Celebrate Buddha’s First Teaching – Chokhor Duchen with Geshe Sonam

When: Friday, July 21, 2023, 7:00 – 8:00 am EDT (***Note early morning timing)

This day celebrates Buddha’s first turning of the wheel of Dharma (Tib. Chokhor Duchen). When the Buddha achieved full awakening he did not teach others at first.  After seven weeks the gods Indra and Brahma offered a dharmachakra and a conch shell to the Buddha and requested and encouraged the Awakened One to teach to others what he had accomplished. Buddha Shakyamuni then turned the Wheel of Dharma at Sarnath with the teaching of the Four Noble Truths.

Geshe Sonam will give the bodhisattva vows and lead a meditation/prayers on compassion on this holy day to commemorate the occasion of Buddha’s first teaching.

Chokhor Duchen is one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, each of which celebrates an anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s display of extraordinary powerful deeds for sentient beings’ sake. On these four days, karmic results are multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Please register to attend on Zoom.

or watch the sessions live-streamed on Facebook.

Eight Mahayana Precepts – Take on your own if you wish

The practice of the Mahāyāna precepts is a wonderful opportunity to accumulate merit on Saga Dawa. The practice involves keeping precepts of pure conduct and fasting after the noontime meal for a period of 24 hours. You can learn more and take the precepts using the recording from Lama Zopa Rinpoche if you have not already received the transmission, or would like to do so again. You can also find the texts used to take the precepts at the bottom of this page. The precepts are to be taken at sunrise in your location.

Chokhor Duchen also commemorates FPMT’s International Sangha Day!

Here is how you can celebrate the Sangha Jewel:

• Deepen your understanding and refuge in the Sangha Jewel.
• Show appreciation for Sangha, and cultivate respect for the heroic efforts made by Sangha.
• Support our Sangha here at Lama Yeshe Ling
• Donate to The Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund at the International Mahayana Institute