Monlam Pavillion
24 December 2025
On December 24, 2025, Kyabgön Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche bestowed the preparatory stages of the Vairocana Abhisaṃbodhi [The Complete Awakening of Vairocana] an empowerment from the Caryā tantra class to tens of thousands of faithful devotees, both monastics and lay practitioners, who had gathered from many countries around the world, primarily from India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
In the morning, Kyabgön Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche performed the preparatory empowerment rituals in secret. In the afternoon, at 1:30 PM, the conferral of the preparatory empowerment began. Gyaltsab Rinpoche was escorted to the great dharma throne on the Kagyu Monlam stage, and Bokar Yangsi Rinpoche and Bokar Khenpo Rinpoche Lodro Donyo led the assembly of attending monastics and lay devotees in offering prostrations.
The umdzes (chant masters) began the recitation of the Short Dorje Chang prayer and the mandala offering prayers. The Executive Director of Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, Lama Chodrak, along with staff members, volunteers, and sponsors, offered the mandala and the representations of body, speech, and mind.
Kyabgön Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche urged everyone to generate bodhichitta, the altruistic motivation, before taking the empowerment. He explained that within the four classes of Vajrayana tantras, the empowerment of Vairocana Abhisaṃbodhi belongs to the class of Carya Tantra; within the class of Carya Tantra, among the three families of Body, Speech, and Mind, it belongs to the Body family, which is the most important among the other families. He also taught about the main practices of Mahayana Buddhism - the six paramitas (perfections), which can be condensed into the four means of gathering disciples, and how to practice these. He bestowed extensive and detailed profound instructions on each aspect of the preparatory empowerment. Following this, he conferred the preparatory empowerment of Vairocana Abhisaṃbodhi to the entire assembly, according to the traditional text, and gave instruction on the visualisations at each stage. During the preparatory empowerment ceremony, Bokar Yangsi Rinpoche and other tulkus were present. Finally, the entire assembly recited the Mahamudra Aspiration Prayer, concluding the second day's programme of teachings.
