Lhabab Duchen

Wednesday, October 31

A day for creating virtue

Merit created on this day is multiplied 100 million times

 

Lhabab Duchen celebrates the Buddha’s return to earth after teaching the Dharma to his mother in the God Realm of the Thirty-Three.Close-up of golden Buddha for Lhabab Duchen

In their book, Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron write:

“I feel a deep connection to Gautama Buddha as well as profound gratitude for his teachings and for the example of his life.

“He had insights into the workings of the mind that were previously unknown. He taught that our outlook impacts our experience and that our experiences of suffering and happiness are not thrust upon us by others but are a product of the ignorance and afflictions in our minds.”

Describing the kindness of the Buddha, Ven. Chodron says in one of her teachings: “There are so many places in this universe where the Dharma doesn’t exist and times when the teachings aren’t present. If you’re born in that kind of place, you might have incredible spiritual longing and absolutely no opportunity to meet the Dharma.

“So reflect, ‘If I hadn’t met the Dharma, where would I be? What would my life be like?’ “I don’t know about you, but my life would have been a total mess. I would have harmed many people acting out of my self-centeredness, and I would definitely have created much negative karma! Meeting  the Buddha’s teachings has completely reversed my life, and I assume yours as well.

“Lhabab Duchen is a good time to feel gratitude to Buddha for what he did, and to the whole lineage of teachers down to our own teachers, who preserved these teachings so that we could come into contact with them.”

Rejoice and take the opportunity to help create peace in this chaotic world!

 

Ways to Make Merit on Lhabab Duchen

♥ Watch Ven. Chodron’s short 2014 (below) teaching on Lhabab Duchen and repaying the kindness of our parents.
♥ Take and keep the Eight Mahayana Precepts for 24 hours.
♥ Do the Shakyamuni Buddha meditation, either guiding yourself or listening to a meditation guided by Ven. Chodron.
♥ Read or watch Ven. Chodron’s teaching on taking refuge in the Three Jewels

♥ Make special offerings to the Three Jewels and do the extensive offering practice.

♥ Make special offerings to your teachers, Dharma center, or monasteries.
 ♥ Go here to include the Abbey in your offerings.

Ven. Chodron Explains How to Practice on Lhabab Duchen