The first 15 days of the Tibetan New Year, which are February 28 to March 14 in 2025, commemorate the 15 days of miracles performed by the Shakyamuni Buddha which culminated on the full moon day, known as Chötrul Duchen. These 15 days are a very precious opportunity for accumulating merit as the effects of actions are multiplied 100,000 times. In fact, the entire first month, or Bumgyur Dawa, is seen as a time when merit is multiplied. Furthermore, the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar, known as Saga Dawa, commemorating the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and parinirvana, is also a month in which merit is multiplied. The accumulations of vast amounts of merit and wisdom are indispensable for our growth as practitioners.
Watch this teaching from our teaching library to learn more about the different ways to multiply merit.
Keeping in mind this precious opportunity for accumulating merit, we are inviting you all to join in offering toward two important activities. The window for making this offering begins today and ends on Chötrul Düchen, March 14th. This will be a recurring offering that ends after four months, in the blessed month of Saga Dawa.
The offerings made will be dispersed to both the Samye Monks College and to the translations of Samye Institute’s platform into many languages.
Our junior monks from our Samye School of close to 200 monks are slowly graduating to enter Samye Monks College. The design for the college building is complete, and construction is planned to begin this year.
Pending sufficient resources, Samye Institute is ready to transform the platform so that the entire website can be utilized in a variety of languages, beginning with Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese and expanding to include other sangha languages. Under Phakchok Rinpoche’s guidance, the platform has become an incredible resource for English speakers, and we aspire to remove the obstacles that language pose, for the benefit of all.
We welcome you to join a vast accumulation of merit during the first to fourth months of the Tibetan calendar year, when merit is multiplied 100,000 times!