Preparing for the New Year – Dön Season & Shambhala Day
Celebrating the new year according to the Tibetan calendar is an important event in the Shambhala community. Named “Shambhala Day” by the Druk Sakyong, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, it’s a day for rising early, dressing up, and attending celebratory events with our local Shambhala community. We gather locally to receive a new year’s greeting from the Sakyong and the Sakyong Wangmo, and to connect in spirit to our international network of Shambhalians around the world.
According to Tibetan tradition, the ten-day period before the new year begins, the “Dön Season” is a time when negativity accumulates. Hence, the tradition of “purifying” with intensive practice during this time. Through emphasizing practice, especially saying the Protector chants and including a special chant for this time of year to “appease the Mamos,” we increase our practice time and focus to dispel negative energy that has accumulated in our personal life and in the life of our community. For information and teachings about these practices, check out this wonderful article in the Shambhala Times.
Below is the schedule for the Mamo Chants (Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos) at all our Center locations. Join us one or more days between February 5th—February 14th. Everyone is invited to join in this practice. Then, come and celebrate Shambhala Day and the Year of the Earth Dog, with us on February 16th.
Ekajati: Queen of the Mamos, thangka painting by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. “Mamos” are another source of obstacles during this period. They are symbolized in the form of deities called dakinis. Mamos are mostly a worldly variety of dakini, unenlightened aspects of the feminine principle. (Mamos can be enlightened, however, like Ekajati.)
