Celebrate Chotrul Düchen

Written By Susan Shannon, M. Div, BCC

This week, celebrate Chotrul Düchen, the first of four special Buddha Days. There are four major Buddha days or "Festivals" (düchen) in a year which relate to the life of Buddha Shakyamuni. During these four days, it is said that the effects of positive or negative actions are multiplied 100 million times, so positive thoughts, words and deeds are strongly encouraged. This year, Chotrul Düchen, which highlights the end of Losar, is celebrated on Friday, March 18th.

Shakyamuni Buddha and the fifteen miracles at Shravasti.

Shakyamuni Buddha and the fifteen miracles at Shravasti

Himalayan Art Resources

Chotrul Düchen: ཆོས་འཕྲུལ་དུས་ཆེན “miraculous manifestation, great celebration”

This day marks the end of the first 15 days of the New Year. Buddha was reluctant to display miraculous powers, but it is said that during these 15 days, he displayed a miracle each day to increase the merit and devotion of his disciples. Chotrul Düchen marks the end of these first two weeks.

This Friday offers a great opportunity to make the most of a “multiplying day.” Think Body, Speech and Mind. If you concentrate on utilizing all 3 of these Spiritual Gates in positive ways on multiplying days, your efforts are being magnified and supercharged! You are also tapping into an energy that has been in place for hundreds of years in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Chotrul Düchen is celebrated by focusing on the idea that all karma you are creating on that day is multiplied a million times, be it positive or negative! Traditionally, Tibetans will make offerings of butter lamps and donations to monasteries and nunneries. Saving lives of beings is also practiced, such as freeing animals being sold for slaughter or releasing fish. For us here in the west, donations to Dharma Centers and paying special attention to our thoughts, words and deeds in whatever we do is of great benefit.

It is a great day to start a garden or launch a project meant to benefit others. There is no end to the ways you can bring the meaning and benefit of Chotrul Düchen into your lives!

How does a multiplying day work?

Aside from positive acts of Body, Speech and Mind, this is also a perfect time to renew your relationship with the Six Paramitas, or Perfections: Generosity, Ethical Conduct, Patience, Enthusiastic Effort, Meditative Concentration and Wisdom. The Paramita of Generosity, when practiced with the absence of the three spheres - no gift, no giver, no receiver - it is said to contain the merit of all the other paramitas.

One of the most powerful manifestations of the practice of generosity is that of giving Dharma. If you wish to benefit Sukhasiddhi Foundation during this time, imagine that any positive act of Body, Speech and Mind directed towards the sustainability of Sukhasiddhi will be multiplied in power and effect. The benefits rely on the intention behind the acts. Praying for the long life of Sukhasiddhi is one example, turning someone on to the teachings of Sukhasiddhi is another. These are ways of giving Dharma.

Giving funds is another way. What if your donation, however small or large, suddenly grew several zeros behind your donation! A gift of $5.00 becomes $5000.00 or even more. In this Year of the Water Tiger 2149, what if people were inspired to give $21.49 or some other version of this amount? What fun.

If you are inspired by this opportunity to multiply the benefit of a gift, you can donate here.

Susan Shannon, M. Div, BCC

Susan Shannon, M. Div., BCC has been “married to the Dharma” since 1971, first studying Chinese Buddhism, then finding home with Tibetan Tradition. She took refuge with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1980 and in 1983 took refuge and teachings with His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche, the great master of the Karma Kagyu and Shangpa lineages. Over the years she’s also taken refuge with some of Tibet’s greatest masters in the Sakya, Drukpa Kagyu, Dudjom Tersar and Nyingma lineages. 

In 1998 her lama Ven. Dhupthob Rinpoche introduced her to the State Oracle of Tibet, who requested Susan’s help in creating a Buddhist Center for local Tibetans. This led to the beginning of the Nechung Buddhist Center of the Bay Area, of which she is a founding board member. 

In 2008, with the desire to be of service to a greater number of beings, Susan enrolled in an Interfaith Seminary and was ordained an Interfaith Chaplain and Minister in 2011, receiving a Masters in Divinity shortly after. She was endorsed by the Nechung Center as a Buddhist Chaplain in 2012, authorizing her to teach, provide services, and spiritually serve the men in San Quentin State Prison and Death Row.

Susan’s work is grounded in the fields of Restorative Justice and Emotional Literacy, working with several populations including inmates, at-risk youth, the homeless, and Tibetan refugees. In 2017 Lama Palden invited Susan to Sukhasiddhi. Her lively classes have engaged students ever since. Susan resides on Orcas Island, Washington, furthering her prison work through the Buddhist Prison Ministry, spreading the Dharma in prisons across the United States.

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