Gutor puja at Paljor Phuncholing Monastery in Aritar

GANGTOK, 14 Feb: The annual Gutor puja was held in Rhenock’s Paljor Phuncholing Monastery, Aritar on 11 February. Every year, Kerong Dungse Rinpoche from Dharamsala presides over the ‘initiation’ in this annual puja at the monastery.
Public from in and around Rhenock gathered at the monastery on the day which also witnessed the Gutor cham [dance] performed by the monks and ‘Wang’ [blessings] by the Kerong Dungse Rinpoche in the afternoon.
The Paljor Phuncholing Monastery was founded in the 18th century and was later reconstructed in the 70s informed one of the patrons, Yeshey Bhutia while speaking to NOW!. The Kagyu Tulku first came to this monastery in Sikkim when he arrived here from Tibet, he further mentioned.
There are a total of 84 monks in the monastery while there are 26 students at the Sheda or monastic school of the monastery. However, there is no building for the school as of now. Mr Bhutia also informed that the Ecclesiastical department is yet to certify the monastery under the ‘A’ category although an application has been submitted and the monastery fulfills all the necessary criteria. Further, stating that the monastery has a ‘chamko’[meditation centre] which currently houses four monks, a ‘dupko’ [short meditation] wherein monks from monasteries like the Pabyuk monastery also come to practice meditation, along with a Sheda, he expressed hope that the ‘A’ certification from the Department follows soon.
Present on the day were Sangha MLA, Phetook Tshering and area MLA, Puran Gurung.