Tsog Khorlo (Ganachakra) ceremony

The offering:

The central offerings of the tsog are meat and alcohol. Each participant drinks a small spoonful of strong alcohol (usually brandy) and eats a small piece of meat. Alcohol and meat are symbolic of emptiness and form, concepts central to Buddhism. In tsog, they also represent the impurities of the world. By eating and drinking alcohol and meat, the practitioner recognizes their own impurity as a distorted reflection of their enlightened nature; they do not regard themselves or others as intrinsically impure in any way. This opens a connection to everyone and everything everywhere. Thus, to take the tsog offering is to make a connection with all sentient beings.

The feast:

At the end of the ceremony, we sing the Seven Line Song of Padmasambhava and share the feast together. The tsog meal always includes five essential ingredients: something cooked, something sweet, fruit, nuts and grain.

The atmosphere:

Tantrikas (tantric practitioners) regard tsog as a very special occasion. Attending a tsog requires preparation and effort; we pay attention to what we’re wearing, dressing smartly, wearing our best clothes. This adds to the atmosphere of heightened awareness. Participants also bring food to share for the feast, something that includes one or more of the five ingredients described above. Often people bring their favourite food, or something they regard as particularly special.

Tsog practice in the Aro tradition:

Like other Aro practices, the tsog in our tradition is non-liturgical in style. It can be practised simply as the sounding of Tibetan syllables Om, A’a, Hung, Hri, Ho, and A, interspersed with periods of silence. However, Ngak’chang Rinpoche’s short commentary is more usually read out, to give insight into the significance of each syllable. Participants take it in turns to read a few sentences from the text.

Tsog is a gathering of Vajrayana practitioners in which connection is made with all sentient beings through an offering. The tsog ceremony ends with a shared feast. During tsog all practitioners fully experience one another as enlightened beings and delight in that experience.