Carol blogs the Sakyong Wangmo empowerment

Mother Lineage Day (Sunday, 17 August 2008)

2008-08-19T11:43:00.012-03:00

If yesterday was a high Tibetan day, today was high Shambhala.

It began when Acharya Christie Cashman came in to brief the crowd. She took us back to the Fall of 1976 when the Druk Sakyong, Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, received the terma of The Golden Sun of the Great East. She reviewed for us the process the Druk Sakyong used to confirm appointments to high office: the candidate would appear before him and the sangha and perform the stroke of Ashe and answer questions about dharma matters.

Acharya Cashman said this hotel room was the Palace of Kalapa within the Kingdom of Shambhala. No one present was just an "everyday schmuck." All here were Shambhalian personages about to witness the ascension of Lady Diana Mukpo to the post of Druk Sakyong Wangmo.

She said Lady Diana would be presented with three offerings representing Heaven (a crystal sphere), Man (a list of every member of the worldwide Shambhala community), and Earth (a copper sphere). She would also be receiving a gold windhorse statue--her seed syllable.

After she was empowered, Lady Diana would then receive various gifts from various persons, the new Sakyong Wangmo would enter and the two would engage in a "dharmic discussion." Afterward the Druk Sakyong Wangmo would invite someone from the sangha to come up and engage in a spontaneous "discourse."

Various surprises might ensue.

Acharya Cashman retired to her seat and western classical music played ushering in the Sakyong leading a procession of four or five women wearing white and carrying various sacred objects, followed by the requisite kasung. He took his seat on the high throne, before which were two brocaded-covered chairs.

Lady Diana Mukpo then entered wearing her kasung uniform -- black jacket and skirt with a red stripe down the sides, and a black peaked cap, plus all her military awards. Over all was a sky-blue sash, with the Order of the Rigden medal, identifying her as a Sakyong Wangmo.

The Order of the Rigden Medal is worth going into a little bit here. From the Decorum of Shambhala: It has a "gold sun and moon representing feminine and masculine principles, surrounded by a ratna crest on a deep blue ground representing the principle of heaven, surrounded by a gate and peony motif. The ratna crest (flaming three jewels) represents buddha, dharma, and sangha contained by Shambhala society.

Sangyum Drugmo Serri, Agnes Au then performed the invocation of the four directions.

Acharya Cashman read a proclamation from the Sakyong appointing Lady Diana as the Druk Sakyong Wangmo.

The new Druk Sakyong Wangmo then received various gifts. The first was a crystal sphere, hand blown and created in Halifax, ornamented with the sunburst and crescent moon (see above) with the inscription: "To Her Majesty Lady Diana Mukpo with love from the people of Shambhala."

Mr. David Brown presented her with a golden Gesar of Ling Thangka on behalf of the Office of the Sakyong.

Next was a calligraphy done by the Sakyong that had an ashe and the words in Tibetan "May the Druk Sakyong Wangmo be Victorious."

The Sakyong then made a few remarks about the qualities of Lady Diana, who he said was a "student, friend, consort, advisor, and trouble maker" to the Dorje Dradul with an intense love for the sangha. He then thanked her for her support of Khandro Tseyang, saying when he gave his fiance her ring, LDM winked at him. Then he did a sort of double take and said "it was a wink of approval, right?" Lady Diana confirmed it. The Sakyong reiterated that being a Sakyong Wangmo was not a "one lifetime commitment." He then presented Lady Diana with a white katha, symbolizing purity, and a yellow silk one with the eight auspicious symbols on it.

Khandro-la's mother presented Lady Diana with a rupa.

Around this time Khandro-la entered with her attendants and took the brocade-covered chair opposite Lady Diana.

Lady Diana made a few remarks, saying that when she married the Druk Sakyong at age 16, she was incredibly naive, but also felt tremendous loyalty to him with the awareness of who he was. She has now transferred this loyalty to the present Sakyong.

She said that it was not a "given" that just being married to a Sakyong meant that one would be a Sakyong Wangmo. She said she has total confidence that Khandro Tseyang personally -- and with the support of her family -- has all the requisite qualities necessary to be a Sakyong Wangmo.

