Chökhor Düchen - Buddha's first teaching 2021

After Shakyamuni Buddha attained his own enlightenment, his compassion led him to share his discovery, in his first teaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath. We celebrate this day as Chökhor Düchen. At this teaching, the Buddha expressed his profound realization of the nature of existence in the Four Noble Truths:     The Truth of  the Nature of Suffering     The Truth of the Origins or Causes of Suffering     The Truth of Liberation from Suffering     The Truth of the Eight Fold Path as the means to attain ultimate happiness and freedom from suffering.

At Kadampa Center, we will gather online via Zoom for a group reading of the Vajra Cutter Sutra.

This teaching, referred to as the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, led to the formation of the Sangha, the community of disciples committed to following the Buddha's example of living simply, following the Path, and teaching the Dharma. Accordingly, every year at this time, the FPMT encourages its Centers to celebrate the presence of the sangha community. Our website includes a Sangha Support and Offerings page with valuable information, including a previous year's talk and Q&A about sangha with our director, Robbie Watkins.

Chökhor Düchen is a Buddha holy day, when the results of our positive karma are magnified 100,000 times, according to the Vinayaka sutra, so it's an ideal day for spiritual practice. 

Students are encouraged to engage in spiritual practice such as reading lamrim, circumambulating the gompa, meditating on emptiness or taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts, a set of vows taken for 24 hours at a time. The first time one takes these vows, it must be from a qualified teacher. Students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoce granting them. This was edited from Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Teachings on Thought Tansformation during the TIme of COVID-19 and Practice Advice at Kopan Monastery, recorded in May, 2020.

Kadampa Center will offer a reading of the Vajra Cutter sutra, as well as other prayers, online only at 12pm.

You can sponsor Holy Day events - amazing merit!  Click here to sponsor Chokhor Düchen