Tibetan Losar Special Puja:
The Puja of Paying Homage and Making Offering to Lord Buddha and the 16 Arhats
This puja invokes the blessings of the Victorious Ones for an auspicious new beginning of the New Year.
The thangka of Lord Buddha Sakyamuni surrounded by the 16 Arhats (Tib. Neten Chudruk གནས་བརྟན་བཅུ་དྲུག་) and an assembly of bodhisattvas, Dharma protectors and the four great kings.
To benefit the future beings after his Mahaparinirvana, Buddha Shakyamuni personally selected the Sixteen Arhats from among his disciples and requested them to remain in the world to protect the Dharma. At the time of parinirvana, they vowed to remain in the world and maintain the Dharma until the arrival of the forthcoming Buddha Maitreya. Merely visualizing Lord Buddha Shakyamuni surrounded by the Sixteen Arhats and an assembly of bodhisattvas generates great merit and blessing to realize the profound insight of the Buddha’s teachings.
Paying homage and making offerings to the Sixteen Arhats pleases all the Victorious Ones and invokes immense blessings. All obstacles on the path to enlightenment will be pacified. One will be endowed with the perfect outer and inner conditions to practice Dharma. The ability and capacity to study, understand and realize the scriptures will also be heightened.
May the faultless teaching of the Buddha flourish and spread in all directions!
May the supreme holders of the teachings remain for hundreds of kalpas!
May virtue and excellence pervade throughout the world!
And may the benefits of self and others be spontaneously accomplished!
The Auspicious Bumjur Dawa:
Choegon Rinpoche has intentionally scheduled this grand puja in the first month of the Tibetan New Year to increase its merits, and thus the resulting benefits. "Bumjur Dawa" -- the Miracle Month, where Lord Buddha demonstrated miracles on each day of the first fifteen days to tame the non-believers and to inspire and heighten devotion in his disciples -- is a great occasion for merit accumulations.
'Bumjur' means hundred thousand; 'Dawa' stands for month. Literally, it means a hundred-thousand multiplying month, in which every action committed within this month, positive or negative, will be multiplied to 100,000 times. Thus, it is regarded as an exceptionally holy, auspicious, and consequential month to restrain from all negative actions and endeavor to engage in virtuous deeds and Dharma practices more diligently.
On the 15th day, Chötrul Düchen, the great miracle day, is celebrated as one of the four most important dates in Tibetan Buddhism to commemorate the eight great deeds demonstrated by Lord Buddha Sakyamuni. Its multiplying effect is said to be 100 million times.
All are welcome to participate in this auspicious and beneficial event.
Should you wish to find out more details about this puja, please write to us: at web@dechenchoekhor.org
Thank you!