It was a very special day at the centre, Khenpo la and sangha members commemorated Chotrul Düchen, also known as the ‘Festival of Miracles’. This auspicious day coincided with Khenpo la’s birthday and all of us wish and pray for Khenpo la’s long healthy life. Many flower offerings were made and lamp offerings were lit to mark the occasion. Khenpo la lead meditation and prayers. Lael offered a delicious Birthday cake for Khenpo la, which all enjoyed afterwards at morning tea. It is wonderful to be sharing these very special spiritual days together.

It is one of the four major Buddhist holy days and occurs on the fifteenth day of the Tibetan New Year. During the first fifteen days of the Tibetan New Year, in order to increase the merit and the devotion of future disciples, Buddha displayed a different miracle each day at Shravasti in India.

During this time, it is believed that the effects of both positive and negative actions are multiplied ten million times.

To commemorate the occasion, Tibetans make lamps, traditionally of yak butter, called butter lamps in the shapes of flowers, trees, birds, and other auspicious symbols. They also create elaborate displays for the lamps in their homes and in public spaces, sometimes erecting structures as large as a building. All the lanterns are lit in celebration on the fifteenth day of the month.

Khenpo la completed a very successful visit to The Bau Sen Buddha Ru Yi Temple at Kinglake, Victoria in mid-February, 2019. Over the weekend Khenpo la gave a dharma talk on “Transforming Difficulty to Positive”, conducted a tour of the temple and led a guided meditation session “Meditation - Bringing Calm and Peace to our Life”. 

This talk and temple tour was enthusiastically received by the community with many people attending, travelling from as far as Melbourne. There was extremely positive feedback from the attendees, who appreciated being able to attend such events close to home and are keen to have Khenpo la visit again next year.