Yet Another Stain On Shambhala
Published in Frank Magazine, September 26, 2025
It seems the enterprise has just been cursed from the start.
When Chogyam Trungpa founded Shambhala Buddhism in Colorado in the '70s, the Tibetan lama immediately attracted legions of followers. But by the time he moved to Nova Scotia, with hundreds of adherents, in 1986, Shambhala’s future was an open question. The guru’s cocaine use, alcoholism, and Jeffrey Epstein-like proclivities had tarnished the brand. “[S]exual abuse... committed against countless women students... Trungpa demanding women and girls at all hours of the day and night,” reported The Walrus. When he died in 1987, disillusioned Shambhalytes fled for the exits.
Enter Sakyong Mipham, Trungpa’s son, in 1990, to clean up the mess pater had left behind. Within 20 years, returning true believers had doubled membership to 14,000 worldwide and annual revenue at Shambhala Inc. were up to $18 million (USD.)
All chakras were aligned — until the dharma wheel again slipped off its axle.
Allegations of widespread sexual abuse/exploitation by unnamed Shambhala leaders surfaced in 2018.
A couple of sex abuse accusations against Mipham obliged him to take a powder. Then everyone went back to sleep.
In 2023, Jack Hillie III, head monk at the Shambhala outpost in Cape Breton, was convicted and jailed for two months on a charge of voyeurism for spying on showering monks-in-training.
In response to enquiries at the time, Shambhala spokesthingy Deborah Luscomb told media "no comment."
A Shambhala lifer, Luscomb polished her aura at the toes of the master in Boulder. When Trungpa moved to Nova Scotia she packed up her husband, Andrew Munro, and their two young sons, Alec and Rob, and laid down roots in Halifax.
Their lives revolved around the movement, which they helped build from the ground up. Mom ran the Shambhala Meditation Centre, and Andrew, a lawyer, pitched in on legal matters. The kids learned how to “Ommm” at Shambhala private school, and they went to Shambhala Sun Camp in Tatamagouche every summer.
A generation later, Alec's wife, Michelle Munro, took over managing the Centre — and Rob the handyman would be called in when renovations were needed.
Which brings us to May 2023. Days after Rob babysat one evening for family friends, the parents started to think that Rob had done something unthinkable to "Angie", their four-year-old girl. The evidence was building:
- When “Angie” went on a playdate with another kid, that kid’s parent overheard “Angie” telling her kid that a babysitter had touched her in a bad place while playing “doctor”;
- “Angie’s” older brother told Mom that his sister confided that her and Rob had a “secret”.
- Then Rob, 41, came over for dinner one night, and “Angie” broached the subject. "Why don’t you tell us what the secret is?" snapped Rob, clearly flustered. It wasn't long until "Angie" told her parents the truth.
Arrested and charged with sexual assault and sexual interference in August 2023, Munro pled not guilty and was tried over six days last winter in Halifax provincial court, Judge Mark Heerema presiding.
The court heard evidence that Rob had- (that’s enough details!—ed.)
The verdict in June: Guilty on both charges, pre-sentencing report needed.
Flash forward to August, when cops got a complaint that Rob had attended a house party where several children were present. (He’s under conditions to steer clear of kids unless their parents know what he’s done).
He’s arrested again. At his bail hearing, Mom and Dad put up $6,000 apiece to guarantee his release on strict house arrest conditions at his mother’s South End Halifax apartment.
He'll be sentenced November 20.
Frank prediction: Four years of federal time.
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