Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa
  • The Karmapa
    • A Short Biography
    • The Lineage of Karmapas
    • Activities & Projects
  • Teachings
    • YouTube Archive
    • Video Library
    • Podcast
  • News
  • Schedule
  • Buddhism
    • Shakyamuni Buddha
    • Buddhism in India
    • Buddhism in Tibet
    • Kagyu Lineage
    • The Golden Rosary
  • Centers
    • North America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Oceania
    • Africa
    • South America
  • Office
    • Media
    • Contact
Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa
  • The Karmapa
    • A Short Biography
    • The Lineage of Karmapas
    • Activities & Projects
  • Teachings
    • YouTube Archive
    • Video Library
    • Podcast
  • News
  • Schedule
  • Buddhism
    • Shakyamuni Buddha
    • Buddhism in India
    • Buddhism in Tibet
    • Kagyu Lineage
    • The Golden Rosary
  • Centers
    • North America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Oceania
    • Africa
    • South America
  • Office
    • Media
    • Contact
  • English
  • France
  • Germany
  • Spain
  • Italy
  • Canada
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia
  • Poland
Jan 30

Chöd Puja: Celebrating the Essence of Enlightened Female Wisdom

2014.01.29 Chöd prayer
29 January 2014 – Tergar Monastery, Bodhgaya

In an historic occasion coming at the end of the first Arya Kshema Winter Dharma Gathering, nuns from six Kagyu nunneries performed an elaborate Chöd ritual, known as A String of Jewels, presided over by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa.

While the Gyalwang Karmapa has been enthusiastic about Chöd practice from a young age, this was his first ever opportunity to publicly perform the Chöd puja—an opportunity he’d been looking forward to very much.

Since the time of the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, who wrote the first commentary on Chöd and who also compiled the text of this puja, the Karmapas have had a strong connection with the Chöd practice. Historically they are holders of the direct Chöd lineage, based on the Indian Buddhist deity Prajñāpāramitā, who is known as both the mother of all the Buddhas and the embodiment of wisdom.

Chöd, which means ‘to sever or cut’ in Tibetan, ultimately aims to cut through the ignorance of self-grasping that is the root of all our suffering, using the wisdom that realizes emptiness. It is renowned among the eight practice lineages of Tibetan Buddhism as being the only lineage established by a woman, the great female master Machig Labdrön, and female practitioners have traditionally excelled in its practice.

From the first opening strains the nuns’ melodies rang clear and bell-like throughout the gompa, the soaring notes of the puja carried effortlessly by the female voices.

The gompa was transformed for the puja, with rows of nuns seated on raised cushions facing inwards in the traditional arrangement, while a row of Geshes, Khenpos and venerable monks were seated to either side of the Gyalwang Karmapa’s throne. The nuns skillfully performed all the traditional roles of the puja, including Umze or chantmaster, Chöpon or ritual-master, as well as playing all the horns, drums, and other ritual implements.

Those present witnessed the spectacular sight of rows of nuns playing their ritual chöd-dar drums and bells in unison, led by the Gyalwang Karmapa at the head of the gathering. At points in the puja the haunting sound of kangling horns, famously made from thigh-bones, reverberated through the air, in a direct symbol of cutting through gross attachment to the physical body.

Arising from the enlightened female wisdom principle, the power of the morning’s Chöd practice was magnified under the unified voices of hundreds of nuns. Throughout the five-hour-long ritual, the Gyalwang Karmapa presided as Dorje Lopon or vajra master, his powerful, supportive presence guiding the nuns through to the end of the puja.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • E-Mail

Related Posts

  • The Last Day of the Tibetan Year BeginsMarch 11, 2017

[ long read ]

MIND TRAINING TEACHING
The Gyalwang Karmapa gave an extensive teaching on the 8 Verses of Training the Mind

[ video series ]

THE PRAJNAPARAMITA
Taught over six sessions, this is a direct explanation of the Buddhist view of emptiness

[ long read ]

THE CHENREZIK PRACTICE
The Gyalwang Karmapa taught on how to practice Chenrezik and recite his mantra

[ video series ]

100 SHORT INSTRUCTIONS
Taught over nine sessions, this text by the 8th Karmapa was taught in great depth by the present Karmapa.

[ long read ]

THREE PRINCIPLE ASPECTS
A comprehensive teaching that condenses the entire Buddhist path by Tsongkhapa

 

Recent Updates

  • Approaches to Understanding the Thirty Verses of the Mind Only
  • The Inauguration of the 23rd Kagyu Gunchoe
  • The Essence of Glory: A Shakyamuni Puja in the Kadampa Style
  • The Gyalwang Karmapa’s Closing Remarks to the Mar Ngok Summer Teachings
  • Differing Perspectives on the First Council and the Compilation of the Tripiṭaka
  • Upāli – the Foremost in the Vinaya and Contemporary Analyses of the First Council  
  • Ananda’s Offenses, Arhatship, and Recitation of the Sūtras

Kagyu Office Around the World

中文 // Français // Polski // Español
The Karmapa’s website is carbon neutral. //

About the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is the head of the 900 year old Karma Kagyu Lineage and guide to millions of Buddhists around the world.

Born in 1985, the Karmapa resides in his temporary home at Gyuto Monastery in India after making a dramatic escape from Tibet in the year 2000.

Traveling the world, the Karmapa skillfully teaches traditional Tibetan Buddhist Dharma while also advocating topics such as environmental conservation, feminism, digitization of the Dharma, and much more.

Please use the icons below to find the Karmapa on social media maintained by his office of administration.

// // // //

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Please view our Privacy Policy. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo