His Holiness celebrated Losar, the Tibetan New Year of the Water Sheep, in Sarnath on February 2, 2003. The February celebration recognized New Year according to the Tsurphu calendar, which is the tradition of calendar calculation first developed by the Third Karmapa and maintained by the Kagyu lineage. (The two main Tibetan calendar calculating traditions are explained in more detail here; usually the New Year for both calendars coincide, but this year were separated by one month, as occasionally happens.)

法王到印度沙爾納特創古仁波切（Thrangu Rinpoche）之金剛智慧學院作一個月的訪問，法王主持每年一度的法會活動一直到2月2日的藏曆新年。