The annual 9-day Tsekar Drubchen will be performed in Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery’s main temple from February 17^th to February 25^th 2024. This ceremony belongs to the“Great Accomplishment Group Sadhana of White Amitayus” extracted from among the 40 volumes of the Chokling Tersar. The drubchen, commencing on the 8^th day of the first lunar month of the Tibetan New Year, ushers in auspicious circumstances for the practitioners’ twofold attainment of longevity and primordial wisdom.

Tsekar (Tib.) means ‘White Amitayus’─the Buddha of Longevity─and drubchen (Tib.) means ‘great accomplishment.’  This tantric sadhana practice is a terma (Tib.), or hidden treasure, concealed in Tibet by Guru Rinpoche, and rediscovered centuries later by the incarnated great treasure-finder, Terchen Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa.

More than 500 monks, nuns, high Lamas, and laypeople, both local and Western, are expected to attend the drubchen which is performed in strict round-the-clock sessions for 24 hours each day.  Often dozens of Westerners participate in the daytime sessions of the drubchen, reading the Tibetan text along with the monks, or else following the drubchen’s English translation with its easy-to-follow guide. As always, for 9 days the extraordinary event will presided over by the monastery’s abbot, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Phakchok Rinpoche.

On Day One of the drubchen, which begins after lunch, sacramental articles will be concealed inside a 3-metre tall beautifully-decorated tiered mandala box, adorned with silk brocades, torma cakes, deity statues, and so forth that will hopefully please the longevity deities.  Throughout the 9 days, the articles within the box will be ritually consecrated by means of the puja’s participants’ visualizations and recitation of liturgical prayers invoking the blessings of Amitayus’ based on his special mantras.

From Day 3 onward, a one-hour long masked Lama Dance pertaining to this sadhana, will be carried out inside the temple. Crowds of onlookers from the community gather for these performances, which will take place on alternating evenings.

On the drubchen’s final day, which begins at 3:00am, the main temple will be packed with the 9-day participants as well as with scores of other devotees. In the outside courtyard, a crowd of several thousand will gather in early morning to receive the blessings and empowerments when the mandala box is finally opened and its various sacraments distributed to all those present.

Throughout the 9 days, all visitors are welcome as observers or participants in the puja, and may come and go as they wish.