Karmapa visits KKBC Singapore

September 11, 2025

Eight years after participating in the opening ceremony of the new Karma Kagyu Buddhist Centre (KKBC) in Singapore in 2017, Karmapa is again visiting Singapore and holding an eight-day programme organised by the centre.

Karmapa arrived at the centre on the morning of the 6th of September and was received by the Abbot of the centre, Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche, and a gathering of Rinpoches, monks and nuns, as well as many lay devotees from East and West. He was then guided to the main shrine room for the official welcoming ceremony, including a mandala offering and the serving of ceremonial tea and rice.

In the afternoon the gathering of practitioners moved to Nanyang Pho Leng Hui Kuan, a nearby event hall.

At the hall, Karmapa presided over the Ritual of Green Tara, the wisdom deity embodying the active compassion of all Buddhas and the protection from all fears, which was performed by the gathered monastic and lay practitioners.

In the evening, Karmapa granted the empowerment of Sitatapatra (White Umbrella, Tib. Dukkar), a female Buddha aspect embodying protection and purification, to the assembled devotees.

On the following day Karmapa joined a day-long Kagyu Monlam Prayer held at the same venue. A Kagyu Monlam is a gathering of Karma Kagyu teachers and practitioners, at which beneficial wishes for the ultimate peace and happiness of all sentient beings are made in the presence of the highest lineage master.

During the Kagyu Monlam, many mandalas, offerings of Ku Sung Thuk (symbolic representations of enlightened body, speech and mind) and other gifts were presented to Karmapa.

Please enjoy this selection of pictures from the first two days of Karmapa’s 2025 visit to Singapore.