The Significance of Saga Dawa for Buddhist Practitioners 

Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche

May 26, 2021

 As requested by BCCUK (The Buddhist Community in Centre UK), Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche kindly offered an online teaching on the auspicious day of Buddha Jayanti or Vesak, the 15^th day of Saga Dawa in the Tibetan Calendar. Before the main part of the teaching, Rinpoche elaborated on the significance of Saga Dawa for Buddhist practitioners.

On this special occasion of Saga Dawa we should remember and pray for the more than two million people who have died so far from the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people have suffered—lost their positions, their relatives, friends, and so on. What is happening in the world today is very, very sad.

However, we have learned a lot from this crisis. It has made us clearly see how deeply we are interconnected. As it says in the Buddha’s teaching, “everything is interdependent”. Even a virus so small that it cannot be seen by the naked eye has made a huge impact on the entire world.

From this tragic situation we can learn about how important it is to protect our environment. Even small things we do can make a difference, like trying to use less plastic to not pollute the environment. It is my hope that people have learned some positive lessons from this pandemic.

For those of us who are practitioners, it has been a good opportunity to practice. Not being allowed to travel because of the lockdowns gives us an opportunity to stay at home and use this time to focus on our practice and develop new insights. Don’t just waste your time; try to read books or listen to teachings. Make good use of this time to develop and progress in your practice.

Within the Buddhist teachings there are the Theravada, Mahayana, and the Vajrayana traditions. Since I am practicing the Vajrayana as it came to Tibet, I will talk a little bit about Buddhism in Tibet.

During the 7^th century, the great King Trisong Deutsen invited Padmasambava, Vimalamitra, and Shantaraksita to come to Tibet from India to spread the Vajrayana teachings. He also arranged to make translations of all the Tripitaka from Sanskrit to the Tibetan language.

Nowadays, if we look around at the world, most governments are busy with outer development―building armies, economic power, industries. In Tibet, however, the main aim of the kings and ministers was to bring Buddhadharma to their country and to translate and preserve the teachings.

Guru Rinpoche had twenty-five disciples who achieved realization or siddhi. Their disciples in turn taught their students, and this transmission continued up to our own teachers. These authentic masters managed to preserve the teachings for many centuries.

How did they manage to preserve the teachings and authentic lineages? By listening (töba) to the teachings, and contemplating (samba) them, and then by meditating (gomba) on them.

We should follow their footsteps. First by listening to the Dharma, which you are all doing now. Then, not just listening, but by contemplating and thinking about it. Then, putting it into practice by meditating. That’s how we practice the Dharma.

Many different traditions, Sakya, Kagyu, and Geluk, are still very much alive both in and outside of Tibet. Most of the great masters are not physically alive anymore, but at present we still have His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Dodrup Chen Rinpoche, and a few more great masters. Thanks to these teachers who came out of Tibet and travelled around the world Vajrayana Buddhism has spread.

Tibetan Buddhism mainly focuses on dealing with our negative emotions and helping us overcome the suffering caused by them. The interest in Dharma is growing because people are beginning to realize that no matter how much material development or knowledge you have, when you have suffering caused by negative emotions, your wealth and knowledge will not really help.

The Dharma was taught by Buddha Shakyamuni, so we celebrate his life on Vesak or Buddha’s day (the 15^th day of the 4^th month of the lunar calendar). We celebrate the Buddha because he taught the Dharma, the way to overcome the cause of our suffering, the negative emotions.

There are twelve main important deeds (zeba ju-nyi) in the Buddha’s life we should remember. Three of them occurred in the fourth month: his birth in Lumbini, his achievement of enlightenment, and the third is when he passed into nirvana. 

On the 7th day of Saga Dawa, the Buddha was born in Lumbini. When he was 35 years old, he achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree of Bodhgaya. And when he was 81, he passed into nirvana in a place called Kushinagar. His passing into nirvana is one of the biggest teachings.

The whole month from the first day of the lunar calendar to the thirtieth is considered as Saga Dawa. or bum gyur dawa, which indicates that whatever positive deeds you do at this time will multiple a hundred thousand times. Therefore, this is a very special time to do practice.

As Buddhists, during this whole month we try to accumulate positive deeds, make offerings to the Buddha, help the needy, and do as much as we can to accumulate positive actions.

I would like to thank again BCCUK for doing such a wonderful job preserving the Buddhadharma in England and across the world. I see in this gathering people who are Gurung, Sherpa, all the different ethnic groups in Nepal. It is said that Buddhism brings all zaks (ethical groups) in Nepal together.

I understand that many British people now also visit your center and learn meditation. I think that’s beautiful, and please continue to do that. If you all work together to help the Buddhadharma it will have a strong impact, not only for the Nepali community, but to all people. I would like to thank you for doing such a wonderful job and, hopefully, we will meet soon when the situation gets better. 

Part 2 the transcript of the talk on the Four Seals will be posted in the future.

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