Tergar Shrine Hall
19 February 2025

Not all the nuns at the Arya Kshema are taking part in the debates. Some of the older nuns who were ordained many years before the shedras were established and some of the younger ones who are too young for shedra study  dedicate their time during the Arya Kshema to reciting prayers for the benefit of all sentient beings.
This year, at the direction of the Gyalwang Karmapa, they will receive a series of teachings that Khenpo Ghawang will be giving on the Four-Session Guru Yoga.
The Four Session Guru Yoga is one of the principal practices of the Karma Kamtsang and the essential daily guru yoga practice.  Many monastics recite the text daily; it is recited daily during the Kagyu Gunchoe and the Kagyu Monlam.
It was composed by Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje, who based it on an earlier text found in the writings of Lama Shangtsalpa, a disciple of Lord Gampopa.
The Gyalwang Karmapa gave the empowerment and teachings on the Four-Session Guru Yoga at the 34th Kagyu Monlam.

Tergar Monastery Shrine Hall,
Bodhgaya, 
16 February 2025

When the great mahāsiddha Nāgārjuna was meditating in the acacia forest in South India, Green Tārā manifested to him and professed her intention to help him benefit beings. In that marvellous place of the acacia forest, Nāgārjuna built a temple to her. Green Tārā consecrated the temple herself with blessings so powerful that anyone who practised there would achieve ordinary siddhis very quickly. Out of compassion for people who lived far away from that sublime place, Nāgārjuna composed the sādhana of Green Tārā of the Acacia Forest (Skt: Khadiravaṇī Tārā, Tib: སེང་ལྡེང་ནགས་ཀྱི་སྒྲོལ་མ་).
Through one of his four principal disciples, Nāgabodhi, in an unbroken transmission, this tradition was passed down to the First Karmapa Düsum Khyenpa and onwards. This tantra has always held a special place in the Kamtsang Kagyu as it became one of Düsum Khyenpa’s core five-sets-of-five yidam deities:
    •    Five-Deity Cakrasaṃvara (Tib: Khorlo Demchog)
    •    Five-Deity Vajravārāhī (Tib: Dorje Phagmo)
    •    Five-Deity Hevajra  (Tib: Kyei Dorje)
    •    Five-Deity Tārā (Tib: Drolma)
    •    Five-Deity Hayagrīva (Teib: Tamdrin)
The Five-Deity Tārā tradition became included in the Knowing One Frees All (Tib:  གཅིག་ཤེས་ཀུན་གྲོལ Chig She Kün Drol) compiled by the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje.
However, over time, the precious practice of Five-Deity Tārā has declined and there was no complete ritual. In the spirit of an auspicious revival of this practice, the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa’s intention had been to compile the ritual in full. This involved not just preparing the ritual but adding aspects such as offering four mandalas, instructions on how to recite the Homage to the Twenty-One Taras, and the thousand-fold offering. It was first introduced during the Kagyu Mönlam in January of 2023 and it has been practiced in the Arya Kshema Spring Gatherings ever since. This year, His Holiness the Karmapa has finally completed his work on revising the sādhana.
In fulfilment of the revival of this core Kagyu practice, the Gyalwang Karmapa has requested Kyabgön Drung Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche to bestow the Five-Deity Tārā empowerment. 
In the main Shrine Hall of Tergar Monastery in Bodhgaya, lavishly decorated with flowers, tormas and other offerings, Rinpoche conferred the empowerment to the congregation of trulkus, khenpos, shedra teachers, monks, nuns and lay-people. Following the customary mandala offering, Gyaltsab Rinpoche wore the golden, brocade Gampopa hat, and performed the main section of the empowerment. After the mandala offering of gratitude, the empowerment blessings were shared with everyone present.

Tergar Monastery Shrine Hall
16 February 2025

After the nuns returned from the Mahabodhi Stupa they gathered in the Tergar Monastery shrine hall, where Kyabgön Drung Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche inaugurated the 9th Arya Kshema.

Nuns playing gyalin and others bearing incense processed into the shrine hall ahead of a portrait of the Gyalwang Karmapa which they placed on the throne, and then a body, speech and mind long-life mandala was offered to the portrait of the Gyalwang Karmapa and to Gyaltsab Rinpoche.

Gyaltsab Rinpoche presided over the Ritual for the Flourishing of the Nuns’ Dharma. This is the first puja offered each year at the Arya Kshema; it was specially composed by the Gyalwang Karmapa and makes aspirations in support of all female practitioners and particularly for the flourishing of the nuns’ dharma. Its full name is ‘A Ritual for Women’s and Especially Nuns’ Dharma to Flourish, Based on the Inseparability of Noble Chenrezig and Noble Ananda’, and central to the ritual each year is a huge thangka in Indian style of Avalokiteshvara with the Bhikshu Ananda emanating from his open right-hand palm.

Ananda was instrumental in persuading Shakyamuni Buddha to allow the ordination of women and how it was foretold that he would become the guardian for all those women who have faith in the Buddhadharma.
Gyaltsab Rinpoche gave some words of advice to the nuns, and the opening ceremony was celebrated with tea and sweet rice.

Mahabodhi Temple,
Bodhgaya,

16 February 2025

According to the instructions of the Gyalwang Karmapa, the 9th Arya Kshema is being held at Tergar Monastery Bodhgaya and is being sponsored by Tsurphu Labrang’s Kunkyong Charitable Trust. 

Nuns have travelled from three countries—India, Nepal and Bhutan—to take part in a month of study, debate, and ritual, which will also include three days of celebrations around Tibetan New Year. This year the organisers are Karma Drubgyu Dargyeling nunnery from Tilokpur in India.  Seven other nunneries are attending: Khyegu Dhagmo Chöling, Thösam Dargyeling; Karma Drubdey Palmo Choskyi Dingkhang; Bokar Dolma Lekshey Döguling; Samten Ling; Karma Lekshey Ling; and Thekchen Lekshey Ling.

As is now the tradition, on the first morning the nuns made their way before first light to the Mahabodhi Stupa and received the one-day Mahayana Sojong vows under the Bodhi tree. This year the vows were given by Shelri Tulku Rinpoche, who is temporarily standing in for Drupon Dechen Rinpoche. Offerings were also made to the sacred Golden Buddha image in the Mahbodhi Stupa ground floor shrine room for the auspiciousness and success of the gathering.