Posts Tagged ‘Lhabab Duchen’

The picture above is a painted detail from an 8th-12th Century palm leaf manuscript of the “Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in 8,000 Lines”, produced by the Nalanda Buddhist University. It survived the sacking and razing to the ground of Nalanda by Muslims, was preserved in Tibet for hundreds of years and now forms part of the collection of the Asia Society Museum. It depicts Buddha Shakyamuni having descended to earth from the the desire god realm known as The Heaven of Thirty-Three (Skt. Trayatrimsha), one of the eight great deeds of the Buddha’s life story.

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Today, Friday 29 October 2010, is Lhabab Düchen, one of the four special days in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It falls on the 22nd day of the ninth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar, and marks the anniversary of Buddha Shakyamuni’s descent from the god realm to earth. The Buddha’s mother, Queen Mayadevi, had died six days after his birth. When Buddha became enlightened, he saw that his mother had been reborn in the desire god realm known as The Heaven of Thirty-Three (Skt. Trayatrimsha) as a result of her pride. (more…)