, other than that it had caused a lot of pain and we were all dealing with it as best we could. We had a nice time and Jim asked me a few times if there was anything else I wanted to express to him about this all. But I felt I had already said everything in my letter and I also was expecting to hear from Carolyn. Two weeks went by with no reply. Jim reached out and wanted to meet again and I mentioned that Carolyn had never replied to me, at all.

I had really been expecting to hear from Carolyn when I emailed her explaining how upset I was with her lying behaviour. I think Jim could sense that I was annoyed at being completely ignored by her (she also never replied at all to an email from CTI transcriber Sophie Perks who resigned immediately) and later that same day Carolyn finally sent over an email which led to a back-and-forth, below. I tried to start the conversation from an acknowledgement that Carolyn lied to Jeanne, and by extension, me. As you can see, we weren't able to get to a shared understanding and I continue to feel gaslit by a reality where there is someone clearly lying, but refusing to acknowledge that.


Carolyn's Eventual Replies to Me
Ahoy! Productions Mail

Repair
Mon, Jun 5, 2023 at 10:12 PM

Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

To: Edward Boyce <eddie@ahoyproductions.com>

Hi Eddie,

Sorry that I didn’t reach out sooner. There’s no problem on my end—I’ve just been taking my time with things. I found your letter pretty overwhelming, and honestly, I can’t imagine responding to it point by point. But I appreciate what inspired it and feel very badly about having created confusion and harm for people —

I think that it will take time to repair things, but I hope that we can all find a meeting point in our love for the Vidyadhara, our genuine love for one another, and for the world he created for us.

We’re leaving for Maine on Wednesday, back in about 2 weeks. I’d be happy to get together once I'm back. If there’s something urgent to discuss before then, let me know.

Love to you and to Tillie,

Carolyn

Ahoy! Productions Mail

Repair
Tue, Jun 6, 2023 at 1:43 PM

Edward Boyce <eddie@ahoyproductions.com>

To: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

Hi Carolyn,

Thanks for taking the time to engage. This actually does feel urgent to me. I feel like I am holding a secret and I don't like that feeling. I understand if my previous letter was overwhelming so I'll ask you just the one question that could help me feel like we are at least on the same page:

Can we agree that you lied directly when asked about these relics, and maintained your silence as the situation continued to metastasize?

This matters to me. I feel like I am being gaslit with a "these are not the droids you are looking for" sort of approach. I hear that you feel badly, but that isn’t actually an apology and I don't feel like you are being clear about what you did. There are a fair number of people walking wounded from this and healing has to start with some shared understanding about what happened.

Finally, an open, perhaps professionally mediated, engagement with you and these people would be very helpful, would you be open to that?

Thanks,

Eddie


Ahoy! Productions Mail

Repair
Wed, Jun 7, 2023 at 1:23 PM

Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

To: Edward Boyce <eddie@ahoyproductions.com>

Dear Eddie,

Thanks for the response.

I don’t think it’s helpful to engage this situation via a lot of emails. I think direct personal communication is called for and would be much more fruitful.

The kind of question you sent me doesn’t feel like a genuine question. It feels like an accusation and a judgment, one that I don’t believe will lead to a productive discussion or possible resolution.

If you’d like to talk when I’m back from Maine, I’m very open to that. I’m leaving within the hour.

Yours in dharma,

Carolyn

Ahoy! Productions Mail

Repair
Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 11:48 PM

Edward Boyce <eddie@ahoyproductions.com>

To: Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

Hi Carolyn,

I'm sorry if that feels like an accusation or judgement. I'm really struggling with all of this, and I am certainly coming from my own experience of having read your emails to Jeanne where you lied to her about the relics and the fakes you replaced them with. I was hoping that we could start from a shared acknowledgement of that. I appreciate you saying that you feel badly that you created confusion and harm. That is a beginning, and gets us a little closer to an apology.

I can't hold this whole thing by myself and I'm going to ask for help. When I emailed you three weeks ago asking for a conversation or a meeting I was hoping we could talk. I remain hopeful about that.

Eddie
At this point I emailed Chuck and Judy. Less than an hour after sending them an email I received the reply below from Carolyn with an actual invitation to meet. (I did not reply as the conversation was now in Chuck and Judy's hands to evaluate. After being ignored and gaslit, I am only interested in a written apology for lying or a mediated conversation with Carolyn.)

Ahoy! Productions Mail

Repair
Fri, Jun 9, 2023 at 9:42 AM

Carolyn Gimian <xxxxx@suchns.com>

To: Edward Boyce <eddie@ahoyproductions.com>

Hi Eddie,

Thanks for continuing the conversation. I’m sorry that you are struggling. And I apologize for my part in that. When we see one another, I’d like to apologize for that to you in person.

So I very much would like to talk/meet with you — although I don’t expect it to be pleasant. I feel that we have deep, shared connections, and it’s important to me to maintain those, if possible, even if it’s very painful — I know that it may take time. I don’t expect some magical moment that erases the issues.

Also, I feel that I don’t really know you very well. I’ve known you forever, so to speak, but we haven’t really talked or shared that much.

There is one point in your email that I can address by email now. In your earlier email, you expressed the sense that you are being gaslit, which I take to mean that someone — presumably me — is denying your perception of things and/or trying to distract or dissuade you from your experience of what is true. I do not feel that I’m trying to change your mind or deny the validity of what you feel or think. Your experience is your experience. However, I do have a different view/experience of some aspects of the situation. I don’t think that this situation will be solved by an exchange of so-called facts, but I do think it would be helpful to communicate. I would like to try to do so with less bias and presumption on my part, and I hope on yours as well.

I want to make time to talk, and given the nuances and differences of view we may have, it’s only possible to do justice to it in person, not by email. I’m back on the 20th, at the latest, and hope that we can get together soon after that. I’m free on the 22nd until 3 pm and pretty much any time on the 23rd. Let me know if there’s a time that works for you, so that I get it on my calendar.

Yours in dharma,

Carolyn
Diana Mukpo's Email to Me and Tillie

Ahoy! Productions Mail

What is going on?
Mon, Jun 12, 2023 at 11:46 AM

Diana Mukpo <xxxxx@gmail.com>

To: edwardboyce@gmail.com, Tillie Perks <xxxxx@gmail.com>
Cc: lfiore <xxxxx@aol.com>

Hi Eddie and Tillie,

I am hearing all sorts of rumors and feel that I need to reach out to both of you directly to try to figure out what is going on. It would be helpful to know what your intentions are. I really hope that we can inject some sort of sanity into a very difficult situation. It would be a travesty if either Carolyn or Jeannie were to take the brunt of a very complicated series of events. Mistakes have been made on both sides but to focus on those seems to be missing the point altogether.

There is potential for tremendous damage to be done by allowing emotions to take over here.
I’d like to give you a little bit of history, which might help to clarify things. The Vidyadhara
left the responsibility to me for all of his household items in his will. After his death, I felt that Shambhala would be the best repository for his collections, assuming that they had the resources to care for them properly and make them accessible to members of the community. Obviously, I could not forsee how things would fall apart. I now regret that decision but still feel a great responsibility to fulfill the trust he had in me that I would make sure that his collections be kept intact and accessible. At the time that I made the donation, I wrote a letter of donors intent which stated that the collection be kept intact and together. After things fell apart in Shambhala I immediately contacted the interim board and asked them to maintain proper stewardship of the archives. At that point they were in the basement of the Shambhala center in Halifax and I felt they need to be kept in a climate controlled situation, which is why I brought up the possibility of them being transferred to the CTI institution at Naropa . I know this was very difficult for Jeannie because she has worked very hard to look after the collection and feels a strong connection to the Vidyadhara by fulfilling her role in caring for his possessions.

The burden of responsibility in this mess lies with the board and is misplaced if there is to be any blame directed towards Jeannie. She was put in an impossible situation. Carolyn, on the other hand has always represented me on many fronts and we were both concerned about how the board was not focusing adequately on the care of the archives. I had many calls with them and the situation with the archives was either dismissed or put on the back burner.

