Calendar of Annual Buddhist Holy Days

February – March: Tibetan New Year

Enjoy these Tibetan New Year (Losar) celebration photos from the Land of Medicine Buddha in Santa Cruz.

March: Day of Miracles

On Day of Miracles (Cho-trul Duchen), we celebrate the many miracles Shakyamuni Buddha performed. The Day of Miracles falls on the 15th day of the first Tibetan month. The Great Prayer Festival (Mönlam Chenmo) takes place over the course of the first fifteen days of the month.

May – June: Month of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s Birth

Generally, there are four or eight deeds of Buddha Shakyamuni that are commonly celebrated as being of special significance. They are remembered and celebrated all over the world. Saka Dawa, the forth month according to the Tibetan calendar, is the month remembered as the one in which the Buddha Shakyamuni displayed the deeds of birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana. On this special month, all Buddhists, lay and ordained alike, practice accumulation and purification.

On this day, from generating the refuge mind and arousing the bodhichitta as motivation, to the practice of prostration, circumambulation, liberating animals from being killed, and observing vows, all of which are sealed with dedication, people engage themselves in practice with special emphasis.

The Buddha made clear that making offerings to the images or representations of the Buddha has the same merit as making offering to the Buddha himself in person. On special occasions like Saka Dawa, the merits generated through prayers and practices are considered to be multiplied many times over.

We encourage everyone to be vegetarian for the entire month of Saka Dawa regardless of whether Eight Mahayana Precepts vows have been taken or not.

During this month practitioners place special emphasis on dharma practice like the Nyung-Ney fasting retreat, circumambulation of monasteries and stupas, prostrations, taking precepts, reciting mantras, water bowl offerings, and saving animals lives. All the merits of virtuous actions done on this day are multiplied 100,000 times.

Gyuto Foundation will be holding a special puja on the full moon of the month of Saka Dawa. We encourage all members and friends join this special puja. Members are welcome to bring water, flowers, candles, and fruits for offering.

July 6th: His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Birthday

The three main commitments made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama are:

First, as a human being, to the promotion of the human values of compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline. We all want happiness and do not want suffering, and we are all the same in this way. Even people who do not believe in religion recognize the importance of these human values. His Holiness refers to these human values as secular ethics. He remains committed to advocating these secular ethics and sharing them with everyone he meets.

Second, as a religious practitioner, to the promotion of religious harmony and understanding among the world’s major religious traditions. Despite philosophical differences, all major world religions have the same potential to help shape kind and decent human beings. It is therefore important for all religious traditions to respect one another and to recognize the value of the diversity of traditions. As far as the absolutism of one truth, one religion is concerned, such disciplined faith is relevant only on an individual level. For the community at large, several truths and several religions are necessary.

Third, as the “Dalai Lama,” to the Tibetan issue, on behalf of the Tibetans who place their trust in him. His Holiness has a responsibility to act as the free spokesperson of the Tibetans in their struggle for justice. As far as this third commitment is concerned, it will cease to exist once a mutually beneficial solution is reached between the Tibetans and Chinese. More about His Holiness the Dalai Lama here.

July: First Turning the Wheel of Dharma

The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma (Chokhor Duchen) commemorates the Buddha’s first sermon and the teaching of the Four Noble Truths. For the first seven weeks after his Enlightenment, Buddha did not teach. Encouraged by Indra and Brahma, he gave his first teachings at Sarnath on the Four Noble Truths. On this day, Tibetan Buddhists make pilgrimages to holy places, offering incense and hanging prayer flags.

November: Buddha Shakyamuni’s Descent from Tushita Heaven

Buddha Shakyamuni’s Descent from Tushita Heaven (Lha-Bab Duchen) celebrates the anniversary of the Buddha’s descent to earth from the heavenly realm. Buddha Shakyamuni first ascended to The Heaven of Thirty-Three to give teachings to benefit the gods in the desire realms and to repay the kindness of his mother by liberating her from samsara. This is considered to be one among eight great deeds of the Buddha. On this day, the effects of positive or negative actions are multiplied ten million times. It is part of Tibetan Buddhist tradition to engage in virtuous activities and prayer on this day.

