Birthday of Karma Thinley Rinpoche 25th May 2014 Today the 25th of May is Karma Thinley Rinpoche’s birthday, and Rinpoche’s birthday was celebrated by the ordained and lay sanghas of Tegchen Legshey Ling, Boudhanath Nepal. In the early morning the monks and nuns gathered in the main shrine hall and performed the extended ritual of Amitayus, the particular form of the Buddha of long life. Karma Thinley Rinpoche himself was then invited into the shrine hall, where he took up his seat on the main throne, to receive the mandala offerings and the ‘tensum’ made by Zopa Tulku on behalf of the monastery. Zopa tulku is a Sakyapa tulku now residing at Tegchen Legshey Ling after completing his studies at Sakya College in Dehra Dun; he is Karma Thinley Rinpoche’s nephew After that all the invited guests and well wishers joined with the rest of the sangha to participate in the Tsok offering as the concluding section of the Amitayus ritual. Seven new nuns have joined Tegchen Legshey Ling this year, five of them come from the remote valley of Dolpo in northwest Nepal. They have been at the gompa for several months already and have begun their studies, which include Tibetan, English, Nepali and some basic mathematics. They performed a short Sanskrit prayers or refuge as an offering to Rinpoche on his birthday. They are all very happy to be in the gompa and are quickly getting used to their new lives. Karma Thinley Rinpoche himself is in good health for his age, and is enjoying being back in his monastery after a long winter in Toronto.