Today is Lha Bab Düchen (Tibetan ལྷ་བབས་དུས་ཆེན་) which is one of the four major Buddhist festivals commemorating four events in the life of the Buddha, according to Tibetan traditions.
Lha Bab Düchen occurs on the 22nd day of the ninth Tibetan lunar month and celebrates Buddha’s return to the human realm after teaching his mother for three months in the Gods realm. It is widely celebrated in Tibet and Bhutan.
The festival is also celebrated in other Buddhist Asian countries, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, where it is celebrated a few weeks earlier.
In Tibet, it is traditional for laypeople to prepare for Lha Bab Düchen by cleaning and painting the Potala Palace, temples, and prayer halls, as well as their own homes. This is seen as an act of purification in honor of the Buddha.
On the day of the festival, people across Tibet perform similar rituals. They offer prayers at home, light lamps, and burn incense. Some carry incense to visit monasteries and temples, while others do incense pujas on mountaintops. It is also a day to make offerings to monks and give alms to beggars, all with the aim of accumulating merit through good deeds.
For Tibetan monks, the day is spent in meditation, recalling the Buddha’s enlightened actions, reading his biography, and performing prayers of offering. Lha Bab Düchen is a time for spiritual reflection, devotion, and deepening one’s connection to the Buddha’s teachings.