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Practice on the Four Great Holy Days
There are four great holy days in the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar, each of which celebrates an anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s display of extraordinary powerful deeds for sentient beings’ sake. On these four days, karmic results of actions are multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Saviese, Switzerland, November 2018. Photo by Olivier Adam.
- The Fifteen Days of Miracles (Days 1–15 of Month 1; Day 15 is called Chotrul Duchen): Guru Shakyamuni Buddha shows miraculous powers in order to subdue six tirthikas, or non-Buddhist teachers, who lacked faith in him, and to inspire more faith in his followers.
- Saka Dawa Duchen (Day 15 of Month 4): Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana. On this day, karmic results are multiplied by 300 million times as it commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s three major life events.
- Chokhor Duchen (Day 4 of Month 6): Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching.
- Lhabab Duchen (Day 22 of Month 9): Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s return to Earth from the God Realm of the Thirty-Three after teaching Dharma for several months to the gods there, including his mother, Mayadevi, who had died a week after Buddha’s birth and been reborn there.
Specific Practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these special days:
- 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 during the Time of COVID-19 and Practice Advice at Kopan Monastery recorded in May 2020.
- Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels
Other practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche include:
- Performing the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha puja. A beautiful and deeply inspirational puja. The puja text is formatted with hyperlinks for smooth navigation, so that individuals can easily do the core practice and any additional ones as their time allows. (This puja was performed with Khandro Kunga Bhuma on Vesak Day 2022 at Losang Dragpa Centre in Malaysia, with its resident teacher, Geshe Jampa Tsondu, as chant master. You can watch this online, starting at 6:10 in the video.)
- Reciting sutras, such as Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light, and Sanghata Sutra
- Undertaking Nyung nes
- Performing self-initiation, for those who fulfilled the necessary prerequisites
- Performing Lama Chopa, and at either the beginning of the practice or during the lamrim section, you can meditate on emptiness
- Reciting other prayers, such as Chanting the Names of Manjushri, and King of Prayers
- Reciting the names of the Thirty-Five Buddhas, with prostrations
- Reciting Vajrasattva mantras
- Reciting OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ with bodhichitta
- Meditating on emptiness and dependent arising
- Meditating on bodhichitta
- Practicing tonglen
- Rejoicing
- Liberating animals
Of course, any other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these days. If you choose to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on these or other days, please remember to report your recitations in the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page.
Two new sutras for recitation available in 2023
Find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other languages.
For practice advice on merit-multiplying eclipse days, see Practices during Solar and Lunar Eclipses.
* In accordance to 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.
Read more advice and stories about Buddha Days, Losar, Fifteen Days of Miracles, Chotrul Duchen, Saka Dawa, Chokhor Duchen, Lhabab Duchen, and eclipses. Also, find advice on how to celebrate Lama Tsongkhapa Day.