Honoring Saga Dawa Duchen & Lunar Eclipse 2021

The holy Great Wheel day of Saga Dawa Duchen, May 26, 2021 (Full Moon Day of the fourth lunar month), celebrates Buddha Shakyamuni’s enlightenment and parinirvana. It represents a very powerful time to practice generosity and virtue in our accumulation of merit and wisdom. This particular Saga Dawa is also a Super Blood Full Moon total lunar eclipse, visible on the West Coast of the United States and the Pacific, in Australia, and East Asia. Here is an article on when the eclipse will be visible.

Lama Tharchin Rinpoche taught that an eclipse represents the outer dissolution of the sun and moon, corresponding to the inner dissolution of our body’s white and red elements into the subtle body’s central channel. Due to the interdependence of the outer universe and our inner body’s elements, our secret minds settle and become less turbulent during eclipses. It is a particularly special time to recite the Kunzang Monlam (Great Perfection Prayer of Kuntuzangpo) by the Terton Rigdzin Godem. While chanting, we can visualize ourselves as Kunzang Yab-Yum and meditate on inseparable awareness-emptiness.

As a support for our practice on this special day, we are posting a video of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche reciting the Kunzang Monlam.

View it on Vimeo or on YouTube. Stream audio of Rinpoche reciting the prayer on SoundCloud.

You can download a PDF of the prayer in tablet format and letter format. The download is a free purchase and you can also help support Bero Jeydren Publications by making a donation with your purchase.

Please join Vajrayana Foundation’s final day of Tseyang Khatrod (The Union of Long Life & Wealth Practices) Retreat on Saga Dawa Duchen and ongoing Annual Summer Retreat activities. Find more information on their website about how you can participate.

Photo: Kunzang Yab-Yum statue in bronze and gold, 4.5” tall. From the collection of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche