A Princess Is Born

A follow up on this post

It’s a princess.

Khandro Tseyang, the queen of Shambhala, a branch of Buddhism, gave birth to a girl on August 11, 2010 at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Canada

“Apparently the birth was very smooth,” Richard Reoch, president of the Shambhala Centre in Halifax, said in an interview Wednesday.

Besides king Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the birth was attended by immediate family members, a midwife and the family’s personal physician, Mitchell Levy of the Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

“The birth was cheerful, uplifted and free of complications. Both mother and child are healthy and resting well,” Levy said in a news release.

The family isn’t releasing the baby girl’s weight for privacy reasons, Reoch said.

“The short answer would be, enough,” he said with a chuckle.

The girl’s first name, Drukmo, or Lady Dragon, is an homage to a famous Tibetan queen. The rest of her name, Yeshe Sarasvati Ziji Mukpo, represents qualities such as wisdom and harmony. Mukpo is the family’s clan name.

The birth has great significance to the Shambhala community, Reoch said.

“The (Shambhala) teachings are held by a hereditary lineage, and this is the birth of the next generation of that family. It’s a healthy sign of the long life of these teachings, which we regard as very precious.”

The royal couple were married in 2006 in Halifax, which is considered the spiritual home of Shambhala. There are about 600 Shambhala members in Nova Scotia.

About 250,000 attend Shambhala programs around the world, the news release yesterday said.

The royal couple has been working with the IWK for about three months in preparation for the birth. Other than beefed-up security, the couple was not given preferential treatment, an IWK spokeswoman told The Chronicle Herald this month.

A private religious ceremony will be held at the couple’s home in Halifax.

“There are going to be parties all over the Shambhala world,” Roech said, including a celebration that will be held at the Halifax centre on Friday evening.