Saka Dawa Düchen 2023 - Sunday Dharma Connections

Saka Dawa is the month when we honor Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life). In 2023, Saka Dawa begins May 20 and ends June 30. On Saka Dawa Düchen, (Sunday, June 4) Geshe Gelek will lead us in special prayers and practices during our Sunday Dharma Connections period, 10:30-11:30 am. There will be a lunch and social gathering afterward. The session will be offered in person and online via Zoom (the regular Sunday Dharma link) or YouTube.  To attend by Zoom, please register in advance. Saka Dawa Düchen is the full-moon day, the most holy day of the month. This day, and the entire month, are especially auspicious for spiritual practice  — the karmic effects of all actions are multiplied one hundred thousand times.

During the teachings, we will recite:

      In Praise of Dependent Origination, by Lama Tsongkhapa  (Also available in a beautifully decorated file from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive)

      The Foundation of All Good Qualities, by Lama Tsongkhapa 

      Shakyamuni Buddha - Praise of the Twelve Deeds, by Arya Nagarjuna

      Chenrezig's mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM

Geshe Gelek also advises us to create merit by going around the stupa (or the entire Gompa), reciting mantras and sutras, liberating animals, saying prayers and doing charitable works.

Geshe-la also advises that students who have previously taken the Eight Mahayana Precepts should do so at home in front of their altar. Taking the eight Mahayana precepts: students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche granting them, which was edited from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation video series, recorded in May 2020 at Kopan Monastery.