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Buddhism

The principal Buddhist festivals celebrate "the Three Jewels":  the Buddha, the Dharma (the Buddhist Teaching), and the Sangha (the spiritual community).  There are many special or holy days held throughout the year by the Buddhist community.  Many of these days celebrate the birthdays of Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana tradition or other significant dates in the Buddhist calendar. The most significant celebration happens on the night of the full moon every May (on Buddha Day), when Buddhists worldwide celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha.

Buddhist festivals are always joyful.  People offer food to the monks at the the local temple or monastery, take the Five Precepts and listen to a Dharma talk.  Then they give food to the poor, and conclude with chanting and meditation.  There are also ceremonies of going around a stupa three times, as a sign of respect to the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.

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calendar

calendars

 Calculated differently in various parts of the world, the most common type of Buddhist calendar is lunar and begins roughly in December or January of the Gregorian calendar.

February 21, 2004 was the first day of the Wood Monkey Year (2131)

  
 
events
  •  Buddhist Festivals - Theravada Buddhist festivals including Vesakha, Asalha, Pavarana, and Kathina

Asala
  •  Asalha Puja Day - the day Buddha offered his first sermon to the five ascetics; July 19, 1999

Bodhi Day (Rohatsu)

 (December 8, 1999)

Dharma Day
  •  full moon of July
  •  the Celebration of the Buddha's Teaching - After his Enlightenment, the Buddha found his former disciples in Sarnath, in northern India, and he shared his experiences with them.  Dharma Day celebrates that sharing, as Buddhists feel profoundly grateful that the Buddha and other Enlightened masters shared their teachings.  There are usually readings from the Buddhist scriptures and an opportunity to reflect deeply on their contents

Kathina Day

 (November 21, 1999)

Parinirvana Day
  •  full moon of February
  •  the Death of the Buddha - the Buddha's death came when he was eighty years old, so he had been teaching for about forty years after his Enlightenment; because all things are impermanent to Buddhists, the impermanence and loss of the Buddha is accepted; passages about the Buddha's last days are usually read from the Paranibbana Sutta; Paranirvana Day is an opportunity to reflect on one's own future death and on the lives of those recently deceased

Pavarana

 (October 24, 1999)

Poson/Dhamma Vijaya

 (June 9, 1999)

Sangha Day
  •  full moon of November
  •  the Celebration of Spiritual Community - Buddhists celebrate their spiritual community as well as the ideal of creating a spiritual community; gifts are exchanged; it is a prominent festival among Western Buddhists but is little known in the East

Ullambana

 (September 26, 1999)
 
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temples
  •  Daigo Temple - central to the Ono branch of the Shingon sect, it's one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Kyoto and has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
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last edited Sunday, December 14, 2008