Video: 100 Million Merit Day – Saga Dawa: Holiest Day in Buddhism on June 11 and the Month of Merits

Saga Dawa 2025 honoring Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment and Paranirvana: PRACTICE June 11: 100Mx Merit Day. The entire month is extra merit month May 28 to June 25 (new moon to new moon) – Called “mont of Merits. ” (Video includes a  biography of Buddha !)

What if ONE day of practice, generosity and devotion could multiply your karmic merit 100 million times? That day is Saga Dawa Duchen — celebrating Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and nirvana. And this year, it’s June 11. Whether you’re new to this sacred day or a longtime devotee, here’s exactly how to make the most of it to ensure your karmic merit is dedicated to the benefit of all sentient beings, and creates the cause for 100 million times merit.

PLEASE: participate in our Saga Dawa 2025 Digital Mandala by posting “light offfered” to hashtag #BuddhaWeeklySagaDawa. We’ll dedicate the merit of this virtual mandala to the benefit of all sentient beings. #buddhaweeklysagadawa

Join Our Saga Dawa 2025 Digital Mandala! #BuddhaWeeklySagaDawa

June 11 is Buddha’s holiest day—birth, enlightenment, and paranirvana. To celebrate, we’re creating a collective butter lamp mandala of blessings!

✨ How to Participate:

1️⃣ Light a butter lamp (real or imagined) while watching (and ideally chanting at least a few repetitions of) the Shakyamuni Buddha Mantra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oLH5B70anE&t

(Offer daily through the entire month if you can, and comment on each dedication of merit for the benefit of all beings)

2️⃣ Comment below:

“Light Offered”

OR share a photo of your lamp, candle or virtual butter lamp — or even an electric light, dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha’s great occassion.

3️⃣ Tag #BuddhaWeeklySagaDawa to be featured!

ABOUT SAGA DAWA THIS YEAR: https://buddhaweekly.com/events/event/saga-dawa-day-celebrating-buddhas-birth-enlightenment-and-paranirvana/

We’ll combine every light into a sacred digital mandala—multiplying merit together!

After Saga Dawa we’ll publish a video reporting on the lights we collectively lit to Honor the Great Occassion of Saga Dawa Duchen.

Mark your calendar: June 11, 2025.

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” — The Buddha

On this day we celebrate the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Conqueror, together with his Enlightenment and ultimate Paranirvana. For this reason, according to Lama Zopa:

Saga Dawa Duchen is one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, each of which celebrates an anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s display of extraordinary powerful deeds for sentient beings’ sake. On these four days, karmic results are multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations.

Merit Activities

Other meritorious activities include copying or reciting sutras. See our linked videos for recitations of sutras, and chant alongs. We also chant mantras. If we are really dedicated we may spend the day meditating, doing our Sadhanas and engaging in Dharma activities.

For the entire month, not just on the day, we might include meritorious deeds such as working for animal rescues, releasing animals destined for slaughter, Vajrasattva purification practices, reciting sutras every day, rejoicing, listening to Dharma teachings in person or online, and scrupulously following the eightfold path as taught by Buddha.

All of these activities are for the benefit of all sentient beings. By honoring the birth, enlightenment and paranirvana of the Buddha, we help Spread the Dharma, and help sentient beings.

Why do we choose this date for celebrations. In the time of Buddha, calendars were lunar based.

Biography of Buddha

According to the latest Archeological evidence, he was born in the fourth lunar month in 563 B.C.E.

He was named Siddartha, literally meaning “a man who achieves his goals”, by his father the king, who was determined he would be a great worldly king and conqueror, not a Buddha, as predicted by the sages. His mother passed away, and he was brought up by his aunt Mahapraja pahti.

Around the year 534 BCE he saw four sights of suffering that motivated him to give up his comfortable life as a prince, and become an ascetic in the forest. He heroically resolved to solve the mystery of suffering and to find a solution.

After many austerities, finally on the full moon day of the fourth lunar month, in the year 528 BCE, he “awoke” to the true nature of reality, and attained Enlightenment under a great Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, which today is one of the most sacred sites in the world.

He withdrew into his mind, pioneering a new “middle way” of meditating. He endured trials under the tree, tempted by Mara and his legions and armies. When challenged by Mara, he touched the earth and She shook in every direction as his witness. Mara and his legions fled.

He attained Bodhi — Awakening — and became the Buddha, the Awakened One. He went on to turn the wheel of Dharma. In his first teaching, he taught the Four Noble Truths of Suffering.

He told his early disciples:

What, monks, is the truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, decay, sickness and death are suffering. To be separated from what you like is suffering. To want something and not get it is suffering. In short, the human personality, liable as it is to clinging and attachment brings suffering.

He then taught the cure to this disease of suffering, which he called the Eightfold way or path. He taught in his famous sermon at Deerpark

“This is the noble eightfold way, namely, right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right attention, right concentration, and right meditation.”

Between 528 and 483 BCE he taught countless discourses, and continued to turn the wheel of Dharma with teachings of hope, wisdom and compassion that would spread around the world.

In 483 BCE, he achieved his Paranirvana, again during the full moon of the lunar fourth month, at the age of 80. He decided it was time for him to leave the teachings with his great Sangha of followers. He gave a final teaching, then left this world.

#buddhaweeklysagadawa #sagadawa #sagadawa2025 #shakyamuni #shakyamuni_buddha