Nyungne Purification Retreat: Buddha’s Enlightenment Day Celebration

You must attend and take Precepts to attend any of the sessions

Free - Everyone welcome: However, make sure you are comfortable with the requirements of this activity

What is Nyungne?

A special fasting and purification practice performed in conjunction with Eleven-faced (or Thousand-armed) Avalokiteshvara. This is a very powerful method for purifying negativity of body, speech, and mind, and for pacifying strong delusions such as desirous attachment and hatred. It is also a special way of receiving blessings and for improving our minds of love, compassion, and bodhichitta. This practice is done annually at Kadampa Buddhist centers throughout the world in a retreat - called the Nyungne Purifying Ritual Practice - to celebrate Buddha’s Enlightenment Day.

When we take the eight Mahayana precepts, we explicitly promise to abstain for twenty-four hours from eight actions:

• Killing
• Stealing
• Sexual activity
• Lying
• Taking intoxicants
• Eating after lunch (meaning we only eat lunch: no other food before or after, until the next morning)
• Sitting on high or luxurious thrones or seats
• Wearing ornaments, perfume, etc, and singing and dancing, etc