December: Anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa & The Great Prayer Festival

The Anniversary of Lama Je Tsongkhapa (1357 – 1419 AD), which is the day of his parinirvana, is celebrated on the 25th day of the tenth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar. In remembrance of Lama Tsongkhapa, the venerable monks of Gyuto Foundation perform the Guru Puja (Tsog Offering).

Lama Tsongkhapa, the Precious Lord (Je Rinpoche), is one of the most famous and holy of the Tibetan adepts. He successfully integrated into his life his knowledge of the Buddha’s teachings and accomplished true spiritual insight and true realization. As the founder of the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Tsongkhapa’s presence was not only of great service in the preservation of the dharma, but he also refined the form of the dharma as practice in Tibet. To this day, his life and work profoundly inspire millions of people around the world. Je Tsongkhapa founded Ganden Monastery – one of the greatest monasteries in Tibet – and his popular Gelugpa tradition gave rise to the establishment of many other monasteries, such as Drepung, Sera, Gaden, Gyuto and Gyudme.

Lama Tsongkhapa, the founder of Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism was considered to be an emanation of Manjushri. He passed away on the 25th day of Tenth Tibetan month in the year 1419. Jamchen Choeje Yeshi, one of the main disciples of Tsongkhapa, who founded Sera Monastery, passed away on the 24th day of the same month in the year 1443.

Benefits

It has been said by adepts of the past that to practice purification, accumulation, and to make special aspirational prayers on these special occasions has greater potential for purifying our bad karmas, mending broken commitments, and accumulating the vast collection of merit and wisdom.

The Great Prayer Festival

The Great Prayer Festival (Mönlam Chenmo) is the most important Tibetan Buddhist celebration of the year, held annually as part of the New Year festivities. The Great Prayer Festival was established by Lama Tsongkhapa in 1409, when the first Great Prayer Festival was held in Lhasa. Lama Tsongkhapa invited all the people of Tibet to a two-week-long festival of prayer, auspicious rituals, teachings, and celebrations from the first new moon until the full moon of the lunar New Year. Many hundreds of thousands of people came from near and far. This first full moon of the year is celebrated in the Vajrayana tradition as the Day of Miracles (Chotrul Duchen) to commemorate the final day of the miraculous displays by the Buddha, an event which lasted fifteen days.

Lama Tsongkhapa firmly believed in the life story of the founder of Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha, whose activities were described in this way in the chapter of the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish with the title “Overcoming the Six Teachers”:

“Buddha was challenged by six rival teachers to a contest of miraculous performances. For many years, Buddha evaded their challenges, letting people believe that he was afraid of their magical powers, losing his royal patrons, and causing doubts and worries to grow among the people.

Finally, in the city of Shravasti, Buddha accepted the challenge and stood before a huge assembly of people from the entire central north Indian area. He proceeded to perform miracle after miracle during the first fortnight of the lunar New Year. The rival teachers were eclipsed almost immediately, as Buddha produced spectacular manifestations. He threw down a toothpick and grew a giant wish-granting gem tree. He rinsed his mouth with scented water, and celestial lakes with divine ducks and jewel lotuses appeared. He concentrated and emitted rays of light, and hosts of Buddhas, bodhisattvas and gods filled the skies.

Teachings of liberation and awakening, reverberating in every language known to man, illumined the minds of all assembled. He even manifested a vision of himself multiplying infinitely, his compassionate energy becoming clearly present to everyone’s awareness.”

It is said that during that first Great Prayer Festival in 1409, all the people who gathered in Lhasa had visions of Buddhas and divine beings filling the sky. Everyone would exercise their most inspired intentions and spend the whole time of the festival in spiritual retreat, praying, studying, making offerings, teaching, learning, and debating meaningful philosophical topics.

This noble tradition is preserved and is practiced in the same way to this day in most of the Gelug monasteries. The Day of Miracles, which falls on the full moon, is the most special day of all the festival. Thousands of people, lay and ordained alike, come to pray, view elaborate butter sculptures, and make offerings to the Sangha.

The main purpose of the Great Prayer Festival is to pray for the long life of all the holy gurus of all traditions, for the survival and spreading of the Dharma in the minds of all sentient beings, and for world peace. The communal prayers, offered with strong faith and devotion, help to overcome obstacles to peace and generate conducive conditions for everyone to live in harmony.