The Bodhi Path Buddhist Center in West Tisbury, the place where many Islanders and visitors practice Buddhist meditation and philosophy, hosted a very special event on Sunday. ShaMar Rinpoche, founder of the center and the third highest lama of Tibet, presided over a traditional haircutting ceremony and the official recognition of two-year-old Karma Yeshe Dorje as a tulku.

A tulku is a reincarnated lama.

ShaMar Rinpoche had recognized the child while he was in his mother’s womb as the reincarnation of one of the 21 bodhisattva abbots in the line of the Sharmapas in Yangpachen, Tibet.

This is the first time since the 19th century that a reincarnate lama was recognized in the womb, and Sunday’s joyous celebration of this recognition was the first event of its kind on the Vineyard.

Yeshe Dorje delighted the 50 or so people who had come to the initiation. Dressed in a beautiful orange silk robe, before the ceremony he playfully roamed about the brightly painted, sunlit meditation hall. During the ceremony, ShaMar Rinpoche and other lamas including Lama Yeshe Drolma, the resident lama of the Vineyard center, recited Buddhist prayers and made offerings to the young lama.

The boy sat in a specially arranged chair placed directly across from ShaMar Rinpoche; the two bodhisattva lamas enjoyed traditional tea and rice together with the rest of the community of practitioners.

Yeshe Dorje is the son of Andrea Strimling and Lama Tsering Ngodup of Arlington and the grandson of Phyllis and the late Gene Strimling. He is the brother of Rinchen Dorje and Dinah, and the nephew of Sharon and Mick Florio. Andrea and Tsering have spent much time on the Vineyard, enjoying the Island and working alongside the rest of Strimling family who owned and operated the Shiretown Inn in Edgartown for more than 25 years. Lama Tsering teaches Buddhist philosophy and meditation at The Bodhi Tree in Cambridge, which is affiliated with The Bodhi Path Buddhist centers.

— Barbara Dacey