The 4th Bhutanese
lunar month is the most sacred month for the entire Buddhist community where we
all celebrate the birth, the enlightenment and the parinirvana of Lord Buddha.
This year Saga Dawa begin from today, 4th June and
end on the 2nd July. The full moon day that falls in the middle of
the lunar month (17th June) is known as "Saga Dawa Duchen Nga
Zom", Duchen means "great occasion" and Nga zom means "five
events".
During this sacred Duchen, five major events took place in Lord Buddha's life. Buddha is believed to have conceived, born, to have defeated evil forces, attained enlightenment and passed away into parinirvana on this great day.
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| (Conceiving of Lord Buddha) |
 |
| (Birth Of Lord Buddha) |
 |
| (Defeating Evil Forces) |
 |
| (Attaining Enlightenment) |
 |
| (Entering into Parinirvana) |
Therefore, Saga Dawa is called the "month of merits".
Dawa means "month" and "Saga" or "Saka" is the
name of a star prominent in the sky during the fourth lunar month.
This is a month especially dedicated to "making
merit." Merit is understood in many ways in Buddhism. We can think of it
as the fruits of good karma, especially when this brings us closer to
enlightenment.
In early Buddhist teachings, the three grounds of meritorious
action are generosity (dana), morality (sila), and mental culture or meditation
(bhavana), although there are many ways to make merit.
The Buddha also made prayers that whosoever remembers him on
this day be liberated from suffering and cause of suffering and reach
enlightenment and happiness.
It is also to be noted that the merit of any good deeds perform
during this month are considered to be multiplied by million times. So it is an
excellent time to dedicate ourselves to all kinds of spiritually benefiting
positive actions.
At the same time the negative deeds will also be multiplied by
million times. Means, if you consume 1 kg meat, you are consuming 1 million
kgs.
Some good actions that are commonly taken to accumulate merit
during Saka Dawa, especially on the 15th day, are:
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Refraining
from eating meat
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Offering
donations to monasteries/nunneries, or to individual monks/nuns
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Praying
and reciting mantras (such as the refuge prayer, for one example, the Om Mani Padme
hung mantra, or the Buddha Shakyamuni mantra)
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Making
prostrations around holy sites.
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Giving
money to beggars
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Lighting
butter lamps
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Making
pilgrimages to holy places
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Buying
all kinds of animals that are going to be killed and releasing it.
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Circumambulating
around stupas or other holy places.
From today the meat sale in the kingdom will be totally banned
for a month, a great relief to the innocent animals and gods too.
“Happy Saga Dawa to
all, Be as holy as possible”
