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Shakyamuni Buddha statue inside the Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya, India. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Buddhist calendar, takes place this year on November 22, 2024. We wanted to give students ample time to make plans to take advantage of this merit-multiplying day.
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.
The translated Sutra of Great Liberation, which Lama Zopa Rinpoche extolled the immense benefits of engaging in, is another sutra that can recited on this special day.
In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observed all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.
Offerings on Lhabab Duchen
On Lhabab Duchen the FPMT Puja Fund will be sponsoring numerous pujas, such as the recitation of the Prajnaparamita as well as thousands of recitations of Names of Manjushri (Jampal Tshen Jo) for the swift return of our precious Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, as well as many additional pujas and prayers. We will also be making monetary offerings to thousands of sangha, to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus; and offering saffron, new coat of paint, umbrella, and new robes to holy objects in India and Nepal. Please consider joining in this vast offering and extensive prayers that have been specifically set up by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the benefit of the whole organization and all beings.
Please join us in rejoicing in all the meritorious activities happening within the FPMT organization and around the world on this auspicious merit-multiplying day!
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.