SPIRITUAL: Holy Day

Days of Miarcles (Monlam Chenmo) is a two-week period during which the Buddha performed various miracles. The two weeks of holy days are observed with the Tibetan Great Prayer Festival beginning on Tibetan New Year, and, on the final day - the Day of Miracles - many fesitvals and rituals are held. On holy days, it's especially important to be kind and do prayers and practices because karmic results are multiplied by one hundred million times [as cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from the Vinaya text Treasures of Quotations and Logic].

For more information, please see our description of the holy day Monlam Chenmo.

Our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, recommends reciting the Golden Light Sutra on holy days for world peace. When we read as a group, we divide the sutra up into short sections for each individual. Once we've each completed our part, we are able to count that as a full recitation and all share in the merit!

If you can't join us but instead recite the sutra at home, please dedicate it for world peace and enter your count on FPMT’s website:
http://www.fpmt.org/component/Chronoforms/?chronoform=sgl&Contact=Reporting
 

As part of our holy day activities, members are invited to come for a potluck lunch and spend time with each other, and hopefully stay for some of the prayers and practices. We'll be starting at 11:30am so people who took precepts can begin their meal before noon.

We recommend bringing a dish or beverages that serve 4-6 people. Please remember that a crockpot won't heat a cold dish and it's best to heat your food before you come. We ask that you put your name on serving dishes and utensils and please take them and any leftover food home with you.

On this holy day honoring the Buddha's first teaching, Wheel Turning Day, it's particularly powerful to do practice. The center will be open all day for individuals who would like to come and do individual practice in the gompa. 

For the evening group practice, students are encouraged to make light offerings and circumambulate the stupa. We'll have a table of extensive light offerings tealights that students can offer on the stupa as well (or bring your own). We'll recite Lama Atisha's Light Offering Prayer together, and then students are encouraged to circumambulate  the stupa. Geshe Gelek says that "circumambulating the stupa creates more merit than can fit in this whole universe! Each time you come to the center, circumambulate at least once to take advantage of this holy object. There’s also a chain of benefit that includes all the people who worked on the stupa."

Saka Dawa is full of reasons to come practice at the center, and we invite everyone to join us for a potluck lunch. This event is generously sponsored by Son and Hien Pham who are providing a substantial amount of food, but please also bring a vegetarian dish to share so we have enough for everyone. To help support the practice of students who are taking precepts that morning, please try to bring food that does not have any of the black foods (garlic, onion, radishes, turnips, eggs, and of course meat). Check ingredients carefully - almost all salad dressings have garlic or onion in them - and bringing a list of ingredients is a big help, especially for those who have special allergies. Warm foods should be brought in a crock pot since we have limited kitchen facilities, and remember to take all your dishes, serving utensils, and any leftovers home with you that day.

For precept holders - solar noon is at 1:14pm that day, so you will still be able to join us for lunch. Geshe Gelek also said that if your lunch is delayed because you are participating in Dharma activities (such as the consecration ceremony and then refuge), you can eat later than solar noon without breaking the precepts.

Volunteers are needed to help with setup and cleanup, so please spend a little extra time and lend a hand if you can!

The Golden Light Sutra is one of the practices that was requested to benefit our spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. If you cannot attend, reading it at home is also encouraged. The text is available online for free download at http://www.fpmt.org/education/teachings/sutras/golden-light-sutra/download.html. We will be reporting practices done for Rinpoche to FPMT every month, so please email program@kadampa-center.org when you complete recitations.

A two-week period during which the Buddha performed various miracles. Rituals and celebrations are typically held on the final day, called “The Day of Miracles.”

For more information, go to: http://kadampa-center.org/monlam-chenmo-day-miracles

Students are invited to come and hang electric string lights around the center on Lama Tsongkhapa day. At the end of the activity, everyone will do a short light offering prayer together to make the lights a meritorious offering.

   "In addition to other offerings, it is best to offer as many light offerings as you can. The center's students can hang up as many Christmas lights as possible… to create the causes of enlightenment by offering the lights to Lama Tsongkhapa, the merit fields, and so forth.  By offering lights we create the cause of enlightenment, of liberation from samsara, and the happiness of future lives. Also, happiness will happen in this life."

 - Lama Zopa Rinpoche