Youth programs and events

There has always been a strong interest within the sangha in the welfare of our children and the quality of family life.

Rites of Passage

The Rites of Passage ceremonies mark the growth and changes in children and their ways of relating to their world. The rites help children look forward to accepting greater responsibility for their lives.


Rite of Passage for Eight-Year-Olds

After talking about children with the Vidyadhara, interest was aroused in the possibility of conducting rites of passage for our children. These ceremonies mark the growth and changes in children and in their ways of relating to their world. The rites help both parents and children to become aware of differences and to investigate the meaning of these differences. They help children to look forward to accepting greater responsibility for their lives, rather than seeing these responsibilities as something to be dreaded.



The Vidyadhara told us that in Tibet there were two stages in the passage from childhood to adulthood. The first of these stages is at the age of eight and the second at sixteen. After the eight-year-old rite the children would, as a group, become responsible for the care of young animals. If they did not do this properly the animals would not survive. The responsibility was theirs. The issues for these eight-year-old children were earth, food, survival, and finding out about cause and effect. The sixteen-year-old rite involved the introduction to greater responsibilities, including that of relating to one another's minds.




Rite of Warriorship for 16-Year-Olds

This rite marks the culmination of the teenage years and the beginning of young warriorship. The rite itself takes the form of a "vision quest" and lasts two days; its content is considered secret. The prerequisite for taking part involves either previous experience with Shambhala Training levels or at least one Shambhala Sun Camp. Inquiries can be made to The Kasung Headquarters, 1084 Tower Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2Y5

More events for children

Shambhala Sun Camp

Bodhi School