Ganachakra/Tsok Definition

Written By Lama Döndrup

Tsok is a practice of pure perception where one makes generous food offerings to a visualized gathering of awakened beings.

Tsok: Tibetan

Ganachakra: Sanskrit

Tsok is a practice of pure perception where one makes generous food offerings to a visualized gathering of awakened beings. Tsok allows one to accumulate a vast amount of merit and to purify any broken vows or commitments (samaya).


Tibetan: ཚོགས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་ tsog kyi khorlo 

  • tsok means ‘an accumulation’ or ‘a gathering, an assembly or group’

  • khorlo literally means ‘wheel.’ 

The literal translation is ‘wheel of accumulation.’ 

According to Jamgön Kongtrul, this term relates to the inner level of tsok practice, and the generation of vast ‘gatherings’ of bliss that are like ‘wheels’ which cut through the web of our deluded thoughts and tainted emotions.


Sanskrit: Ganachakra

  • Gana means ‘gathering/sangha’

  • Chakra means ‘circle’

A tsok is often referred to as the Four Gatherings.

It is a gathering of:

  1. Practitioners

  2. Offering substances

  3. Yidams

  4. Merit and wisdom

Tsok allows one to accumulate a vast amount of merit and to purify any broken vows or commitments (samaya). A tsok feast is a time when a sangha (spiritual community) gathers and prepares a generous feast/food offering.

Those gathered engage in a ritual that invokes the buddhas and bodhisattvas, various yidams, dharma protectors, and dakas and dakinis to join the gathering. Along with praises, prayers, and offerings, the prepared feast is offered within the ritual. As a part of the ritual all the gathered practitioners enjoy the feast in the company of the invited guests. It is traditional to offer song, dance, spontaneous dohas, poems and more during a tsok.

In a tsok ritual, one maintains pure perception/pure view by viewing all appearances and sounds as sacred, pure. All the participants arise as dakas and dakinis, the tsok food is wisdom awareness nectar, the environment is a pure land. One let’s go of dualistic thinking; let’s go of categorizing things as good or bad; let’s go of grasping and rejecting.

Lama Döndrup

Lama Döndrup has been practicing and studying in the Buddhist tradition since the mid-1990’s. After five years of Theravadin Buddhist training, she immersed herself in the teachings and practices of the Shangpa and Kagyu Vajrayana lineages. In 2005, she completed a traditional three-year retreat under the guidance of Lama Palden and Lama Drupgyu with the blessing of her root guru, Bokar Rinpoche and was authorized as a lama. Upon her return to Marin County, she began teaching at Sukhasiddhi Foundation. In January 2020, as Lama Palden’s successor, she stepped into the role of Resident Lama, guiding the Center’s ministerial work. Lama Döndrup’s teaching style is thorough and clear yet with light touch as she supports the natural unfolding of each student’s innate wisdom and compassion. She aims to preserve the authenticity of the tradition while making the teachings and practices relevant and accessible to the lives of 21st century Westerners. In addition to her Buddhist practice, Lama Döndrup trained the Ridhwan School’s Diamond Approach for seven years and has a Masters of Fine Arts degree in piano performance. She is an active classical pianist and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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