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Gautama Buddha’s Birthday (also known as Buddha Jayanti, also known as his day of enlightenment – Buddha Purnima) is being celebrated widely.
Who is Gautama Buddha?
Gautama Buddha’s birthday is called Buddha Jayanti. Buddha also Siddhārtha Gautama was an ascetic and spiritual teacher of South Asia who lived during the latter half of the first millennium BCE.
The Buddha was born into an aristocratic family in the Shakya clan, but renounced lay life. According to Buddhist tradition, after several years of mendicancy, meditation, and asceticism, he awakened to understand the workings of the cycle of rebirth and how it can be escaped.
He was the founder of Buddhism and is revered by Buddhists as an Enlightened being. He found enlightenment while meditating under a Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. His teachings pursued a path to freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. Born in Lumbini (present-day Nepal) in the clan of the Shakya, he spent the majority of his adult life in modern-day Nepal and India, attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya.
He preached his first sermon on the Four Noble Truths in Sarnath, where the Buddhist sangha or community also came to life and is believed to have passed away from earthly existence by achieving nirvana in Kushinagar. The Buddha has since been venerated by numerous religions and communities across Asia.
The Buddha then traveled in the lower Gangetic plain, teaching and building a religious community. The Buddha taught a middle way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Indian śramaṇa movement.
He taught training of the mind that included ethical training, self-restraint, and meditative practices such as jhana and mindfulness. The Buddha also critiqued the practices of Brahmin priests, such as animal sacrifice and the caste system.
A couple of centuries after his death, he came to be known by the title Buddha, which means “Awakened One” or “Enlightened One”. His teachings were compiled by the Buddhist community in the Vinaya, his codes for monastic practice, and the Suttas, texts based on his discourses. These were passed down in Middle Indo-Aryan dialects through an oral tradition.
Later generations composed additional texts, such as systematic treatises known as Abhidharma, biographies of the Buddha, collections of stories about his past lives known as Jataka tales, and additional discourses, i.e. the Mahayana sutras.
Buddha Jayanti
Buddha Jayanti is a Buddhist festival that is celebrated in most of East Asia and South Asia honoring the birth of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Gautama Buddha, who was the founder of Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, Gautama Buddha was born c. 563–483 BCE in Lumbini, Nepal.
The exact date of Buddha’s birthday is based on the Asian lunisolar calendars. The date for the celebration of Buddha’s birthday varies from year to year in the Western Gregorian calendar but usually falls in April or May. In leap years it may be celebrated in June.
In South and Southeast Asia, the Buddha’s birth is celebrated as part of Vesak, a festival that also celebrates the Buddha’s enlightenment (on the day of the full moon) and death. In East Asia, the awakening and death of the Buddha are observed as separate holidays.
The exact date of Buddha’s birthday is based on the Asian lunisolar calendars and is primarily celebrated in Baisakh month of the Buddhist calendar and the Bikram Sambat Hindu calendar. This is the reason behind the term Vesak.
In modern-day India and Nepal, where the Gautama Buddha lived, it is celebrated on the full moon day of the Vaisakha month of the Buddhist calendar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Nepal, Lumbini on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.
PM Modi is in the Himalayan nation at the invitation of Deuba, and is paying a day-long visit to Lumbini on the occasion of Buddha Purnima and he offered prayers at the sacred Maya Devi temple in Nepal on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.
He was accompanied by his Nepalese Sher Bahadur Deuba during his visit to the historic temple, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha.
“Beginning the Nepal visit with prayers at the sacred Maya Devi Temple, Lumbini,” the Office of the Prime Minister of India tweeted.
“On the auspicious occasion of Buddha Purnima, both Prime Ministers offered pooja and prayers at the sacred Mayadevi temple in Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha,” Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter.
“Landed in Nepal. Happy to be among the wonderful people of Nepal on the special occasion of Buddha Purnima. Looking forward to the programs in Lumbini,” Prime Minister Modi said on Twitter upon his arrival.
The #Buddha always taught peace, may this time bring greater peace in India. Wishing all a blessed happy #BuddhaPurnima2022