Losar, the Tibetan Year of the Fire Horse 2153, is approaching!
This Lunar New Year which begins on Wednesday 18 February it is considered dynamic, favorable to new activities, positive changes and enthusiastic efforts.
In Tibetan astrology, the Horse-Fire combination is a powerful and auspicious one. The horse symbolizes speed, freedom, and forward momentum, while the fire element brings passion, energy, and transformation.
As with every passage of the Tibetan calendar, Losar is not just a date, it is the beginning of a sacred period, a time to be lived with awareness and virtuous motivation.
A time when daily practice, reflection and meditation can transform, even more than usual, our thoughts, our actions and our merits of virtue and wisdom, supporting us on the path of Dharma.
A reflection, as simple as it is important
Before continuing, we suggest you stop for a moment and ask yourself:
What would you really like to bring with you into this new year, not just in terms of material desires, but as inner qualities?
You don't need a perfect answer.
Just one word is enough, a meaningful quote that can help you find the right state of mind every time you reread it, to nourish your motivation.
❤️ Keep it in your heart. Write it down and reread it. Come back to it when you need it and, as she says
His Holiness the Dalai Lama:
“Be kind when you can. You always can!”
🙏🏻 On these auspicious days, we will continue to dedicate even more of the merits generated by our practices to His long life.
From Losar to Monlam: a truly special time!
The texts and Masters recall that the period from Losar, the beginning of the new year, to the so-called Chötrül Düchen, the first full moon at the end of the 15 Days (from February 18th to March 3rd) of Miracles, is considered extraordinarily favorable for the practice.
According to tradition:
- and virtuous actions multiply their effects enormously;
- the motivation with which we act becomes more incisive;
- Collective practice, Monlam, the festival of great prayer, also supports individual practice.
This happens because the mind, when clearly oriented and supported by a stable motivation, becomes more fertile in the cultivation of virtue and wisdom.
🙏🏻 Our invitation is to live this period not as a time to fill with more material things, but as a time in which to do without the superfluous, with greater presence and awareness of the precious Dharma of the Buddha.
The 15 Days of Miracles:
not just a story of the past
The Buddha's miracles at Shravasti are often recounted as just a few extraordinary episodes in his life, but tradition remembers them annually for a specific reason: to show that transformation is possible when intention and action coincide.
Perhaps the real “miracle” today is not a visible prodigy, but:
- interrupt an automation;
- choose a calm response instead of a reaction;
- to dedicate even a single action, of body, word and mind, to the benefit of others
You might then ask yourself:
What kind of “silent miracle” could I cultivate these days?
✒️ Write it down on a piece of paper or in your notebook. Reread it whenever you feel the need.
Traditional texts often recall that not only formal meditation, but also listening to and reading the Dharma, particularly the Buddha's Sutras, when read and listened to with clear motivation, become a practice in their own right.
Remembering Lama Yeshe
For the FPMT, Losar is a special time as it commemorates the anniversary of the parinirvana of its founder, Lama Yeshe, at the dawn of Losar in 1984.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has translated and commented on a short Tibetan text, Tips for the anniversary of the passing away of the Guru, which explains the importance of making offerings on the anniversary of one's master's passing.
The text illustrates the benefits of offerings and how to dedicate the roots of accumulated virtues.
Even one small gesture changes everything
You can also choose just one simple and sustainable practice to live this period actively:
- in the morning: dedicate the intention of the day;
- in the evening: to recognize and rejoice in at least one virtuous action, even a small one;
- once in these 15 days: do something for the benefit of others, with awareness and correct motivation;
- or: recite one more prayer than usual or a dedication with presence of mind and heart, even just once a day.
It's not the quantity that matters, but the continuity and gentle motivation with which we practice!
🌝 When the full moon arrives
Il Chötrül Düchen does not close the period: seals it.
It's like saying to the mind: This time has been seen and inhabited with awareness. Now it can continue in your practice.
Remind yourself that you are not alone, many in different places are pointing their minds in the same direction and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas surround us and support us.
With the best wishes of a virtuoso Losar and lots of prayers and accumulation of merit and wisdom during Monlam!
From all of us,
of the Sangha ETS Foundation and the Sangha Lhungtok Choekhorling Monastic Association