Buddha’s Birthday: History and Importance of the Vesak

Buddha’s Birthday is an annual holiday in South Korea. This national holiday in Hong Kong celebrates the birthday of Buddha and goes by different names, for example, Lord Buddha’s Birthday and the Buddha Bathing Festival. Vesak, otherwise called Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Puṇṇamā, and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists and a few Hindus in South and Southeast Asia as well as Tibet and Mongolia.

The celebration recognizes the birth, enlightenment (Nibbāna), and death (Parinirvāna) of Gautama Buddha in Theravada Tibetan Buddhism and Navayana.

Gautam Buddha Jayanti is an annual festival celebrated by Buddhists to mark the birth anniversary of Prince Siddhartha Gautam or Gautam Buddha. The celebration is celebrated as a public holiday in Asian countries like Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, and others including India, and celebrated in different ways. In Southeast Asia, it is celebrated as Vesak, which places greater emphasis accentuation on the enlightenment and death of Buddha.

In the East Asian tradition, a celebration of Buddha’s Birthday normally happens around the traditional timing of Vesak. The Buddha’s awakening and death are celebrated as separate holidays that happen at different times in the calendar as Bodhi Day and Nibbāna Day.

Individuals embrace Buddhism in India by visiting Viharas to start their celebration. Tamasik food varieties like meat and wine are stayed away from on this day and followers decided to dress in white. As indicated by beliefs, consumption of kheer is popular on this day, a woman named Sujata had offered a bowl of milk to Gautam Buddha.

In Asia, his birth anniversary is celebrated by lighting candles and recounting the three jewels and five precepts. On this day, huge fairs are held in and around the Gautam Buddh temples and viharas. In any case, this year, due to the Covid pandemic everybody will praise the celebration at home.

The birthday of Gautam Buddha is additionally loved as Buddh Purnima in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal as he was believed to be born on a full moon day.

The celebration is tied in with praying with purest feelings. Receiving Buddhism represents peace, non-violence, and harmony.

The date changes from one year to year on the Gregorian Calendar, yet it tends to come in later April or early May. On the Korean traditional calendar, it is always the eighth day of the fourth month of the year.

With around 10 million Buddhists living in South Korea, it isn’t surprising that Buddha’s Birthday is a public holiday here. In any case, it didn’t acquire official public sanction, really, until 1975.

Buddha’s Birthday has two names in Korean. Most importantly, it is called Seokga Tansinil, which just translates as “birthday of Buddha”. In any case, it is otherwise called Bucheonim Osin Nal, which signifies “day of Buddha’s arrival (on earth)”.

The most tell-tale indication that Buddha’s Birthday is close in South Korea is seeing lantern festivals held everywhere in the country. The colossal lantern parade in Seoul happens on the Saturday just before the actual holiday and features a huge number of members bringing lit paper lanterns through the roads for hours on end.

Also, numerous individuals visit Buddhist temples, where they can get free tea and a free traditional meal of rice and vegetables. Also, numerous homes and roads are decorated at night with lit lanterns.

Buddha’s Birthday is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, during April in the Gregorian calendar. It has been seen as a holiday in Hong Kong since Britain got back to rule of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

In Hong Kong, devotees of Buddha visit temples particularly the great Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. This monastery is around one-and-a-half hours from Hong Kong and is accessible via car as well as serviced buses, cable cars, and ferries. Individuals likewise pay homage at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery at Sha Tin – which isn’t actually a monastery as there are no resident priests.

Po Lin Monastery holds the world’s tallest, outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha statue, and this makes it an objective for followers and a significant tourist spot.

The key ceremony across a lot of Buddhism on this day is the bathing of small statues of Buddha to honor the belief that, as a baby, Buddha’s body was sprayed with water from nine dragons.

Hong Kong likewise holds different events on this holiday. The Cheung Chau Bun Festival of Floating Colors has its origins in a ritual held to preserve fishermen from pirates. This celebration goes on for seven days and incorporates, on Buddha’s Birthday, a parade of floats and musicians and is held on the island of Cheung Chau.

Buddha’s Birthday is a public holiday yet tourist attractions, restaurants, public transport, and shops will all be open and working. There will be enormous groups all over the place so make certain to prepare.