The Power of Practice on Saga Dawa Düchen
On June 11, 2025, we honored and celebrated the Buddha’s birth, awakening, and parinirvāṇa on the sacred day of Saga Dawa Düchen. This festival is one of the four major Buddhist holidays, during which the merit of virtuous actions is said to multiply by millions. Seizing this rare and precious opportunity, we diligently engaged in spiritual practice at Namkha Ösal to accumulate merit and deepen our aspiration and faith in the Dharma.
Symbolic Offerings
During Nalandabodhi Taichung’s activities on this auspicious occasion, Acharya Jampa presided over special offerings and shared teachings on their meaning. At our Dharma gathering, we offered a thousand lamps before the Vajrasattva Mandala—symbolizing wisdom—and, for the first time, performed 108 sets of the “Eight Offerings” before the seat of the Buddha. These offerings, rich in meaning, originate from the traditional rituals of ancient Indian culture: water for drinking, water for washing, flowers, incense, light, perfume, food, and music.
The symbolic meaning of each of these offerings can be briefly described as follows:
- Drinking Water – Symbolizes the purification of hearing and contemplation.
- Water for Washing the Feet – Symbolizes the purification of afflictions.
- Flowers – Represent the growth of inner compassion and wisdom.
- Incense – Symbolizes pure moral discipline.
- Light (Lamps) – Symbolizes the perfection of wisdom, dispelling the darkness of ignorance.
- Perfumed Ointments – Symbolizes unwavering faith.
- Food (Fruits) – Symbolizes the stability of meditative concentration.
- Music – Symbolizes the widespread propagation of the Dharma.
Prayers for our Teachers and the World
On this sacred day, we also joined together to chant the Sixteen Arhats Offering Prayer. This practice primarily is a prayer for the long life and continued presence of our precious teachers. It also invokes the compassionate presence and blessings of the sixteen arhats upon the mandala and all Dharma practitioners.
Finally, we recited the Samantabhadra’s King of Aspiration Prayers, a practice intended to accumulate the resources of awakening for ourselves and to pray for greater peace and harmony in our chaotic and unsettled world.
Written by Patty, friend of Nalandabodhi Taichung, on the occasion of the celebration of Saga Dawa at NB Taichung’s home, Namkha Ösal
