Shambhala Training: Level 4

David Sable was the first head of organic garbage at Tail of the Tiger in Vermont, Trungpa Rinpoche’s first land center in North America in 1971. David aspired to drive the tractor, but as a city boy who commuted back and forth to New York in the early years he was not allowed. After several years of sitting practice at least an hour a day, he finally earned permission and became the retreat coordinator, delivering water and food to retreatants by tractor and snowmobile with many mishaps.

David was regarded as a good talker and, being in the right place at the right time, David was approved as a meditation instructor and teacher. Once he married Trudy, who was also a good talker, David was regarded as talking too much. They were appointed as the Directors of the Maitri Center in Wingdale, NY, to work with less talkative students, but it didn’t happen. Instead, David and Trudy were sent to Washington, DC where there were lots of people who were very talkative. David probably talked too much, but he was Trungpa Rinpoche’s Ambassador for eight years so he thought it came with the position.

He and Trudy then returned to the New York area where some of the greatest talkers in the world were, and then they moved to Nova Scotia. After some time, David and Trudy became students of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, who hit David on the head when he talked too much, Sakyong Mipham, who sometimes refused to talk to him, and since 2015 Tsoknyi Rinpoche who uses pantomime to get through to people like David. David loves education and he teaches Buddhism at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. He is working on a book, "Mindfulness and Contemplative Interaction: a Transformative Way of Learning in Higher Education."