Minnesota Tulku Blesses Thousands in Nepal

In the Himalayan foothills, 19-year-old Jalue Dorje, a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist lama raised in a Minneapolis suburb, recently blessed thousands of devotees at Shechen Monastery near Kathmandu, Nepal. Dressed in maroon and golden robes, he tapped bowed heads with a ritual vase and peacock feather, sprinkling holy water for protection, purification and wisdom, while smiling at wide-eyed children.

Just six months earlier, Dorje had been staying up late playing Madden NFL on his Xbox at his home in Columbia Heights, snacking on pizza rolls and planning outings to TopGolf. Now a resident monk at Mindrolling Monastery in Dehradun, northern India, about 7,200 miles from Minnesota, he traveled to Nepal to attend 12 days of sacred rituals and teachings led by Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, the monastery's spiritual head. There, he presented his first mandala offering, a golden plate symbolizing the universe along with a ceremonial scarf. "This is the real one, you know? We're here and this is really happening," Dorje said. "I'm doing what the prophecy fulfilled."

Dorje was identified as a tulku, or reincarnated lama, at four months old by Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche and confirmed at age two...