Kalmykia Celebrated One of the Four Major Buddhist Holidays

One of the four major Buddhist holidays was celebrated today in Kalmykia - the Day of Buddha Shakyamuni’s Descent from the Heaven of the 33 Deities. As a rule, on such special days believers try to practice as much as possible and to perform virtuous deeds. Thus, from early morning, the venerable Geshe Changchub, a monk of the Central Khurul, bestowed the one-day Mahayana vows upon all who wished to receive them; that is, for one day believers refrained from performing certain actions, such as killing, stealing, using any intoxicating substances, and so on. Eight vows in total. As Geshe Changchub emphasized, what matters here is the motivation, the intentions with which people take on these rules of moral discipline. Of course, it is important and right to do this for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Today’s daily morning prayer service was dedicated to the Great Buddha, in remembrance of his deed in honor of his mother. Recall that it was out of gratitude to her that he ascended to the heavens and for several months bestowed his Teaching there. As the Shajin Lama of Kalmykia, Geshe Tenzin Choydak, noted, this is a day not only when we turn to the Buddha with great gratitude, but also when we show the importance of children’s grateful attitude toward their parents.

During the festive service, the monks offered their prayers of praise to Buddha Shakyamuni and his Dharma. Everyone who came to the main Buddhist temple on this day bowed their heads before the Great Teacher and gave thanks for his support and for the opportunity to attain Enlightenment🙏