Five-Year Initiative
ལ་དྭགས་འབྲི་གུང་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་ཀྱི་འཆམ་ཡིག་ཐོར་བུ་སླར་གསོའི་ལས་གཞི།
Ladakh Drikung Kagyu Chamyig fragment restoration project
Under the guidance of H.H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, and with the direction and support of Mr. Joseph Houseal, Director of Core of Culture, Chicago, a five year Ladakh Drikung Kagyu Chamyig Project has been initiated to document, preserve, restore, and revive the sacred dance tradition of the Drikung lineage.
The project focuses on safeguarding scattered Chamyig manuscripts and living traditions, restoring fragmented Chamyig, and ensuring their continued transmission to future generations as an integral part of Ladakh’s Drikung Kagyu cultural heritage.
Himalayan House – Centre for Himalayan Studies, Ladakh, serves as the local implementing partner and host, in collaboration with Core of Culture, Chicago, USA.
Cham.yig Preservation
Preservation of the Ladakh Drikung Kagyu Cham.yig Tradition
A living manuscript tradition, safeguarded for the generations who will carry it forward. HH works with monastic scholars and practitioners of the Drikung Kagyu lineage to document, translate and preserve the Cham.yig, the ritual manual that guides the sacred Cham dances of Ladakh.
The Cham.yig records the choreography, mantras, symbolism, and sequence of the Cham — masked ritual dances performed in monasteries across Ladakh to mark sacred calendars, protect the dharma, and pass down teachings through movement and form. Many of these manuscripts survive as fragile, hand-copied texts, held within individual monastic libraries and passed down through generations of practitioners.
Without active documentation and transmission, such knowledge is vulnerable to loss. This project brings together monastic scholars, practitioners, and researchers to record, translate, and safeguard the Cham.yig — ensuring the tradition continues to be understood and performed with the depth it was intended to carry.
Our Approach
How We're Preserving It
Documentation
Working closely with monastic custodians to carefully record existing Cham.yig manuscripts across Ladakh's monasteries.
Translation
Rendering ritual texts into accessible language while preserving their original meaning, symbolism, and liturgical integrity.
Digital Archiving
Creating a lasting digital record of manuscripts, safeguarding them against damage, loss, and the passage of time.
Transmission & Training
Supporting monastic practitioners in passing the Cham dance tradition on to the next generation with authenticity.
In The Field
Glimpses of the Work
Get Involved
Help Us Safeguard This Living Tradition
Every contribution supports documentation, translation, and training that keeps the Cham.yig tradition alive for future generations.