✦ zenith calendar · the buddhist (tibet) almanac
the phugpa calendar's great days in one quiet layer of your sky, each one explained in its own tradition's words.
buddhist (tibet) is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the great days of the tibetan buddhist year by the phugpa calendar, from losar, the new year, to the great buddha days.
its dates are copied from calendars tibetan buddhist bodies publish, not worked out on your phone. tap a day and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.
lunar · the tibetan months, by the phugpa calendar
the 22nd day of the 9th tibetan month
the day the buddha came down to the human world from the heaven of the thirty-three, where he had taught his mother.
it is a day of merit multiplied many millions of times, so people make offerings, light butter lamps, recite prayers, walk around stupas and temples and keep from harm.
the tibetan new year
the 1st day of the 1st tibetan month
the tibetan new year, when the old year is let go and the new one met with prayer, offerings and family. the days that follow are among the most joyful of the year.
homes are cleaned and khapse pastries made before the day; on losar morning the shrine is given fresh offerings, people greet one another with "tashi delek", new prayer flags go up and juniper is burned as incense.
the day of miracles · chunga chöpa
the full moon of the 1st tibetan month
the day of miracles, which closes the days of miracles that open the year. the tradition teaches that the fruit of every act is multiplied many millions of times today.
people make offerings, recite prayers and sutras, give to others and take care to do no harm. butter lamps are lit everywhere, and in lhasa and many monasteries great sculptures of butter are made and lit on the night of the full moon.
zenith calendar draws the year as an orbit round the sun. lit, buddhist (tibet) puts its days on their dates on that ring, in lilac, the colour every buddhist reckoning wears. its mark is ༀ.
each day carries three short paragraphs in its notes: what it is, where it comes from as its own tradition tells it, and how it is kept.
buddhist (tibet) arrives locked, so nothing in it changes by accident. the lock guards your hand, not your eye: you can still read it, shine it or eclipse it. one tap unlocks it, and then it is yours to rename, recolour or add to.
tap its chip in the legend to eclipse it (kept, but not drawn) and tap again to bring it back. nothing is deleted either way.
buddhist (tibet) shares one sky with your own commitments. like every almanac that comes with the app, it never counts toward the almanacs you can make for free, and it lives on your phone: zenith calendar has no server of its own.
✦ zenith calendar · the sky around it
buddhist (tibet) is a single layer. beneath it is a whole calendar drawn as the sky, your year an orbit round the sun, and every part of it answers your touch.
the sun stands at the centre and the year rings round it, with today's earth riding at today's place, its small moon beside it. tap the ring anywhere else and a faint ghost earth waits on that day.
drag along the ring and the days pass under your finger, the big date and the day's list following as you go. lift, and the day you stopped on stays picked.
tap the small moon beside today's earth and you dive into the week. the moon above shows its phase, named underneath; swipe the dates and each week brings its own.
tap the sun and the ring tips on its edge into a ladder of years. in the week, pull the moon firmly down and the month opens, the moon resting half off its foot.
zenith calendar has no server of its own. tap the gear and switch on "nothing comes in" or "nothing leaves this phone"; lift them, and every almanac is back exactly as it was.
buddhist (tibet) is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.
buddhist (tibet) · buddhist reckonings ·
Losar, the Tibetan new year, falls on 7 February 2027, the first day of the first Tibetan month by the phugpa calendar. In Zenith Calendar it sits on the ring of your year in the buddhist (tibet) almanac.
Lhabab Düchen falls on 1 November 2026, the 22nd day of the ninth Tibetan month. It marks the Buddha's descent from the heaven of the thirty-three.
Chötrul Düchen, the day of miracles, falls on 20 February 2027, the full moon of the first Tibetan month. Butter lamps are lit everywhere that night.
Homes are cleaned and khapse pastries made before the day. On Losar morning the shrine is given fresh offerings, people greet each other with "tashi delek", and new prayer flags go up.
Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called buddhist (tibet): the great days of the Tibetan Buddhist year by the phugpa calendar, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.
They are copied from the calendars Tibetan Buddhist bodies publish by the phugpa reckoning, not worked out on your phone. A year not yet published shows nothing rather than a guessed day.