The Lord Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment & Death
This
is the most important religious festival, occurring on the full moon day of the
second month. The Indian name for this month is “vaishakha” & the Sinhalese
name derived from it is “wesak”, which is used to denote both the festival
& the month.
Wesak
commemorates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment & death, all of which are
supposed to have occurred on the same day of the year. The accent in the festival
is on the enlightenment, more important to Buddhism than a merely physical
event. It is customary to put up decorations at the local temple & in
particular to light lamps, a symbol of illumination in the metaphorical sense,
after dark. “Wesak lanterns” are made of thin paper pasted over a light wooden
frame. At the temples the “Bodhi Tree” , “Stupa” & other features are often
ringed with little oil lamps, consisting of a simple cloth or cotton wick in a
small clay vessel of oil.
People
may send “Wesak Cards” to their friends, a custom modeled on Christmas cards
& there was even an attempt to popularize wesak “Carols” on the Christian
model, but that seems to have foundered. The main substance of celebrating
wesak is, however, the same as that of any Buddhist festival. Abstaining from
agriculture or other occupations which may harm living creatures; visiting the temples;
feeding monks; listening to sermons & if possible taking the eight precepts.
- The Buddha spend a whole rains retreat in a heaven preaching to his late mother. His retors to earth is celebrated in Burma, Thailand & Tibet.
- Most Buddhist s commemorate the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment & death on the same day, the full moon on may. In “theravadha” countries it is called “Wesak”/ Visakha in, Tibet Saya Dawa. Chinese Buddhists celebrates the birth at about the same time. His mother clung to a tree as she gave birth ; then the king of the god took up the baby.
- The Buddha’s enlightenment Having broken his fast with a meal or milk rice, the Buddha dropped hid bowl in a stream, wishing that if his quest for enlightenment was to succeed, the bowl should travel against the current. It happened. He then sat down under a tree “ the Bodhi tree” & meditated till the same night, he realized the truth.
