Program 24 September 2016
Tenshug Ceremony for H.H. the 37th Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang
Tenshug Ceremony for H.E. Garchen Rinpoche, his 80th birthday
Tenshug is the Tibetan term for a ceremonial long life offering to a spiritual teacher who has chosen to be born in this life in an ordinary form. This ritual is done to request the spiritual teacher (lama) to live a long life for the preservation of the Buddhist teachings (dharma) and the happiness of all living beings.
Generally, it is said that all joy, happiness, and excellent things in the world come about as the result of virtue; and also the occurrence of extensive, perfect virtue depends upon an unsurpassable teacher who knows and demonstrates things exactly as they are. With respect to the development of Buddhism in the world: this depends on the two types of practitioners, lay and monastic, upholding the teachings by way of both knowledge and accomplishment. There is no method for this to come about without a qualified spiritual teacher. As it is said, a lama serves as representative of all the Buddha’s, coming before us in ordinary form.
Therefore, this excellent tradition of offering the long life ritual (Tenshug) became prevalent in order
- for disciples to accumulate merit through a mind of respect and devotion towards the spiritual teacher
- to create the cause for the spiritual teacher to live long, and
- for the sake of propagating the Buddhist teaching
