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There are many reasons for
celebrating religious and other festivals. They help bring people of all sects
and classes together; they bring fun and laughter and good feeling to people who
lives might otherwise be drab and dull and they remind people, yet after years,
of a special event or happening - something that might otherwise be forgotten as
the years go by.
Buddha Purnima is the most sacred day in the Buddhist calendar. It is the most
important festival of the Buddhists, and is celebrated with great enthusiasm.
Every festival has its own rituals which provide an insight into the lives and
beliefs, customs and culture of the people observing them.
One may well ask why is Buddha Purnima observed by the Buddhists ? The answer is
simple : because it is associated with the founder of their faith, Lord Buddha.
Although Buddhists regard every full moon as sacred, the moon of the month of
Vaisakh (April - May) has special significance because on this day the Buddha
was born, attained enlightenment, and attained Nirvana when he died. This
strange, three - fold coincidence, gives Buddha Purnima its unique significance.
Whereas followers of others religions observe the births, deaths, and other
important occasions in the lives of their founders, for Buddhists all these
events are combined in one on the full moon day in Vaisakh. On this day they
baths and wear only white clothes. They gather in their viharas for worship and
give alms to monks. Many spend their entire day at the vihara listening to
discourses on the life and teaching of the Buddha or invite monks to their homes
to speak to them. They reaffirm their faith in the five principles (Panch Sheel)
- not to take life, not to steal, not to die, not to imbibe liquor or other
intoxicants and not to commit adultery.
The basic tradition at Buddha Purnima is this that the Buddhists refrain from
eating meat and eat kheer This is shared with the poor. They set up stalls in
public places which provide clean drinking water. Their special forms of charity
include kindness to animals : they buy caged birds and set them free and pay
butchers to let go animals meant for slaughter.
Just as in some homes paper lanterns are hung on Diwali, on Buddha Purnima
Buddhists make Vaisakh Vakats out of bamboo, festoon them with starts and
decorate their houses with them. Some people also drape the walls of their homes
with paper or cloth depicting incidents from the Jataka tales which are based on
incarnations of the Buddha prior to his birth as Prince Gautama.
Different Buddhist countries have different ways of celebrating this great day.
In Sri Lanka the celebrations are very similar to Diwali. All homes are brightly
illuminated and even the poorest light at least one oil-lamp.
In Japan, Buddhists are fixed the eighth of April as the Buddha's birthday. On
this day, they make replicas of shrines with spring flowers and place a small
idol of the Buddha on them. They bathe and consecrate these idols with great
reverence.
In Burma, the Buddhists set a day apart every month in honour of the Buddha.
Since the Buddha attained enlightenment sitting under a Bodhi tree, special care
is taken in watering and tending Bodhi trees.
Celebrations of Buddha Purnima have been extensively written about in poems and
novels and depicted in paintings because Buddha Purnima is not only a day of
rejoicing; it is also a day for reflection on the life and teaching of one of
the greatest teachers the world has ever known. |
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