Then ensued a "dharmic discussion" between Khandro-la and Lady Diana, wherein Lady Diana asked Khandro Tseyang questions. The final question was on the duties of a Sakyong Wangmo. What popped out of Khandro-la was "first thing, produce some babies." Everyone laughed. Other qualities of a Sakyong Wangmo were to be loyal, tough, a friend, and advisor to the Sakyong and to harvest peace and embody and promote harmony, decency, communication, and secure the lineage.

Next Khandro-la performed the stroke of ashe in red ink on a gold shiki board, which was signed by the Druk Sakyong Wangmo and the Sakyong.

Lady Diana then invited a woman from Washington D.C. to give a "spontaneous discourse." She did a yeoman's job of opening her heart and expressing her devotion and caring for both.

Then about seven or so children who'd just gone the through the Rites of Passage (done at age eight) came in and sang a song written for the occasion. Very cute. When they left, one said fairly loudly at the door "that was scary," which seemed to epitomize some of the energy in the room.

Lastly, senior officers of the Dorje Kasung in colour party formation performed the royal salute. After they departed, we sang the Shambhala anthem and the principals departed, then the sangha headed out to the garden party being held at Kalapa Court.

Garden Party at the Court

It couldn't have been a better afternoon. After days and days of rain, this one afternoon was sunny and just the right temperature. People gathered and hob-knobbed for an hour or so drinking sangria punch and eating cakes and cookies. Then the principals came out to sit under their pavilions. Toasts were made and we were treated to another performance by cellist Claudio Bohorquez.

Then we were treated to a Gesar dance performed by the Ripa family. Quite haunting and lively.

Lastly the Shambhala Cadets gave a very precise drill demonstration, marching in circles and then breaking out into a star formation, merging and parting. At the very end, the young cadets seemed to epitomize the energy felt by many (phew, job done!).

Signing off for now,

Fearless Wildflower

Khandro-la transforms into the Sakyong Wangmo

2008-08-17T12:37:00.003-03:00

Yesterday, Shambhala received a new Queen. As the Sakyong said later that evening at a celebration party for the investiture and empowerment, even though everyone had been calling his wife the Sakyong Wangmo, she wasn't until His Holiness Penor Rinpoche put the crown on her.

But, to begin at the beginning. We all gathered at around 9:30 am, in a ballroom on the eighth floor of the Delta Halifax Hotel off Scotia Square in Halifax, where luminaries like President Clinton stayed during the G7 conference in Halifax.

After the usual hubbub of wrangling and finding seats, household and monks stage right, family, acharyas and luminaries in front, administrators to the left, kasung behind, and all kinds of sangha members from around the world filling in the 250-seat space. I snagged a seat in the back of the luminary section so I could take pics. Kasung were on duty around the room and up to only a bit of mischief (as you can see by the Kasung Dapon's efforts to get the attention of Machen Hoagland).

After about a half hour, President Reoch, sporting his new President's pin (blue rays around the three jewels -- he said he now knows the minimum order for pins, 76 -- in case he loses one), came in to brief the crowd on what would be happening. He said that this ceremony was last done for the Queen of Bhutan and obviously very rare. Penor Rinpoche, who has stepped down as head of the Nyingma Lineage because of age, would be the preceptor. Reoch said that only his love for the Sakyong and Khandro Tseyang and the importance he put on this ceremony (to spread the nyingma and kagyu dharmas and benefit beings) motivated him to overcome the considerable obstacles it took for him to come to Halifax.

(The Sakyong said later at the party that His Holiness had not been well enough to sit on a throne for the past year. As you can see from the photos it was quite painful and difficult to get him from the wheelchair he arrived in up on to the high throne.)

President Reoch gave us the order of entry and said that Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly had proclaimed this day as Sakyong Wangmo Day. City Counselor Dawn Slone bravely read the rather long proclamation lauding the virtues of the Shambhala community at the end of the ceremony, stumbling only a few times on the names (she's the redhead in the photo reading into the mic).

First came His Holiness' monks who conducted a fairly long puja to set the mandala, chanting, drumming, cymboling, and using the ritual ghanta and dorje.

