The Observance of Ullambana
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone!
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏
The observance of Ullambana is based on the story of Maudgalyayana and his mother. According to popular Chinese tradition, Maudgalyayana discovered through his meditative powers that his mother had been reborn in one of the realms of misery. Distressed over the tormented state of his mother, he approached the Buddha for help. The Buddha then advised Maudgalyayana to make offerings to the Order. The merit of making this offering would help to relieve the suffering not only of his mother, but also that of other beings in the realms of misery. It is said that as a result of Maudgalyayana’s offering, his mother was soon released from her unhappy state.
As a result of this incident, the act of making offerings to relieve the suffering of departed parents as well as other beings in the realms of misery, became a popular communal observances in China. This is called the observance of Ullambana, which takes place on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. To this day, in various parts of the world, Ullambana is still being observed.