Vajrayogini Abhisheka & Training
At the end of May, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche will confer the Vajrayogini Abhisheka to qualified recipients at the Halifax Shambhala Centre. The empowerment will be followed by four days of sadhana training.
Register on this page to attend the Vajrayogini empowerment with Ringu Tulku Rinpoche on May 31st at the Halifax Shambhala Centre. Though you may have filled out the Abhisheka Planning Survey, you must now register through this site.
This empowerment is being conducted and hosted under the auspices of the Open Umbrella initiative of Sakyong Wangmo Diana Mukpo and by the collective efforts of Ocean’s Ngondro Practice Committee, by the Halifax Shambhala Centre, and by Karma Changchub Ling. Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is conferring the empowerment on the request and with the blessing of His Holiness the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa.
As explained before, the abhisheka will be conferred at the Halifax Shambhala Centre on May 31, 2024. It will be followed by four days of training in the practice, June 1-4. We recommend that you plan to arrive on May 29th to ensure that your attendance is not impacted by travel delays. There will be an orientation session on May 30th.
Note: If you are applying to receive this empowerment for the first time, you must have fulfilled certain requirements and have been approved by the Dorje Loppon or Mr. Mermelstein. For more information, see below.
First-Phase Registration
This initial first-phase registration is limited to those receiving the abhisheka for the first time and those coming from away to support the first-time recipients. This is to give space priority to this group of attendees. In a few weeks we will open registration to the general assembly of Vajrayogini sadhakas.
The cost for the empowerment is $300 Canadian (about $220 US). This includes a teaching gift for Ringu Tulku. The cost for supporting sadhakas is $100. Costs for texts and ritual implements are additional, see the Frequently Asked Questions document linked below.
How to Order Texts
Please visit the following link to order your texts from the Nalanda Translation Committee:
https://www.nalandatranslation.org/product-category/restricted-texts/sadhaka/vajrayogini/
The most important texts are:
- Vajrayogini Sadhana
- Vajrayogini Sadhana Practice Manual
- Vajrayogini Teachings by VCTR, vols. 1 & 2
We also recommend the following:
- Vajrayogini Seed-Syllable Color Decals
- Vajrayogini Abbreviated Daily Practice
- Mantra Wheel for Vajrayogini Practice
It will be very helpful to NTC if you can order everything no later than May 1st. Texts will be distributed at registration on May 30th.
Here is how to avoid the shipping/handling charges for your order:
Add all the items you want to your cart. When you’re ready to check out, enter your real billing address (which for many will be outside of Canada), but check the box for “Ship to a different address?” Put in the NTC street address: 1619 Edward St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3H9, which should automatically create the default to a “pick up” option for shipping. In the “Order notes” box, type “I will pick up at the abhisheka.”
Within a few days (when we process your order), we will mark your order as “complete” in our system, which generates an automatic reply that the order has been “shipped” which means you will pick it up at the abhisheka.
Practice Implements: For those who have asked to be included in an order for bells, dorjes, and damarus, our order has been placed. When we determine the exact costs involved, abhisheka participants will be able to place an actual order through the Nalanda Translation Committee. Priority will be given to those who made a request by the beginning of March.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can access and download the "Frequently Asked Questions" document through this link.... https://docs.google.com/docu
You may want to review the original abhisheka announcement and its historical context, which you can find here... https://www.
A question and answer session held on January 21, 2024 about the significance of receiving the abhisheka can be found here: https://ocean.
To access the January 21, 2024 question and answer session, you need to have an account with Ocean and then “join” the Kagyu Ngondro Practice Group. Instructions for becoming a member of this group can be found on the last page of the "Frequently Asked Questions" document (first link above).
An outline of current eligibility requirements for the empowerment can be found here: https://docs.google.
If you have questions about your eligibility to receive this empowerment, you can contact Dorje Loppon Lodro Dorje ([email protected]) or Mr. Larry Mermelstein ([email protected]).
On Ringu Tulku Rinpoche’s connection with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Ringu Tulku met Trungpa Rinpoche in 1962 at the Young Lamas Home School in Dalhousie, India, where Trungpa Rinpoche was the 22-year-old spiritual advisor to the school, and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was a 10-year-old student. Six years later they met again at a small gathering in Delhi where Trungpa Rinpoche bestowed the Sadhana of Mahamudra abhisheka, shortly after receiving this terma on retreat at Taktsang, Bhutan. Not having any ritual implements, he used a coke bottle as the tsobum (“principal vase”).
Listen to Ringu Tulku’s recollections of his time at the Young Lamas Home School and this spontaneous Sadhana of Mahamudra empowerment in Part Two of this 2013 interview with Ringu Tulku conducted by our friends at the Westchester Meditation Center.
For more on Ringu Tulku’s life, training, and activities, please visit bodhicharya.org.
For other questions,(registration difficulties, scholarship requests) contact Deborah Luscomb, [email protected].
