Achi Chökyi Drölma Annual Drupchö

Achi Shrine 2023 Achi Chökyi Drölma

 

The annual Achi Chokyi Drolma Drupchö is being held July 17 – 23 at Ayang Rinpoche’s monastery in Bylakuppe, Thupten Shedrup Jangchub Ling. Achi is the main Dharma Protector in the Drikung Kagyu lineage.

H.E. Palchen Galo Rinpoche and all the Khenpos and Rinpoches of the monastery invite all sangha members to join by reciting Achi Choekyi Drolma mantras during this time:

OM SARVA BUDDHA DAKINI HRI MAMA TSAK TRA SOHA

You are also welcome to make offerings in your own name, for your business, or for a loved one, including pets, whether they are living or deceased. Send donations to the Drikung Charitable Society account. For a tax deductible donation in the U.S., please send your check to the Amitabha Foundation, P.O. Box 2572, Aptos, California 95001, or donate online below. Dedications submitted by July 21st at 5 pm Pacific time will be posted in the temple for the conclusion of the pujas.



Brief Biography of Achi Chökyi Drölma

Chöje Ayang Rinpoche, Sydney, Australia in 2004

Achi Chokyi Drolma is an emanation of Vajra Yogini and Tara. She was born in the central area of Tibet. Beginning at a young age she was very special. She had great compassion and always practiced Tara, and she taught the Tara prayer for everyone in the village. When she grew older she prophesied that in the future there would be a new Buddhadharma lineage, and that she would be that lineage’s Dharma protector, whereupon she wrote protector offering prayers. Several generations later, her great grandson Jigten Sumgon started the Drikung lineage and she did become the main lineage Dharma protector.

She moved to Eastern Tibet, married and had 4 sons. Her most holy practice place is in East Tibet. At her death she attained the Great Rainbow Body. Her entire body become rainbows and light, leaving only her hair and nails. Like this, with no need to change this physical body, she went to the Pure Land.

On the relative level, Achi was like the Dharma protector. But on the ultimate level, Achi had already attained the tenth Bhumi of a Bodhisattva. In this way, Achi was already enlightened. Achi’s activity in Tibet is very famous. All the Tibetan people, especially the older generation people, know very well about her great activity, how it is so helpful because it is very fast. In Tibet, some great masters say that Achi is exactly the same as the Buddha, and if we pray to Achi, then by our Achi practice we will achieve enlightenment, or we will attain the Pure Land at our death moment.

 

Mani Recitation Accumulation Retreat

4-Arm Chenrezig, Buddha of Compassion

 

The Thungdrub (Mani Recitation Accumulation Retreat) at Dechen Choeku Ling Monastery began on the auspicious full moon of April 12, 2025, and will continue until the new moon on April 27, 2025. This special practice period is dedicated to the collective recitation of 1 billion Mani mantras (Om Mani Padme Hum), invoking the compassionate blessings of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara).

Open to all, this spiritual initiative welcomes participation from around the world. Monks, nuns, and lay practitioners are uniting in a global effort to accumulate vast merit, purify negativities, and generate boundless compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.

You can join this sacred activity from wherever you are. Recite the Mani mantra as much as you can, and submit your accumulated count through the Amitabha Foundation in your respective country, who will forward the numbers to the monastery. In the US you may send your mantra count to info@amitabhafoundation.us before noon on April 25th.

This worldwide effort reflects the deep interconnectedness of the Dharma community and the shared aspiration to bring about peace, healing, and enlightenment across the globe.

If you would like, you may make an offering to support the monks at Ayang Rinpoche’s monastery who are reciting the Mani mantras. Donate online here.

100 Deities Puja and Ceremony to Liberate Dead Beings

H.E. Ayang Rinpoche Performing the Neydren Ceremony to Liberate Dead Beings in 2017

 

Ayang Rinpoche’s monastery in Bylakuppe, South India will be holding its annual Shitro (100 Peaceful and Wrathful Deities) Puja to celebrate the beginning of the lunar new year. The puja will begin on March 8 and will conclude on the Great Wheel day, Chotrul Duchen, on March 14th. On that day, they will also hold the Ceremony to Liberate Dead Beings.

The hundred deities are the attributes and activities of the five Buddhas and their female counterparts. They are the manifestations from the pure nature of our minds, and remain within us in the form of five faculties, five elements and twelve sources of perception, and so on. By relying on the practice of the hundred deities, or even by just hearing the mantra and seeing the mandala and picture of the hundred deities, one may either instantly or gradually realize that the nature of one’s mind is inseparable from the perfect wisdom of the hundred deities.

During the performance of the puja, the hundred deities are invoked and the various types of offerings are made to them. The merits accumulated from these offerings are dedicated to the deceased to help them in their purification and liberation. The prayer itself is also an offering of assistance to those in the intermediate or Bardo state to show them the path to liberation.

At the end of puja, paper tablets of the deceased’s names are burnt away. The fire used in the burning symbolizes the wisdom of the hundred deities; the burning of the names symbolizes the cutting of the attachment of the deceased to a “self”, which is the cause of their suffering. Through the prayer and the ritual performed, the consciousnesses of the deceased are merged and become inseparable from the wisdom of the hundred deities, and thus are liberated.

 

Ayang Rinpoche has said that the Ceremony to Liberate Dead Beings is the best time to dedicate prayers for departed beings. Anyone who would like to make offerings and dedicate prayers to family members, friends, loved ones, pets or anyone who has passed, please make your offering and send in names of the deceased by Wednesday, March 12th at noon (Pacific time) to be included in the prayer list for the Liberation Ceremony.

 

To make offerings, use the link below or send a check made out to Amitabha Foundation to P.O. Box 2572, Aptos, California 95001. If you send a check, please email the names of the deceased for whom you are sponsoring to info@amitabhafoundation.us, or to your local Amitabha Foundation. Donations sent through the Amitabha Foundation US are tax deductible in the US.

 

Those interested, may offer at one of the suggested levels below, or $350 for a day’s meals for all the monks, or $1,050 per day for an offering to the monks and lamas, or according to your circumstances for a shrine offering or tea sponsorship.


Puja sponsor
Names for prayers:



 

Shitro Shrine

Clear Obstacles for Wood Snake Year with 2025 Guru Dragpo Puja


Guru Dragpo Drubchoe ~ February 21 – 27

 

At the end of each lunar year, it is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition to make offerings and perform wrathful pujas, such as Guru Dragpo, a wrathful form of Guru Rinpoche. This clears away negativity and obstacles on both physical and spiritual levels, to prepare for a New Year of opportunity, abundance and good fortune.

The annual Guru Dragpo puja will be held February 21-27, 2025 at Thupten Shedrub Jangchub Ling, Ayang Rinpoche’s monastery in Bylakuppe, India. Tibetan New Year (Losar), is February 28th this year, the first day of the Wood Snake Year, according to the Tibetan calendar.

You may participate at home by reciting the Guru Dragpo short mantra:

Guru Dragpo short mantra

OM AH HUNG ARTSIK NIRTSIK NAMO BHAGAWATE HUNG HUNG AH HUNG HUNG PHAT//

You may also participate by reciting the Guru Rinpoche mantra (see below) or the Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche. Read Rinpoche’s teaching on the Seven Line Prayer, and the prayer in Tibetan and English.

Vajra Guru mantra

OM AH HUNG BENZRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUNG//

Ayang Rinpoche always reminded us of Milarepa’s saying that anyone sponsoring Dharma activities gains the same merit as the practitioners. If you would like to make a US tax-deductible contribution to the Guru Dragpo puja using PayPal or your credit card, please select the amount of your donation below. The full cost of the Guru Dragpo puja for 280 monks, nuns, khenpos and lamas is $21,650. The cost of one day of meals is $412 and monks offering is $927, not including extras for Rinpoches, Khenpos, Disciplinarian, Chanting Master and Shrine Master.

 

Your offering of any amount will be appreciated and will be like a drop of water mixed in an ocean of merit. You may include a dedication for your offering in the name of a loved one, including pets. The deadline to submit names of loved ones for the prayer list is Wednesday, February 26th at 8 am PST, but donations to help cover the cost of the puja will bring merit and benefit any time.

You may also send a check in USD made out to Amitabha Foundation to: P.O. Box 2572, Aptos, California 95001. Mail the names for your dedication to info@amitabhafoundation.us.

 

For donors outside the United States, make offerings to Amitabha Foundation in your own country or click here for information on making offerings directly to the monastery’s account through the Drikung Charitable Society.

 

For more pictures of recent pujas in the new temple at Rinpoche’s monastery, please visit Facebook.

2020 Guru Dragpo Puja and Tsok Offering in Bylakuppe, India