Tenshuk Ceremony and Offerings

The tenshuk ceremony is a means to supplicate a teacher to turn the wheel of dharma, propagate the teachings without hindrance, and remain in good health. The ceremony is also a way for the students to revitalize their relationship with their teacher through practice, offerings, and expressions of loyalty, love, and devotion. The short form of the tenshuk is practiced at the end of vajrayana gatherings as the body speech and mind offering. The fullest form of the tenshuk ceremony is performed at critical junctures in a teacher’s life, in times of illness, obstacles, or old age.

On November 10th 2009, His Eminence Terton Namkha Drimed Rinpoche will bestow the full tenshuk on Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the heart of the Shambhala world. The ceremony is being held at the start of the Sakyong’s year of retreat as a way to strengthen the community and dispel obstacles to the Sakyong’s activity at this time. The tenshuk is necessary because the Sakyong is entering an ‘obstacle year’ in the Tibetan calendar, and because the Sakyong is entering the time of life that his father, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, passed into parinirvana.

If you wish to make a gift to the Sakyong as part of the tenshuk, it can be done HERE, at your local Shambhala center during the day
of the tenshuk, or in Halifax at the day of the event. To read a full description of the tenshuk ceremony, click HERE.