What is the purpose of the annual 3-day Sidok Raksha Thötreng Puja which will be led by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, and Phakchok Rinpoche. It is meant to promote harmony and world peace, and to dispel all negativity and obstacles before the start of the Tibetan New Year, or Losar.

Extracted from the Tukdrub Barchey Kunsel cycle of the Chokling Tersar, Raksha Tötreng is a wrathful manifestation of Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava.

Puja will include a morning and afternoon session daily, beginning at 8:30am on Monday 8^th January and concluding daily at approximately 5:00pm. Throughout the day, visitors are most welcome to sit comfortably in the main temple, either as observers or as active participants in the puja. One may stay for as long as one wishes while the puja is being performed.

At approximately 3:00pm on January 10^th, a special ceremony will be performed as the climax of the puja. The entire assembly of monastics and high Lamas will first circumambulate the monastery. The procession will gather in a field behind the monastery where a wrathful tsampa effigy, embodying negative energy, will be ritually burned. Visitors are welcome to witness this incineration. Just prior to the burning, one may offer a traditional katak [white scarf] to the shrine master, along with a small offering of a few rupees, with a wish that, through the destruction of the effigy, all harmful obstacles will be removed for sentient beings everywhere so that all may enjoy peace, happiness, and the attainment of complete enlightenment.