Extensive Medicine Buddha Puja

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Saturday August 6

Anniversary of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha’s  First Turning of Wheel of Dharma

Chokhor Duchen commemorates the anniversary upon which Shakyamuni Buddha first began teaching the Dharma. For seven weeks after his enlightenment, the Buddha did not teach. After this period, Indra and Brahma offered a dharmachakra and a conch shell and requested Shakyamuni to teach. Accepting, Buddha Shakyamuni turned the Wheel of Dharma for the first time at Sarnath by teaching on the Four Noble Truths. It is auspicious to perform meritorious activities on this specific day when the effects of any action multiply 100 million times.

See more about merit multiplying days here.

Medicine Buddha is the manifestation of the healing energy of all enlightened beings. Prayers to Medicine Buddha are especially powerful because of the extensive prayers they took to benefit sentient beings. They strongly prayed for the temporal and ultimate happiness of all sentient beings; they vowed that their prayers would be actualized during these times.

If we practice the seven limbs – prostration, making offerings, confession, rejoicing, requesting to turn the Dharma wheel, requesting not to pass away into the sorrowless state and dedicating the merits to achieve enlightenment – in relation to Medicine Buddha, we collect the same amount of merit as having practiced the seven limbs in relation to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. We get the same amount of merit has having done the seven limb practice in relation to every single one of the numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Buddha says:

You have offered respect and service to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. If you make offering to Medicine Buddha, you have made offering to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. The reference for that is this major teaching, this sutra from Buddha.

Also, another text, Men Gyu Rinchen Bumpa, says:

Reciting Medicine Buddha’s name and mantra one time becomes having recited the names and mantras of all the Tathagatas of the past, present and future.

We are doing this Extensive Medicine Buddha Puja as part of the instructions for pacifying earthquakes. It takes about 3 hours.

Language: English

Date(s):	Saturday August 6
Times:	9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Instructor/Leader:	Venerable Steve Carlier
Type of event:	special event
Number of sessions:	1
Level:	general
Participation:	all are welcome
Location:	Main Gompa
iCal Link:	iCal
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