Today is Lhabab Düchen, one of the major Buddhist festivals. This holiday of “Descending from the Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods” is widely celebrated by Tibetan and other Buddhist communities. Buddhists believe that Buddha Shakyamuni ascended to the realm of the gods to teach his mother, who passed away soon after giving birth to him and was reborn there. Lhabab Düchen is the day the Buddha descended back to Earth after spending 90 days there. In the contemporary Tibetan community, some people view this as a Buddhist "Thanksgiving Day," dedicated to remembering and appreciating the kindness of one's mother. On this day, to rejoice in the Buddha’s return, laypeople and monks clean their spaces and whitewash walls. People go to monasteries and temples to pray and make offerings—they burn incense on the top of nearby mountains and circumambulate sacred sites, such as the Jokhang Temple and Potala Palace in Lhasa. This woodblock print is based on a famous nine-composition painting s...