Ritual - Lama Shenpen & Tulku Sherdor in conversation

Ritual is one of the six areas of Living the Awakened Heart and as such is integral to the curriculum within the Awakened Heart Sangha. In this talk, Lama Shenpen and Tulku Sherdor will explore the principles behind ritual and its relevance to our daily practice. What constitutes a ritual and why is it important? Ultimately, perhaps we can see our whole life as a ritual.

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Tulku Sherdor Rinpoche has been the Executive Director and principal teacher of the Blazing Wisdom Institute in the U.S.A. since 2004, and of its predecessor dharma center in New York founded in 1998 by His Holiness Orgyen Kusum Lingpa.  

Born in Montreal, Canada in 1961, Tulku practiced Buddhist Insight meditation as a teenager, and met his principal teacher, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, in Nepal in 1981.  He was fortunate to study closely with many other pre-eminent Tibetan Buddhist masters of the 20th century. 

Early in his life, he completed a forty-month lama retreat in the Karma and Shangpa Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism under Kalu Rinpoche, and a year-long intensive solitary retreat in the Chogling Tersar practice lineage held by Tulku Urgyen.  He has since completed ten years of formal retreats.  

After meeting his root guru Orgyen Kusum Lingpa in 1997, Tulku served him faithfully and tirelessly for 13 years until Kusum Lingpa’s passing in 2009, and has dedicated himself to the preservation and spread of his dharma treasure lineage and teachings ever since.  

At the same time, since the passing of Tulku Urgyen in 1996, Tulku has continued to rely closely on his son and dharma heir Tulku Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, along with Tsikay Chogling Rinpoche, and has done his best to serve and support their activities and sangha around the world.  Tulku has practiced with the ordained sanghas of the Chogling Treasure lineage in Nepal very extensively throughout his life.  

Tulku was recognized many times as a reincarnate Lama in his youth, and later (at the turn of the century) was formally enthroned in Lung Ngon Thubten Chokorling Monastery in Golog, Tibet, in a ceremony conducted by Kusum Lingpa and Ven. Hung Kar Dorje Rinpoche, and attended by thousands of Lamas and monks, as the rebirth of Walshul Dorje Nyima, a siddha in the family lineage (dung gyud) of Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje.  

He was also recognized by Choje Tulku of Sanglung Monastery in Golog as the rebirth of his previous-life root guru, Dodrup Wonpo Togmed Rinpoche, the head of Sanglung Monastery and the nephew of the 2^nd Dodrupchen, Phuntsog Jungnay. 

Tulku Sherdor’s work teaching, serving, and translating the dharma spans four decades, and is detailed in his memoirs A Path Strewn with Flowers & Bones, and in several others among his ten published dharma books. He is also a virtuoso chant master. 

Learn more at www.blazingwisdom.org, visit the BlazingWisdom YouTube channel, listen to Tulku’s recordings on your favorite streaming platform, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram. 

Morning Puja - Section A   P14 - click link in contents
Shakyamuni - Section A P51 - click link in contents
Full Moon Feast - Feast Liturgy, Khenpo Rinpoche Long Life Prayer, AHS Song Book

The daily schedule is likely to look like this. Afternoon sessions may be added if appropriate. 

07:00 - 08:00 Morning Puja 
09:00 - 10:00 Shakyamuni Sadhana
10:30 - 12:00 Conversation on the Principles of Ritual with LS and TS
17:00 - 20:00 Full Moon feast