Shambhala Publications is an

independent publishing Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

company based in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet". Many of its titles deal with

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and related topics in Eastern studies, religion, philosophy, and martial arts. The company's name was inspired by the Sanskrit word

Shambhala Shambhala (, ),Śambhala m. (also written Sambhala): Name of a town (situated between the Rathaprā and Ganges, and identified by some with Sambhal in Moradabad; the town or district of Śambhala is fabled to be the place where Kalki, the last ...

, referring to a mystical kingdom hidden beyond the snowpeaks of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, according to the

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

tradition. Its authors include

Chögyam Trungpa Chögyam Trungpa (Wylie transliteration, Wylie: ''Chos rgyam Drung pa''; March 5, 1939 – April 4, 1987), formally named the 11th Zurmang Trungpa, Chokyi Gyatso, was a Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist master and holder of both Kagyu and Nyingm ...

, Pema Chödrön,

Thomas Cleary Thomas Francis Cleary (24 April 1949 – 20 June 2021) was an American translator and author of more than 80 books related to Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, and of ''The Art of War'', a treatise on management, military stra ...

Ken Wilber Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American theorist and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a four-quadrant grid which purports to encompass all human knowledge and experience. Starting publishing ...

Fritjof Capra Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American author, physicist, systems theorist and deep ecologist. In 1995, he became a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. He was on the faculty of ...

, A. H. Almaas,

John Daido Loori John Daido Loori (June 14, 1931 – October 9, 2009) was a Zen Buddhist rōshi who served as the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and was the founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order and CEO of Dharma Communications. Daido Loori received sh ...

, John Stevens,

Edward Espe Brown "Kainei" Edward Espé Brown (born March 24, 1945) is an American Zen teacher and writer. He is the author of ''The Tassajara Bread Book'', written at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, as well as the co-author of ''The Greens Cookbook,'' with De ...

and

Natalie Goldberg Natalie Goldberg (born January 4, 1948) is an American popular author and speaker. She is best known for a series of books which explore writing as Zen practice. Life Goldberg has studied Zen Buddhism for more than thirty years and practiced with ...

. The company is unaffiliated with

Shambhala Buddhism Shambhala Training is a secular approach to meditation and a new religious movement developed by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his students. It is based on what Trungpa calls Shambhala Vision, which sees enlightened soci ...

Shambhala International Shambhala International (originally named Vajradhatu) is the umbrella organization that encompasses many of the distinct institutions of the Shambhala Training, Shambhala spiritual community, founded by the students of the Tibetan_Buddhism, Tibe ...

, or '' Lion's Roar'' (previously entitled ''Shambhala Sun'') magazine.

History

Shambhala was founded in 1969 by Samuel Bercholz and Michael Fagan, in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. Its books are distributed by Penguin

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. In 1976 Shambhala moved to

to be near the

Naropa Institute Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named after the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university desc ...

. In 1986 Shambhala moved to Boston, housed in

Horticultural Hall, Boston, Massachusetts Horticultural Hall, at the corner of Huntington Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, was built in 1901. It sits across the street from Symphony Hall. Since 2020, it has been owned by Northeastern University. It is the current home to ...

, which adjoins the

Christian Science Center The Christian Science Plaza is a site on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston), Massachusetts Avenue and Huntington Avenue in the Back Bay, Boston, Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The plaza, which is owned by ...

. In 2010, Nikko Odiseos was appointed President and continues to lead the company along with owners Sara and Ivan Bercholz, children of the founder. In 2012 Snow Lion Publications joined Shambhala. In September 2015, after a thirty-year history in Boston, Shambhala Publications moved its headquarters to Boulder again, at 4720 Walnut St, with 35 inhouse staff, now grown to 41. In May 2016 Shambala acquired Rodmell Press. As of August 2016 Rodmells 40 own titles will appear under the Shambala logo.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in Colorado Buddhism in Colorado Buddhist publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1969 Random House