Buddhists throng royal wedding in Canada

HALIFAX: For Canadians, it was a wedding with difference. The bride was Tibetan royalty, the groom a Buddhist spiritual leader. Their lavish wedding in Nova Scotia was a nearly $200,000 affair and instead of gifts the couple asked for contributions to renovate their home.

Over 1,000 Buddhists and other distinguished guests including Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman and New Democratic Party MP Alexa McDonough watched as Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche and Semo Tseyang Palmo Ripa tied the knot at an event centre on the Halifax waterfront in Nova Scotia.

Rinpoche, 43, is the head of Halifax-based Shambhala tradition of Buddhism. He is the son and heir of Chögyam Trungpa, credited with bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West.  Ripa’s family heads the Ripa Buddhist lineage. The 20-something bride was raised in India’s Orissa state and was the lead dancer for the Lingdro Association of India.

The grand three-day traditional wedding festival, “Blossoming of the Sun”, cost $195,866, say the organisers, members of the Shambhala International, a global network of meditation and retreat centres. The bride, resplendent in blue robes, and the groom, looking regal in golden robes, arrived at the venue in a procession with their families escorted by pipers of the 78th Highlanders regiment playing “Scottish Soldier”.

Guests got their money’s worth in terms of fun and frolic through the three days, aside from seeing a wedding that included a purification ceremony to join energies of heaven, earth and man — the “lhasang” or holy pyre for ceremonial burning of juniper branches. Part of the festivities was a wedding reception that included an evening of food, drinks and dancing, light classical and musical theatre repertoire, a pop music show and a golf tournament.

Guests who were planning to attend the entire three-day festival were asked to consider $275 ticket price as a reference point. However, all Shambhalians and Ripa Ladrangs were eligible to attend the wedding ceremony June 10 at no charge. “We would have loved to offer the entire wedding event festival free of cost to all guests but there is no other source for funds to cover the major fixed costs such as venue, equipment and a small staff to orchestrate the festival,” said an organiser, justifying the levy.

The couple’s “wedding registry” wishlist did not include the usual dinnerware or home entertainment system. Instead, they requested that the guests help them renovate the groom’s dwelling into a suitable family home, at an estimated cost of $370,000.

This special request and the gala affair have created a stir in the local Tibetan community, and curiosity among outsiders. A few Tibetan Canadians were appalled while some were in awe at the royal event.

Mipham and Ripa met in February last year at a Buddhist celebration in a monastery in Mysore, India. They were engaged in April 2005 in New York and had their civil wedding in Colorado in August last year.

Since then members of Shambhala centers across the globe had been preparing for the traditional wedding festivities. The wedding invitations were sent to about 10,000 followers and friends primarily via Internet.

As for gifts, contributions were sought by way of cash, cheques or credit card payment towards refurbishing Rinpoche’s home. Contributions were tax deductible as the property belongs to Shambhala International, a non-profit organisation.

The renovation of the couple’s home included installation of a new shrine room ($16,200), a kitchen ($41,500), a family dining room ($17,800), a bathroom ($29,500) and additional $240,000 for other remodelling expenses.