Celebrate Lhabab Düchen with Us!

Written By Lama Döndrup

We invite you to celebrate Lhabab Düchen–one of the four major Buddhist holidays–on November 15th, the 22nd day of the ninth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar. It is a day to bring special attention to your dharma practice by engaging in longer periods of ritual and meditation, chanting mantras, making prayers and making special offerings.

We pay special attention to our actions—body, speech, and mind—as we relate to ourselves, our families and the world so that they are infused with the Four Brahma Viharas: loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity and Six Paramitas of Generosity: ethical conduct, patience, joyful exertion, concentration and wisdom.

Offering ideas for your home shrine/altar:

  • Food

  • Flowers

  • Candles

  • Incense on our shrine/altar at home

On this sacred occasion, the benefit of all dharma practice and beneficial as well as harmful actions is multiplied 10,000,000 times–an opportune time to make offerings to the teachers and centers that support you on your spiritual journey. 

After having to let go of our physical center during the pandemic, Sukhasiddhi Foundation is actively looking for a new space so that our 2023 events and beyond can be held both in-person and online. The occasion of Lhabab Düchen is an auspicious time to contribute financially to support this effort to acquire a physical space so that our community can once again come together to support and enjoy one another in person! Please donate here. Your donations will be matched as part of the year-end fundraising campaign for Sukhasiddhi Foundation.

The Story of Lhabab Düchen

Lhabab Düchen commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s descent from the Trayastrimsha (Heaven of the Thirty-Three Devas), where he had gone seven years after his enlightenment to offer teachings to his mother, who had died and was residing there. Seven days after giving birth to Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni Buddha), Queen Maya died and took rebirth in the Tushita Heaven. It is said that Tushita heaven can be  reached through meditation. Tushita is also the heaven where Bodhisattva Svetaketu  resided before taking birth in the human realm as Siddhartha Gautama and becoming Shakyamuni Buddha. It is said that Bodhisattva Natha currently resides there and, in the  future, will be reborn in the human realm and become Maitreya Buddha. 

Seven years after Siddhartha Gautama’s enlightenment as Shakyamuni Buddha, Queen  Maya traveled from the Tushita Heaven to Trayastrimsha, which is presided over by  Indra. Shakyamuni Buddha ascended to Trayastrimsha and stayed there for three  months in order to teach the Abhidharma to his mother, Queen Maya, and the other celestial beings. These teachings were offered as an expression of his gratitude for all  his mother had done for him and to liberate her and all the celestial beings from samsara. 

After some months had gone by, the Buddha’s cousin and close disciple, Anuruddha,  perceived that Shakyamuni Buddha was in Trayastrimsha. Missing his teacher, he urged  another one of the Buddha’s disciples, Maudgalyayana, to request Shakyamuni that he  return to his disciples in the human realm. On the full moon (15th day) of the ninth lunar  month, Maudgalyayana debated with Shakyamuni and exhorted him to return.  Shakyamuni Buddha agreed and seven days later, on the 22nd day of the ninth lunar  month, Indra manifested three ladders that were 80,000 yojanas in length from  Trayastrimsha to Sankashya (in modern day Uttar Pradesh, India.) Shakyamuni Buddha  descended the central ladder which was made of precious jewels. Indra descended the  ladder on the right which was made of gold and Brahma descended the ladder on the  left which was made of silver. While on the ladder, the Buddha performed a miracle. He looked up and in doing so made the god realms visible. Similarly, he then looked  down, making the hell realms visible. In that moment, all the beings in the god realms,  human realm and the hell realms were visible to one another, and all aspired to attain  Buddhahood. Lhabab Düchen commemorates this day that Shakyamuni Buddha descended from Trayastrimsha.

Lama Döndrup

Lama Döndrup has been practicing and studying in the Buddhist tradition since the mid-1990’s. After five years of Theravadin Buddhist training, she immersed herself in the teachings and practices of the Shangpa and Kagyu Vajrayana lineages. In 2005, she completed a traditional three-year retreat under the guidance of Lama Palden and Lama Drupgyu with the blessing of her root guru, Bokar Rinpoche and was authorized as a lama. Upon her return to Marin County, she began teaching at Sukhasiddhi Foundation. In January 2020, as Lama Palden’s successor, she stepped into the role of Resident Lama, guiding the Center’s ministerial work. Lama Döndrup’s teaching style is thorough and clear yet with light touch as she supports the natural unfolding of each student’s innate wisdom and compassion. She aims to preserve the authenticity of the tradition while making the teachings and practices relevant and accessible to the lives of 21st century Westerners. In addition to her Buddhist practice, Lama Döndrup trained the Ridhwan School’s Diamond Approach for seven years and has a Masters of Fine Arts degree in piano performance. She is an active classical pianist and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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