Heaven and
Halifax at Buddhist 'royal wedding'
by JANE ARMSTRONG, The Globe and Mail,
June 3, 2006
Robes and kilts are all the rage
as spiritual leader and bride celebrate
HALIFAX, Canada -- He runs marathons, writes
poetry and is an expert calligrapher. She is a dancer and speaks
five languages. He loves Nova Scotia. She's never been here.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the spiritual leader of the
Shambhala Buddhist movement weds Tseyang Palmo in
Halifax
They met in a Buddhist monastery in India last year. Her dance
company was performing and he was teaching. He fell instantly for
the graceful dark-haired beauty and arranged to meet her family the
next day for tea.
Next Saturday, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who is the spiritual leader
of the Shambhala Buddhist movement, will wed Tseyang Palmo in
Halifax in a lavish three-day wedding ceremony being billed as a
"royal wedding" among Nova Scotia's Buddhist community.
The happy event is a coming-out party, of sorts, for Nova Scotia's
Shambhala Buddhists, who number about 600 and arrived here in the
early 1980s, mainly from the United States, on the urging of their
teacher, Chögyam Trungpa, the groom's late father. In the late
1970s, Mr. Trungpa picked Halifax to be the world headquarters for
Shambhala Buddhism.
Mr. Trungpa, who is credited with introducing Tibetan Buddhism to
the Western world, died in 1987. His U.S.-raised son, the Sakyong,
has continued his father's work. Although based in Halifax, the
Sakyong travels most months of the year, holding seminars on
meditation and promoting his books.
Next week's elaborate wedding ceremonies will be an amalgam of
Asian and Celtic-Canadian culture; purple-robed monks will mingle
with kilted bagpipers from Nova Scotia's fabled 78th Highlanders. A
Japanese bow maker will perform an archery presentation just before
the daily firing of the noon gun atop Halifax's Citadel
fortress.
The boomer-aged Buddhist wedding planners in Halifax lend a New Age
twist to the tradition-steeped ceremonies.
"We're trying to remember to breathe," said Shambhala practitioner
and Haligonian Richard Peisinger.
Over the week ahead, Mr. Peisinger and fellow planners must also
remember to pick up the 40 dozen Digby scallops and 40 dozen curry
chicken tikka skewers for the reception dinner on June 10.
The wedding has mushroomed to 1,100 from 500 guests, who will be
arriving from India, Nepal, Tibet, Europe and the United
States.
The wedding is the talk of this foggy East Coast city, and
organizers are praying -- or meditating -- for good weather for the
first ceremony next Thursday, a lhasang, in which juniper is burned
to purify the environment. It's to be held outdoors at Halifax's
historic Citadel and will be open to the public. The wedding
ceremony is in a downtown convention centre.
Among the guests will be Buddhist monks from Tibet, Nova Scotia MP
Alexa McDonough, Lieutenant-Governor Myra Freeman and comedian
Cathy Jones, who practises Shambhala Buddhism.
Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly has joined the Buddhist wedding
bandwagon, declaring June 10 Blossoming of the Sun Day.
Mr. Peisinger and fellow planner Wendy Friedman are organizing
cars, hotel rooms and billets for the foreign guests. They say it's
the first public event Buddhists have held since arriving in Nova
Scotia a quarter-century ago.
"For us, it's an offering to the couple, but also to the
community," Ms. Friedman said. "To share it with everyone in Nova
Scotia." Ms. Friedman, who owns a clothing store, is a native of
South Carolina. Mr. Peisinger is from Westchester, N.Y.
"It's just been fun to have a big celebration," Mr. Peisinger said.
"Everyone is getting a big charge out of it. There's a great sense
of sharing."
Ms. Friedman added that the wedding is also a way for Halifax's
Buddhists to express affection for Nova Scotia.
"It's a way for us to say, 'We're not mysterious. We're open. If
you want to know more about us, just come on down.' "
Relations between residents of Halifax and the Buddhists weren't
always rosy in this Maritime province, where Nova Scotia's renowned
friendliness is extended to tourists but not necessarily to
outsiders with unfamiliar beliefs.
"There has always been a thin line between Nova Scotia's famous
hospitality and xenophobia," said David Swick, who wrote a book
about Nova Scotia's Buddhists.
"We are now less xenophobic and more confident," Mr. Swick said.
After arriving in Halifax, Buddhists opened ethnic restaurants,
cafés, bookstores and other businesses.
Mr. Swick said that the Buddhists and Nova Scotians benefited from
the influx. The Buddhists made Halifax more cosmopolitan and
Haligonians helped Buddhists "achieve what they wanted, which was
to rub off some of the more aggressive and unsavoury aspects of
American culture." Halifax also gave them "a sane place to
practise."
The groom's father fled Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese invasion,
settling first in India, then England. The Shambhala tradition,
which he followed in Tibet, emphasizes meditation and urges people
to work for an enlightened society.
Mr. Trungpa is credited with introducing Tibetan Buddhist
principles to the Western world. In 1970, he moved to Colorado,
where in Boulder he established North America's only Buddhist
university.
By the late 1970s, Mr. Trungpa was dissatisfied with U.S. society.
On a trip to Nova Scotia, he found a down-to-earth people who
valued friendships and family, Ms. Friedman said.
Mr. Trungpa urged Shambhala practitioners to follow him, and
hundreds did.
The Shambhala movement has about 175 learning centres in the
Western world, with about 7,000 members.
The Sakyong and his wife will live in Halifax, in Kalapa Court, a
waterfront home owned by the Shambhala Buddhists. It's undergoing a
$370,000 renovation in preparation for Ms. Palmo's arrival. Wedding
guests have been asked to donate $100 each to the new home.
