Year of the Female Iron Rabbit

Wishing everyone Drukpai Losar Tashi Delek, the year of the Female Iron Rabbit!

The lunar year 2011 into 2012 is the Year of the Female Iron Rabbit, and is generally considered one of the most fortunate of all possible years. Often, the Chinese and Tibetan lunar calendars differ in the first day of the first month. Thus, in Chinese and Vietnamese practice, this lunar year commences on February 3, 2011, corresponding to the first day of the 12th Kalachakra month. This is primarily because 2010 had a duplicated eleventh month in Tibetan practice. The first day of the Tibetan New Year falls on March 5, 2011, or Losar 2138.

Since Bhutan may be following the popular Nitartha or Nalandabodhi calendar, February 3rd corresponds to the First Day of First Month of the Rabbit year and marked as Losar, with the notation that this is the Tsurluk and Phukluk date.

So, what is the conventional wisdom about the Rabbit? Well, you would never want a better friend, nor could you ever find a better candidate for successfully managing delicate tasks. Indeed, Rabbits personify what we might consider all positive qualities. Trungpa Rinpoche was born in the year of the Rabbit, as was Confucius, and Albert Einstein. Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, Supreme Head of the Nyingmapa School, is a Rabbit. Very good company, yes? Rabbits are also great entertainers: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Drew Barrymore, and Frank Sinatra provide handy examples.

The folk astrology of Tibet indicates that Rabbits in general are warm-hearted, affectionate, kind, extremely intelligent, and can get along with just about anyone. On the negative side, they can be lazy, with a tendency toward sentimentality, and superficiality. Their ideal careers are found in law, diplomacy, and politics, or in the arts as actors or dancers. In business, they are suited to accounting. The ideal companions are those born in the year of the Sheep or Pig. They will wish to avoid significant relationships with the Bird, Horse, Rat, Snake, or Ox.

In particular, Iron Rabbits are loving, generous, and broad-minded, with sharp wit and endurance. They are usually well-educated, solid citizens of the middle-class, well able to care for themselves and others. They are also masters of detail.

Iron Rabbits often experience chronic pain, and are susceptible to accidents. This can extend to accidental death, or even death by weapons. They are to some extent vulnerable to internecine feuding, earth spirits, and bsen-mo found at temples proximate to forts, or overlooking fortress-like terrain. They will have five children. Their average lifespan is sixty-one years. They will face five major obstacles. Rabbit dharma practitioners frequently take ordination, and follow conventional practices.