Then the procession came in to the sounds of Tibetan horns, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche arrived, followed by Khandro-la's sisters, brothers, and mother (who evidently had last minute diplomatic help from the Nova Scotia government), followed by the Mukpo family, and the Sakyong and endless retinues of servers and kasung.

After everyone was seated, Khandro Tseyang came in beautifully attired, as Reoch said, in one of her more ordinary chubas). She sat on a plain wooden chair off the platform for the first part of the ceremony. At a certain point, she moved to her throne and was conferred with a vest-like garment signifying Yeshe Tsogyal, a beautiful red mantle with the large royal pins of the Mukpo family to right and left on the mantle and then she was crowned with a lovely silver and gold crown reminescent of Vajradhara's crown (i.e., five "jewel" shapes representing the five buddha families no doubt.

During this process the Sakyong said later that he became more and more happy and more and more nervous.

She seemed quite demur and perhaps masking some nervousness, but quite blossoming when she smiled. It was hard not to be smitten by her grace and beauty -- not something I would say very often about anyone.

After that, she received various and sundry offerings, including what looked like at least five huge bags of rice, three huge cheese wheels (in red, yellow, and blue colours as I recall), a number of Tibetan rugs, and all kinds of rupas, small bags of love (from her sisters) filled with what only Her Majesty (as we can say now) will know. Then His Holiness received some offerings I believe for Body, Speech, and Mind. He left at that point as that was about the extent of his endurance for t he day.

I'm going to need to leave now to go to the Druk Wangmo Empowerment (supposed to start at 1 and it's 1:15.

But, basically I believe you will be able to see the whole thing for yourself soon on the web or at your centre (if you didn't see it live via webcast).

The entertainment in the evening was notable for a toast made by a toast-averse Sakyong to the Sakyong Wangmos (Lady Diana and now his wife) for their toughness and gentleness and the love they've both shown him. He said that Lady Diana was at first tough and then has become gentle through time, while Khandro-la was gentle in the beginning and is becoming more tough as time goes on.

There was a wonderful performance by Claudio, a world-renown cellist that was quite memorable and heart-felt.

Registration and Meetings

2008-08-16T08:37:00.010-03:00

On Friday afternoon I went over to the Halifax Shambhala Centre to register for the Sakyong Wangmo Empowerment (hereafter SWE). It was a bright sunny day for a change. We've been having a lot of rain and overcast skies, along with high humidity. My car was quite damp and beginning to grow mould on the plush after my one-month journey to France.

I think we might have gotten down the registration process at last. Register on line, pay on line, or by cheque, and then pick up your "badge," and handout the day before the program. Though I didn't like making an extra trip, it sure beats the congestion and hoo-ha of doing it on the first hours of a program.

Tina Litven (my friend for many years, and mother of our beloved budding oral translator, Jessie), checked me out and gave me my pass and booklet, lickety split.

I walked further in to check out the Marketplace in the centre's Snow Lion Room (mostly Shambhala products contrasted to ones in the past where we have a few Shambhala artisans).

Jim Lowrey Rupon was there selling his first book, Victory Over Aggression: Celebrating thirty Years of Magyal Pomra Encampment (I think it's $32.50, though could be $35 -- well worth it).

Nalanda Translation group was selling their various translations, Deborah Luscomb had her brocades -- beautiful text covers). The Shambhala Shop was there selling a few photos and a keepsake edition of The Sakyong Wangmo Empowerment: Celebrating the Feminine Principle with articles by Warrior General Martin Janowitz; an interesting looking one called "How to Raise a Sakyong" by The Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche; The Sakyong Wangmo by the Druk Sankyong Wangmo, Diana Judith Mukpo, an article by Sangyum Drukmo Serri, Agness Au and much more.

Diana Church had a table with a selection of her beautiful photographs, including one with rather dramatic lighting of the Sakyong and Khandro-la taken during their wedding, Ms. Church calls "romantic."

OK. That's about as much promo as I can deal with.

I also peeked in on torma preparations.

I have to get going now, so I will have a seat at the actual enthronement

See you all later.