Buddhist Festivals
Festivals are central to the life of the Buddhist community. The Buddha advised his followers that if they were to thrive they should 'meet together regularly and in large numbers.' The festivals provide an opportunity for celebration and the expression of devotion and gratitude to the Buddha and his teachings. They are the celebration of 'the Three Jewels', the Buddha, the Dharma (the Buddhist teaching), and the Sangha (the spiritual community).
The reasons why people celebrate are because festivals are times when people can meet and share their joy at the occasion, they are one way of bringing the Sangha together, they are a way of making merit, accumulating fortunate kamma, and provide opportunities for people to reflect on their faith and renew their commitment to it.
Light is used as a symbol because of the properties of light is its abilities to give illumination and heat, life and death. The ways in which human life is affected by light are its ability to give warmth and visibility, and in its absence it takes away warmth and visibility.
The Buddha's first teaching is known as 'Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma' because this was the start of Buddhism as a religion, and the Dhamma is like a wheel. It is like a wheel because it is the universal law of life, and life goes in a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
Vassa - the three month rainy season in South East Asia - is a period when bhikkhus stay in and see it as an opportunity to reflect, to study and to meditate. During Vassa problems may occur between bhikkhus because they share the same space for a long period of time, and they may experience the same strains in relationships as other people. The end of the Vasa is marked by Paravana Day - 'Telling-off Day' - when each bhikkhu invites the rest of the Sangha to reflect on his behaviour during the Rain Retreat. Paravana Day is thought to be beneficial for all the bhikkhus, not just the one confessing his faults because they see it as an opportunity to correct other people as well as making amends.
Bhikkus believe it is important to learn and recite the Patimokkha (rules for monks and nuns) once a fortnight at the Uposatha Days (Moon Days) because they are seen as times of renewal and opportunities to purify one's life. They recite it together so that they can remember it easily.
Wesak: the Celebration of the Buddha's Enlightenment
The Full Moon of May/June
The Buddha's Enlightenment is the central event in Buddhism, and Wesak, the celebration of that Enlightenment, is the most important festival of the Buddhist year.
Enlightenment was attained by many of the Buddha's disciples, and in the centuries that have followed there have been many other Enlightened masters. They too are recalled at Wesak with readings of accounts of their lives or from works they wrote themselves.
All Buddhists aspire to the ideal of Enlightenment, so Wesak is a chance to reflect on what it might mean for individual Buddhists.
At Wesak Buddhists remember the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha. Buddhists use light as a symbol at Wesak, which represents the illumination of the darkness of Samsara (the ever changing world and the cycle of rebirths).
The reasons that lay Buddhists have for undertaking the five monastic Precepts during Wesak - undertaking not to eat after midday, not sleeping in a luxurious bed, not wearing jewelry, make-up or scent, not going to musical entertainment and not handling money - are because they wish to pay respect towards the bhikkhus way of life, and they wish to advance their spiritual progress.
Dharma Day: the Celebration of the Buddha's Teaching
The Full Moon of July
After the Buddha was Enlightened, he rose from where he had been sitting, went to find his former disciples and shared his experience with them.
This event might be called the start of the Buddhist religion, it happened at a place called Sarnath in northern India, and it is this that Dharma Day celebrates. There are often readings from the Buddhist scriptures on Dharma Day, and it is a chance to reflect deeply on their contents. Buddhists, above all on Dharma Day, feel profoundly grateful that the Buddha and other Enlightened masters did share their teachings with other people.
Sangha Day: the Celebration of Spiritual Community
The Full Moon of November
Buddhists, on Sangha Day, celebrate both the ideal of creating a spiritual community, and also the actual spiritual community which they are trying to create. This is a traditional time for the exchanging of gifts.
Paranirvana Day: the Death of the Buddha
The Full Moon of Februrary
Buddhists celebrate the death of the Buddha, which came when he was eighty years old. He had spent some forty years teaching after his Enlightenment. The notion that all things are impermanent is central to Buddhist teaching, and loss and impermanence are things to be accepted rather than causes of pain and grief. The Paranibbana Sutta gives a moving and dignified account of the Buddha's last days and passages from it are often read on Paranirvana Day.
The day is used as an opportunity to reflect on the fact of one's own future death and on people whom one has known who have recently died. Meditations are done for the recently deceased to give them help and support wherever they might be now.
