Losar – Tibetan New Year, Horse – Fire
Felice Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Tibetan Year 2153, Horse - Fire
In Tibetan astrology, the Fire Horse is a powerful and auspicious combination. The horse represents speed, freedom, and forward momentum, while the fire element brings passion, energy, and transformation. The Year of the Fire Horse is considered a dynamic time for pursuing new endeavors and positive change.
Losar is the Tibetan word for New Year, one of the most important holidays for Tibetans.
The first fifteen days of the year are also called the "Days of Miracles” because some of the Buddha's activities are commemorated.
It culminates in the full moon, the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, which is the sacred day of Chotrül Düchen on March 03, 2026.
The Tibetan New Year is a special date for us also because it commemorates the day our founder of the FPMT, Lama Thubten Yeshe, passed away in 1984.
PROGRAM (being updated)
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- On Wednesday, February 18, at 7:30 a.m., we monks and nuns of the Sangha ETS Foundation and the Sangha Lhungtok Choekhorling Monastic Association will gather in the main meditation hall of the Lama Tsong Khapa Institute for the Lama Chöpa and Tsog offering, together with Resident Masters Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek.
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Lama Yeshe Founder of the FPMT
For the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), Losar is a special time as it commemorates the parinirvana anniversary of FPMT founder Lama Yeshe at the dawn of Losar 1984.
Lama Yeshe was born in Tibet and entered Sera Je Monastic University in Lhasa at the age of six. He studied at the monastery until 1959, when the Chinese invasion of Tibet forced him to flee to India. He continued to study and meditate in India until 1967, when, with his principal disciple, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, he decided to travel to Nepal, where, two years later, he founded Kopan Monastery near Kathmandu. In 1974, the two lamas began teaching tours to the West, which led to the formation of a worldwide network of Buddhist teaching and meditation centers, the International FPMT.
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TIPS FROM LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE
The Fifteen Days of Miracles begin on the first day of the Tibetan New Year, Losar, on February 18, 2026. It commemorates the special moment when Buddha Shakyamuni showed his disciples and people who doubted his enlightenment many miracles to inspire their faith.
The Miracle Days culminate in the Chotrül Düchen, the first full moon and fifteenth day of the Tibetan lunar calendar, which this year falls on March 03, 2026.
In these fifteen days the merits of any virtuous action performed multiply.
What practices can we do in this period?
- Tips for Losar are available on the FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) website.
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche's advice on the practices to be done in the days that multiply the merits and during the eclipses: practices-on-the-days-that-multiply-the-merits
- During these special days the FPMT Italia study centers and groups have planned many events in which you can participate freely!
