Tergar Shrine Hall, 17 March 2025
The nuns and their teachers gathered in the shrine hall at 2.00pm for the Gyalwang Karmapa’s final teaching session during the 9th Arya Kshema. This was followed by a final Grand Debate.
The All-Night Grand Debate [ མཚན་ཕུད་དམ་བཅའ་ཆེན་མོ་] is the traditional conclusion of monastic debate gatherings; in some Tibetan Buddhist schools it still lasts all night. However, the Kamtsang tradition is to end the debate before midnight.
It was a final opportunity for the nuns to demonstrate the skills they have developed in debate in front of the whole assembly. and included debates on all three topics presented this year—Dupa, Lorig and Tarig.
As this is the celebratory conclusion of all the debates during the Arya Kshema, the nuns wore ceremonial robes and the three responders wore the tsesha, the yellow pointed hat.
