Buddha Purnima – 10 May

Buddha Purnima is celebrated on full moon night (Purnima) of Vaisakh, as birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha. Vaisakh is a Hindu month. In 2017 Buddha Purnima falls on 10 May. In India, Buddha Purnima is also celebrated as Vesak, as it is observed in the ‘Baisakh’ or the ‘Vaisakha’ month. As many believe April 8 as his historical birth, the exact date is yet not clear.
To realize our own inner potential, Buddha preached various sutras. Hinayana and Mahayana are the two important sutras. Hinayana is referred to be the original teaching of Buddha. The followers don’t believe in idol worship and make an attempt to attain salvation through meditation and self-discipline. While Mahayana believes in idol worship and mantras. Its ultimate aim is spiritual liberation.

About Gautama Buddha:

Gautama Buddha was born as a prince named Siddhartha. After the birth of prince Siddhartha, an astrologer named Asita visited the young prince’s father—King Śuddhodana—and predicted that Siddhartha would either become a great king or renounce the material world to become a holy man, depending on whether he saw what life was like outside the palace walls.
King Śuddhodana wanted to see his son become a great king and hence he kept him away from religious knowledge as well as everything about sickness, old age and death. But at age 29, despite his father’s efforts, on a city trip on a chariot, he encountered an old man, a diseased man and a corpse. He was troubled after witnessing the site and in curiosity asked the charioteer who explained to him that all these were part and parcel of life. And this gave rise to curiosity about the world in young prince’s mind and soon he embarked on a journey of self-discovery. After years of rigorous meditation, he found ‘Enlightenment’ and hence ‘Buddha’ was born.

Origin of Buddha Purnima:

Buddha Purnima is being celebrated since centuries by the Buddhist followers. However, the official announcement was taken in 1950 during the first conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Sri Lanka.

Dharmachakra:

The dharmachakra 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. Which are below:

1. Samma-Ditthi — Complete or Perfect Vision, also translated as right view or understanding. The vision of the nature of reality and the path of transformation.
2. Samma-Sankappa — Perfected Emotion or Aspiration, also translated as right thought or attitude. Liberating emotional intelligence in your life and acting from love and compassion. An informed heart and feeling mind that are free to practice letting go.
3. Samma-Vaca — Perfected or whole Speech. Also called right speech. Clear, truthful, uplifting and non-harmful communication.
4. Samma-Kammanta — Integral Action. Also called the right action. An ethical foundation for life based on the principle of non-exploitation of oneself and others. The five precepts.
5. Samma-Ajiva — Proper Livelihood. Also called right livelihood. This is a livelihood based on the correct action the ethical principle of non-exploitation. The basis of an Ideal society.
6. Samma-Vayama — Complete or Full Effort, Energy or Vitality. Also called right effort or diligence. Consciously directing our life energy to the transformative path of creative and healing action that fosters wholeness. Conscious evolution.
7. Samma-Sati — Complete or Through Awareness. Also called “right mindfulness”. Developing awareness, “if you hold yourself dear watch yourself well”. Levels of Awareness and mindfulness – of things, oneself, feelings, thought, people and Reality.
8. Samma-Samadhi — Full, Integral or Holistic Samadhi. This is often translated as concentration, meditation, absorption or one-pointedness of mind. None of these translations is adequate. Samadhi literally means to be fixed, absorbed in or established at one point, thus the first level of meaning is concentration when the mind is fixed on a single object. The second level of meaning goes further and represents the establishment, not just of the mind, but also of the whole being in various levels or modes of consciousness and awareness. This is Samadhi in the sense of enlightenment or Buddhahood.

The Four Noble Truths are:

1. The Noble Truth of the reality of Dukkha as part of conditioned existence. Dukkha is a multi-faceted word. Its literal meaning is “that which is difficult to bear”. It can mean suffering, stress, pain, anguish, affliction or unsatisfactoriness. Each of the English words is either too strong or too weak in their meaning to be a universally successful translation. Dukkha can be gross or very subtle. From extreme physical and mental pain and torment to subtle inner conflicts and existential malaise.
2. The Noble Truth that Dukkha has a causal arising. This cause is defined as grasping and clinging or aversion. On one hand, it is trying to control anything and everything by grabbing onto or trying to pin them down, On the other hand, it is controlled by pushing away or pushing down and running away or flinching away from things. It is the process of identification through which we try to make internal and external things and experiences into “me and mine” or wholly ‘”other” than Me. This flies in the face of the three signs of existence – Anicca, Dukkha. Anatta – Impermanence. Stress or Suffering and No-Self. Because all conditioned existence is impermanent it gives rise to Dukkha, and this means that in conditioned existence there is no unchanging and permanent Self. There is nothing to grasp onto and also, in reality, nothing or no ‘one’ to do the grasping! We grab onto or try to push away ever changing dynamic processes. These attempts to control, limit us to little definitions of who we are.
3. The Noble Truth of the end of Dukkha, which is Nirvana or Nibbana. Beyond grasping and control and conditional existence is Nirvana. “The mind like fire unbound.” The realization of Nirvana is supreme Bodhi or Awakening. It is waking up to the true nature of reality. It is waking up to our true nature. Buddha Nature. The Pali Canon of Theravada, the foundational Buddhist teachings, says little about Nirvana, using terms like the Unconditioned the Deathless, and the Unborn. Mahayana teachings speak more about the qualities of Nirvana and use terms like True Nature, Original Mind, Infinite light and Infinite life. Beyond space and time. Nirvana defies definition.Nirvana literally means “unbound’ as in “Mind like fire unbound”. This beautiful image is of a flame burning by itself. Just the flame, not something burning and giving off a flame. Picture a flame burning on a wick or stick, it seems to hover around or just above the thing burning. The flame seems to be independent of the thing burning but it clings to the stick and is bound to it. This sense of the flame being unbound has often been misunderstood to mean the flame is extinguished or blown out. This is completely opposite to the meaning of the symbol. The flame “burns” and gives light but is no longer bound to any combustible material. The flame is not blown out – the clinging and the clung to is extinguished. The flame of our true nature, which is awakening, burns independently. Ultimately Nirvana is beyond conception and intellectual understanding. Full understanding only comes through direct experience of this “state’ which is beyond the limitations and definitions of space and time.
4. The Noble Truth of the Path that leads to Awakening. The path is a paradox. It is a conditioned thing that is said to help you to the unconditioned. Awakening is not “made” by anything: it is not a product of anything including the Buddha’s teachings. Awakening, your true nature is already always present. We are just not awake to this reality. Clinging to limitation, and attempts to control the ceaseless flow of phenomena and process obscures our true nature.The path is a process to help you remove or move beyond the conditioned responses that obscure your true nature. In this sense, the Path is ultimately about unlearning rather than learning – another paradox. We learn so we can unlearn and uncover. The Buddha called his teaching a Raft. To cross a turbulent river we may need to build a raft. When built, we single-mindedly and with great energy make our way across. Once across we don’t need to cart the raft around with us. In other words, don’t cling to anything including the teachings. However, make sure you use them before you let them go. It’s no use knowing everything about the raft and not getting on. The teachings are tools not dogma. The teachings are Upaya, which means skillful means or expedient method. It is fingers pointing at the moon – don’t confuse the finger for the moon.

NOTE: The Eight-Fold Path and the Four Noble Truths are copied from the BuddhaNet site.