If this is to become public it is going to reflect really badly, not on the Carolyn, but on Jeannie as well. From my perspective, there is no blame. We have had so much disruption in the community, and the worst of human nature has come out around issues such as this. Yes, Carolyn made a mistake by not being initially forthcoming about holding onto the Surmang treasures. She brought them home and put them in her safe during the time Halifax was threatened by not only flooding, but then a hurricane. There may be a difference of opinion, but Carolyn feels that Jeannie knew that she brought them home. Neither of them related to the return of the items after the hurricane. Why they were replaced with other items is a mystery to me but I think it was representative of the lack of trust that has permeated and destroyed our community. Carolyn should have returned them but at this point quite honestly, I’m glad that she didn’t. They could easily be missing with the rest of the items which are probably going to be irretrievable. She had no intention of stealing them as I’m sure you must understand. There is quite a history to those items with which I am intimately involved. When I was 16 years old, I had to trade them with Akong for our one-way plane tickets to the United States. It was very painful for Rinpoche at that time, but I realized that I need to get him out of the UK. Rinpoche carried those items on his body on his journey out of Tibet. The UK was a dead end for him because people over there were not receptive to his style. They were looking for something much more traditional and less brave . The brilliance of the teachings that we have access to now are a direct result of the receptivity of the students he connected with in North America. Two or three years after we were established in this country, we went back to Scotland and reclaimed those items. It would have been a travesty if they had disappeared along with the other missing items.

Now we know that many items are missing and have been for years including the teplong, Rinpoche’s Rolex, the Tatsmura brocade as well as thangkas of Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal, not to mention the bone relics. I do not blame Jeannie for this. It was beyond her capacity to prevent some of these thefts. The burden lies exclusively with the board whom I have repeatedly begged to provide appropriate stewardship.
I also want to make it clear that, however we feel about SMR, I believe that since he is the Shambhala heir, that with full consent of the board that we should have found a way to legally give or loan him some of these items. This should have been done properly and transparently. His people did not have a right to just take these things, and of course Jeannie was not in a position to prevent it.

Please think carefully before you escalate this. We have had so many problems already and the community doesn’t need any more discord. It appears that you want to destroy Carolyn and I think that would be a huge mistake, Carolyn has worked tirelessly to preserve the Vidyadhara’s teachings for many years and has done an amazing job. Human nature dictates that we will all have faults, and if we decide to dissect each other on that basis, we are only going to cause each other more grief. We are all trying to navigate Samsara to the best of our abilities.

At this point my greatest concerns are that so many items are missing and also to the future of the Archives. I believe the missing items may never be retrieved. Shambhala International is not going to be sustainable for much longer and there needs to be a good plan for the archives to be available to future generations.The Vidyadhara‘s collections represent so much of his mind stream, and those things need to be preserved.
If you want to talk further we can,
Diana
Sent from my iPad


Ahoy! Productions Mail

What is going on?
Mon, Jun 12, 2023 at 11:27 PM

Edward Boyce <edwardboyce@gmail.com>

To: Diana Mukpo <xxxxx@gmail.com>
Cc: edwardboyce@gmail.com, Tillie Perks <xxxxx@gmail.com>, lfiore <xxxxx@aol.com>

Hi Diana,

Yes this is all terribly unfortunate. For my part I’m not willing to be part of a cover-up to some massive harm that I witnessed first-hand. Carolyn was asked on day one of the discovery of the missing relics (and the fakes in their place) if she knew anything about their whereabouts (they were in her possession). Carolyn chose to lie. As a direct result of this lie, a sizable group of people suffered greatly and for a considerable length of time. Carolyn did not inquire after our well-being, she did not seek out a conversation, nor has she publicly apologized in any way for lying and maintaining that excruciating lie for over a month.

When I first read the emails, where Carolyn lied directly to Jeanne, I immediately began to question if Carolyn is someone who should be in a position of power over other people (I also wondered if maybe she was losing her mind). When I saw how Carolyn treated everyone after it was revealed that she was the thief everyone had been looking for, I completely lost all confidence in her as a leader. I reached out to her because I was hoping to learn that she might be willing to openly acknowledge her actions, and then people could make their own decisions about being in relationship with someone who will do something like that.

But unfortunately, Carolyn won’t enter a shared reality that acknowledges she lied. I feel gaslit. I think most anyone who reads those emails will understand that she was lying in a calculated way.

I’ve asked myself many times “What do you want from this Eddie”? Because I really am not enjoying being part of this situation at all. It’s extremely stressful and scary. Your email is scary. But the answer to that question keeps coming back: “I don’t want to be complicit in her next harmful action. People need to know about what happened.”

I think Carolyn should own these actions clearly so that students and colleagues know what they are dealing with when working or studying with her.

I certainly don’t want to destroy Carolyn. She should have little to fear from me. I’m just a person sharing my experience of being lied to by her. I don’t hold any big keys to anything.

I’m sorry this is all so troubling. It’s been very painful and continues to be so on my end.

Sincerely yours,

Eddie