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Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la doing puja on Lhabab Duchen at Swayambunath, Nepal, October 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Buddhist calendar, takes place this year on November 15.
Lhabab Duchen celebrates Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s return to Earth from the God Realm of the Thirty-Three after teaching Dharma for several months to the gods, including his mother, Mayadevi, who had died a week after Buddha’s birth and been reborn there. As a merit multiplying day, the karmic results of actions done on this day are multiplied 100 million times. This amazing result is taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
Practices for Merit Multiplying Days
Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these special days include:
- Taking the eight Mahayana precepts: students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche granting them, which was edited from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation video series, recorded in May 2020 at Kopan Monastery.
- Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels
A longer list of recommended practices can be found at “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” Find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other languages.
In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observes all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.
Offerings on Lhabab Duchen
Every merit multiplying day, the Puja Fund sponsors a large number of pujas and practices performed by thousands of sangha. During this Lhabab Duchen, the Puja Fund will offer on behalf of the entire FPMT organization and all students, benefactors, and beings:
- Recitation of the Prajnaparamita Sutra by Gyudmed Tantric College.
- Medicine Buddha puja, Namgyalma long life puja and one thousand offerings to Namgyalma, Druk Chu Ma, and Zangcho by thousands of Sangha at Sera Je, Sera Mey, Gaden Jangtse, Gaden Shartse, Drepung Gomang and Loseling monasteries, and Gyuto Tantric College.
- Offerings to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to the 10,000 Sangha offering these pujas, as well as those in International Mahayana Institute Sangha communities.
- Offerings of robes to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, and saffron and umbrellas to the Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal.
Please join us in rejoicing in all of the meritorious activities happening within the FPMT organization and around the world on this auspicious merit-multiplying day!
Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing a Tibetan calendar with information on holy days and other important dates.
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.