Overview of session:
DATE: Saturday 18th July
TIME: 3 pm - 4 pm
LOCATION: Online
LEVEL: Buddhist Practices – All Welcome
SUGGESTED DONATION: Please dontae as you wish
Join us online for this beautiful practice on Chokhor Duchen. on Saturday July 18th.
Our resident teacher Geshe Rinchen will lead us with chanting the Sutra Remembering Three Jewels, and Lama Tsongkhapa’s In Praise of Dependent Origination, as well of course as Swift Retrun Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Chokhor Duchen, is one of the four annual holy days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, On these holy days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the power of any meritorious action is multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
Known in English as “Day of Turning the Wheel of Dharma,” Chokhor Duchen commemorates the anniversary of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching. It is said that for seven weeks after his enlightenment, the Buddha did not teach. Afterward, Indra and Brahma offered a dharmachakra and a conch shell, and requested Guru Shakyamuni Buddha to teach. Accepting, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma for the first time at Sarnath in his teaching on the four noble truths.
Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice
Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for merit-multiplying days can be found on the fpmt.org website on our “Practice on the Four Great Holy Days” page.
Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for merit-multiplying 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
Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels
In addition, Rinpoche recommended doing the Shakyamuni Buddha Puja. A beautiful and deeply inspiring practice honoring the Buddha, which includes paying homage while recollecting his heroic and compassionate deeds as a bodhisattva in his previous lives. The puja text consists of two parts. Part 2 contains the actual puja and has instructions and hyperlinks for easy navigation so that the core practice can be easily done with prayers added as time allows.
Celebrate International Sangha Day
Chokhor Duchen is also the day on which FPMT celebrates International Sangha Day! International Sangha Day provides an opportunity for monastic and lay communities to come together in recognition of their interdependence and celebrate the ways in which they mutually rely on each other’s practice of the Dharma. We have collected some ways you can honor monastics on International Sangha Day, in the Sangha section of the Affiliates Area, and you can refer to Francois’s recent email for more information on how FPMT centers, projects, and services can best support the Sangha on this special occasion.
Swift Return Prayers
Of course, in any activities you do during Chokhor Duchen, please take the opportunity to dedicate all of the merit generated for the swift return of our most precious Lama Zopa Rinpoche. His Eminence Ling Rinpoche recently commented, “Remember his kindness and then pray for the unmistaken child, someone who could lead the students, look after them, and fill in his shoes. …”
Offerings on Chokhor Duchen
On Chokhor Duchen the FPMT Puja Fund will be sponsoring numerous pujas including Guhyasamaja self-initiation, Namgyalma long life puja, and Drugchuma. The stupas of Boudhanath and Swambyunath in Nepal will be freshly painted, and the umbrellas will be offered at the pinnacle of each stupa. A new set of robes will be offered to the Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya. Additionally, animals will be liberated, sutras recited and printed, and offerings will be made to all of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to all the IMI Sangha communities in FPMT.