Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Purnima (also known as Vesak) is the most sacred festivals of Buddhists celebrated in remembrance Lord Buddha. This day commemorates three important events of Buddha's life and thus is considered a thrice blessed day:
*His birth in 623 BC.
*His enlightenment i.e. attainment of supreme wisdom, in 588 BC.
*His attainment of Nirvana i.e. the complete extinction of his self at the age of 80.
Siddharata Gautama’s Life
Buddha was born as Siddhārtha Gautama on a full moon day in the month of Vaishakha in 623 BC in the kingdom of Kapilavastu in the borders of India and Nepal ( present day Lumbini). At that time, a clan called the Shakya's ruled Kapilavastu. His father was a king named Suddodana Gautama, and his mother was the beautiful Mahamaya. Siddhārtha lived in luxury; his father kept trouble and hard work far from him. A seer predicted that if Siddhārtha stayed inside his palace his whole life, then he would become a great king. However, if he left the palace, then he would become a great religious leader. The king did not want his son to become a religious leader and so kept Siddhartha in the palace for his whole childhood.
When he was older, his father found a woman for Siddhārtha to marry at the age of 16 named Yashodhara, and they had a son, Rahula. Although Gautama had everything he could want, he still was not happy. He wanted to learn the meaning of his existence.
He got out of the castle against his father's orders. He saw the "Four Passing Sights": an old crippled man, a sick man, a dead man, and a holy man with no home. Right then, Gautama knew that nothing can stop people from being born, becoming old, getting sick, and dying. He decided to give up his worldly life. He would not keep his wives, his children, his wealth, or his palace. He would become a holy man with no home. He would look for the answer to the problem of birth, old age, sickness, and death. He left his home in the middle of a dark and stormy night.
Buddha’s Enlightenment
He left the palace and wore the yellow robes of monks and became an ascetic and concentrated all his energies on the quest for Truth. At that time, holy men were usually ascetics. who hurt their bodies in order to help their spiritual beings. They practiced self-denial and believed this would free the ātman (soul) from pain and sadness. It is believed that Siddhārtha did these things well. Eventually he was better than his teachers. He still found no answer, and he left his teachers. He ate only six grains of rice a day. He tried holding his breath. He became just skin and bones, and he nearly died. Still, he had no answer.
Siddhārtha started to think again about this path. He thought there might be a better way than hurting himself. He found a big tree (now called the Bodhi tree) and started to meditate. He told himself that he would not get up until he had found enlightenment. He meditated under the tree for 49 days. His mind is said to have become pure, and then, six years after he began his path, he found Enlightenment, and became a Buddha on the full moon in the month of Vaishakha.
When he taught, he did not pretend to be a god. He said he was just a man who had found the meaning of life (enlightenment), and that any person can also find the meaning of life. For the rest of his life, he walked all over Southern Nepal and parts of India to teach people what he believed. He started a Sangha, which is a group of Buddhist monks and nuns. Many people became enlightened because of him. At the age of 80, Gautama Buddha died of food poisoning.
Buddha – "the Enlightened One"
Lord Buddha is considered the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. Buddha means “the enlightened one" - someone who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions. According to the Buddhism, sorrow and desire are the main cause of all the evil and suffering of this world. Lord Buddha advocated the Eightfold Path consisting of precepts like right conduct, right motive, right speech, right effort, right resolve, right livelihood, right attention and right meditation to gain mastery over suffering. It is only after following this path one can reach the ultimate aim of Nirvana. Nirvana is the transcendental state of complete liberation.
Gautama Buddha lived and taught in northern India in the 6th Century B.C. He travelled far and wide teaching hundreds of followers. Rich and poor alike were attracted by the simplicity of Buddha's teachings and his emphasis on complete equality of all, a notion antithetical to the Hindu caste system. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka espoused the Buddhist religion in the 3rd century B.C. and helped in spreading it far and wide. Sarnath and Bodhgaya are two of the most important pilgrimage centres for the Buddhists. Though Buddhism originated in India and the religion has gained tremendous popularity throughout the Far East in Asia, there are very few practising Buddhists in the country. The number of Buddhists in the world ranges "from less than two hundred million, to more than five hundred million, with the lower number closer to reality."
According to the Buddhism, sorrow and desire are the main cause of all the evil and suffering of this world. Lord Buddha advocated the Eightfold Path consisting of precepts like right conduct, right motive, right speech, right effort, right resolve, right livelihood, right attention and right meditation to gain mastery over suffering. It is only after following this path one can reach the ultimate aim of Nirvana. Nirvana is the transcendental state of complete liberation.
What do Buddhists do on this day?
Many Buddhists pay special attention to Buddha's teachings during Vesak. They wear white robes and only eat vegetarian food on and around Vesak. Many people also give money, food or goods to organizations that help the poor, the elderly and those who are sick. Caged animals are bought and set free to display care for all living creatures, as preached by Buddha.
The dharmacakra or dharma wheel is a symbol often seen during Vesak. It is a wooden wheel with eight spokes. The wheel represents Buddha's teaching on the path to enlightenment. The eight spokes symbolize the noble eightfold path of Buddhism.
