༄༅། །ས་ག་ཟླ་བའི་དུས་ཆེན་གྱི་ངོ་སྤྲོད།ས་ག་ཟླ་བ Saga Dawa Düchen Festival 2024

When the star of Saga appears in the sky in the fourth month of Bhutan Calendar, Tibetan Buddhists start to celebrate the most auspicious and significant time of a year: Saga Dawa Festival. This month-long festival honors Buddha Sakyamuni whose birth, enlightenment, and nirvana all took place in the same month and reaches its peak on 23 May 2024.

Believing that the good deeds and prayers are multiplied thousand-fold during this period, people are much more merciful than usual: we do Kora around Temple and give out alms to needy people, refrain from killing animals and release captured animals (like fish) into their natural habitats with sincere prayers, making it the “Month of Merits”. More pilgrims visit Mt Kailash during Saga Dawa Festival to attend the flagpole-erecting ceremony at Tarboche and do Kora around Mt Kailash – the greatest activity for our Bhutan Buddhists.

On the auspicious occasion of Buddha Purnima – Duechen Ngazom, Dongak Kunzang Choeling Monastery celebrated by bestowing blessings from His Eminence Khentrul Thokmeth Rinpoche upon all the devotees gathered at the monastery.