The Tergar Meditation Community, founded by the respected Dharma teacher and master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, has announced a special online Saga Dawa community celebration to be led by Rinpoche on 29 May.
Saga Dawa (Skt: Vaishakha), the fourth month in the Tibetan lunar calendar, is the most important Buddhist religious and cultural event of the year. The name is derived from the clan name of Shakyamuni Buddha. The occasion is also known in Tibetan as Bumgyur Dawa, “the 100,000-multiplying month,” as karma from all skillful and unskillful actions is believed to be multiplied 100,000 times. This year, Saga Dawa runs from 12 May–10 June, with Saga Dawa Duchen, the single most important day of the year for Tibetan Buddhists, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and final passing into parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha, falling on 26 May, the full moon day. The occasion is also known around the world as Buddha Purnima and Vesak in other Buddhist traditions and following different calendars.
“Rinpoche will give a teaching on the practice of The Treasury of Blessings, a liturgy of Shakyamuni Buddha, composed by Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche,” the Tergar Meditation Community announced. “We will then practice this liturgy together, and share aspirations for the world.”
The event is open to all, with translations offered in Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish:
Auckland: 3am–5pm, Sunday, 30 May
Canberra: 1am–3am, Sunday, 30 May
Seoul, Tokyo: 12am–2am, Sunday, 30 May
Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei: 11pm–1am, Saturday, 29 May
Bangkok, Jakarta: 10pm–12am, Saturday, 29 May
New Delhi: 8:30pm–10:30pm, Saturday, 29 May
Moscow: 6pm–8pm, Saturday, 29 May
Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm: 5pm–7pm, Saturday, 29 May
London: 4pm–6pm, Saturday, 29 May
Montreal, New York: 11am–1pm, Saturday, 29 May
Los Angeles, Vancouver: 8am–10am, Saturday, 29 Ma
To register for this free event, click here.
The merit gained through visualizing the Buddha is inexhaustible; it is a source of virtue that will never go to waste. — Avatamsaka Sutra
Mingyur Rinpoche, the founder of the Tergar Meditation Community, which has centers and practice groups across the world, is a renowned teacher and a best-selling author whose books include The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness (2007), Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom (2009), and Turning Confusion into Clarity: A Guide to the Foundation Practices of Tibetan Buddhism (2014).
Born in 1975 in the Himalayan border region between Tibet and Nepal, Mingyur Rinpoche received extensive training in Tibetan Buddhist meditative and philosophical traditions from his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920–96), considered one of the greatest modern Dzogchen masters, and subsequently at Sherab Ling Monastery in northern India. After just two years, at the age of 13, Mingyur Rinpoche entered a three-year meditation retreat and then completed a second immediately afterward, serving as retreat master. At 23, Rinpoche received full monastic ordination.
Mingyur Rinpoche famously undertook a four-year solitary wandering retreat through the Himalaya from 2011–15.* In recounting how he came to terms with the realities of his ambition to practice in the manner of a wandering yogi, Rinpoche revealed that he confronted many personal and spiritual challenges—including, at one point, his own mortality. Rinpoche has described the years he spent wandering in the Himalaya as “one of the best periods of my life.”
* Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche Returns from Four-year Wilderness Retreat and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche Releases Video Offering Insights Following His Retreat (Buddhistdoor Global)
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Saga Dawa Celebration with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
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