In acknowledgment and celebration of this great holy day, Lhabab Düchen - November 22, 2024
November 22nd, is the 22nd day of the ninth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar. This is the day that we celebrate Lhabab Düchen, one of the four major Buddhist holidays. Lhabab Düchen commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s descent from the Trayastrimsha (Heaven of the Thirty-Three Devas), where he had gone seven years after his enlightenment to offer teachings to his mother, who had died and was residing there.
The story of Shakyamuni Buddha’s descent from Trayastrimsha begins in Tushita. Tushita is a deva-realm or “heaven” that is a part of the same world-system as Earth in Buddhist cosmology. It is a realm where practitioners, through dedicated meditation and prayer, can be reborn and receive bodhisattva teachings, allowing them to attain enlightenment in their next life. Bodhisattva Svetaketu resided in Tushita before taking birth in the human realm as Siddhartha Gautama and later becoming Shakyamuni Buddha. Currently, Bodhisattva Natha resides there, awaiting his rebirth in the human realm as Maitreya Buddha in the future.
Seven days after giving birth to Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni Buddha), Queen Maya died and was reborn in the Tushita Heaven. About 35 years later, Siddhartha attained enlightenment and becoming Shakyamuni Buddha. Seven years after his enlightenment, seeing that his mother was not able to attain awakening in Tushita, as an expression of his gratitude for all his mother had done for him and to liberate her and all the celestial beings from samsara he wanted to offer Abhidharma teachings to her and the other celestial beings. He ascended to Trayastrimsha to offer her these teachings and Queen Maya traveled from Tushita to Trayastrimsha to meet him there. In Buddhist cosmology, Trayastrimsha, presided over by Indra, is one of the six heavens in the desire realm.
After some months, the Shakyamuni Buddha’s cousin and close disciple, Anuruddha, perceived that the Buddha was in Trayastrimsha. Missing his teacher, he urged another one of the Buddha’s disciples, Maudgalyayana, to ask Shakyamuni to return to his disciples in the human realm. On the full moon (15 th day) of the ninth lunar month, Maudgalyayana debated with Shakyamuni and persuaded him to return. Seven days later, on the 22 nd day of the ninth lunar month, Indra manifested three ladders, each 80,000 yojanas long, stretching from Trayastrimsha to Sankashya (in modern day Uttar Pradesh, India.) Shakyamuni Buddha descended the central ladder made of precious jewels while Indra descended the golden ladder on the right and Brahma descended the silver ladder on the left. During his descent, Buddha performed a miracle: he looked upward, making the god realms visible, and downward, revealing the hell realms. In that moment, all beings in the god, human, and hell realms could see one another and aspired to attain Buddhahood. This miraculous event is commemorated as Lhabab Düchen. In Tibetan, lha means “god” bab means “descent” and düchen means “great occasion”.
In celebration of this great holy day, we bring special attention to our dharma practice by engaging in extended periods of ritual and meditation, chanting mantras, contemplative prayers, and making special offerings. We can make offerings of food, flowers, candles, incense on our shrine/altar at home. We also bring special attention to all our actions of body, speech, and mind so that they are infused with the Four Brahma Viharas—lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity—and the Six Paramitas—generosity, ethical conduct, patience, joyful exertion, concentration, and wisdom—as we relate to ourselves, our families, and the world. It is also an ideal opportunity to make offerings to our teachers and centers that support us on our spiritual journey. On this sacred occasion, the merit from dharma practice and all virtuous, as well as harmful actions, is 100 million times.
Lhabab Düchen is an auspicious time to contribute financially or volunteer to support Sukhasiddhi Foundation and our new Wisdom River Meditation Center. Together, we can create a physical space to support one another on the spiritual path, foster the joy of community, and contribute to rooting the teachings of the Shangpa Lineage in the West.
