Lhabab Duchen
Lhabab Düchen (Tib. ལྷ་བབས་དུས་ཆེན་, Wyl. lha babs dus chen) is one of the four Buddhist festivals commemorating four events in the life of the Buddha, according to Tibetan traditions. Lhabab Düchen occurs on the 22nd day of the ninth lunar month according to Tibetan calendar and widely celebrated in Tibet and Bhutan. The festival is also celebrated in other Buddhist Asian countries including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos where it is celebrated a few weeks before the Tibetan and Bhutanese version.
| Lhabab Düchen ལྷ་བབས་དུས་ཆེན | |
|---|---|
 Buddha's descent to earth from The Heaven of Thirty-Three, Mongolia (18th century) | |
| Observed by | Tibet and Bhutan |
| Type | Buddhist |
| Date | 22nd day of the ninth lunar month |
| 2020 date | 07 November |
| Related to | Vap Full Moon Poya (in Sri Lanka) Wan Ok Phansa (in Thailand) Boun Suang Huea (in Laos) Thadingyut Festival (in Myanmar) |
| Lhabab Düchen | |||||
| Tibetan name | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tibetan | ལྷ་བབས་དུས་ཆེན | ||||
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Lhabab Duchen is a Buddhist festival celebrated to observe the Buddha's descent from the Trāyastriṃśa heaven down to earth.
According to legend, the Buddha ascended the Trāyastriṃśa heaven temporarily at the age of 41, in order to give teachings to benefit the gods in that desire realm, and to repay the kindness of his mother by liberating her from Samsara.
He was exhorted by his disciple and representative Maudgalyayana to return, and after a long debate and under a full moon agreed to return. He returned to earth a week later by a special triple ladder prepared by Viswakarma, the god of machines. This event is considered to be one of the eight great deeds of the Buddha.
On Lhabab Duchen, the effects of positive or negative actions are multiplied ten million times. It is part of Tibetan Buddhist tradition to engage in virtuous activities and prayer on this day.
See also
Notes
During this day, positive or negative actions are multiplied 100 million times.
References
- http://www.fpmtabc.org/prayers_mmdays.php
- https://fpmt.org/media/resources/dharma-dates/ and select November
- Buddhist Art News https://web.archive.org/web/20160304214148/https://buddhistartnews.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/lhabab-duchen-the-day-buddha-descended-from-tushita-heavens/
- Legge, James, tran. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886; reprint, New York: Dover Publications Inc.,1965. Chapter XVII.