I would like to share the importance of this coming month, the reasons why we should practice as well as the way to practice to get the most benefit from this auspicious month. In Tibetan, it is called Saga Dawa.
Saga is actually the name of a star that appears in this month.
Dawa is the word for month in Tibetan.
So the month has been given the name of the star that appears during this lunar month which starts today 12th of May this year 2021. This is the month that Buddha Shakyamuni showed the 3 most auspicious deeds:
1) the month Buddha entered the womb of his mother,
2) the month Buddha achieved Enlightenment and
3) the month Buddha showed the great deed of Parinirvana .
Generally this month is known as the month of three auspicious deeds that Buddha performed but some people add some more and says that it is a month of 5-6 auspicious deeds because it is also the month that Buddha Shakyamuni became a monk. Also this is the month Buddha destroyed the hoards of enemies.
The reason why Buddha Shakyamuni chose this special time to engage into these deeds is because the formation of the stars in this month are the most suitable time for a person to achieve Enlightenment. As outer phenomena like sea is affect, our body as well as our mental stage also gets effected.
For example on the Full Moon day, the moon gets closer and gets aligned to the Earth. That is why the gravity on the 15th day of Lunar Calendar effects the sea and even us. You can see this if you live by the sea. The waves are bigger on Full Moon day than other days.
This does not just bring the change to the sea waves but also to our mind and body. You may find many people become very emotional on the Full Moon day. So this month when the Saga star appears, it is very suitable for one to achieve the Enlightenment on the Full Moon day.
The second reason this month is very auspicious is that Buddha had shown many great deeds during this month therefore millions and millions of Gods in Desire Realm still appears into this world and those who like Buddha Dharma rejoice our merits, and good actions that we engage in. Our merits will be multiplied because our merits are the cause or condition for them to accumulate their merits through rejoicing our merits. If we do not engage into virtuous actions or merits, these Gods will not be able to rejoice and therefore we will not be able to accumulate merits on this wonderful opportunity.
Generally merits of God are higher than human merits. So when they rejoice our merits they accumulate more merits than us. And so rejoicing is one of the easiest ways to accumulate merits. And it is the antidote of jealousy and envy. So we can practice in our day to day life.
In Buddhism, especially on Full Moon day when the waves are bigger and stronger than other days, wave push many insects out of the sea far outside and eventually many of them dies because after the Full Moon the waves are not big anymore.
We have a direct connection to all of these insects since they used to be our mothers in many previous lives. So if we accumulate merits on such days, the merits are multiplied and the power of merits is much stronger to help those insects which dies or suffer. Imagine if our family member is sick and we pray then it will be much more effective and helpful than when they are healthy and in form.
From another perspective I would say that when our emotional level is not balanced on a specific days like on full moon day, engaging into virtuous action is very effective and the practice becomes much stronger. It is like taking medicine when you are sick and you can see an immediate result. And on the Saga Dawa all the above effects will be there. Thus we must take this opportunity and try our best to engage in positive actions as many as possible.
Also I would strongly recommend you all to read the sutra called “the sutra Remembering Three Jewels” that would be wonderful. Besides that practicing compassions, engaging into virtuous action like helping others are strongly recommended. Doing something by which Dharma can survive long in the world, and contributing in all the ways through which Dharma can reach to many more people who wishes to learn and who can be benefited.
This will be the way we can show gratitude to Buddha and repay the kindness to Buddha and the great teachings of Nalanda masters. Taking eight precepts of Mahayana and saying the mantra of Buddha Sakyamuni are also some of the ways we can show our gratitude to Buddha and his teachings . At the same time it is a way to help many people who are suffering from Covid pandemic and to bring peace in this world.
Lama Nawang Kunphel
