The Significance of Vesak

Vesak Day, the full moon day of the fourth lunar month, is the most important annual event for the Buddhist community.

It commemorates the Birth, Enlightenment and Final Nirvana of the Buddha.

The meaning of VESAK lies with the Buddha’s universal message of peace to humankind. It has become a festival for rejoicing, for spreading goodwill to all, to be grateful towards everyone, and for us to reflect on our spiritual development.

On Vesak Day, some Buddhists:

observe the Eight Precepts, while others may join the communal observances by going through the ceremony of taking the Threefold Refuge (in the Buddha, Dharma – the Buddha’s Teachings and Sangha – the community of monks and nuns),

observing the Five Precepts of respect for life (not to kill); respect for personal property (not to steal); respect for personal relationships (not to indulge in the senses); respect for truth (not to lie); and respect for mental and physical well-being (not to take intoxicants);

making offerings at shrines and chanting of sutras. They may also participate in processions and circumambulation, and listen to sermons of the Buddha’s Teachings.

Many Buddhists also take vegetarian meals on this day as they recall the teaching of Universal Compassion.

This is a day when temples are colourfully decorated with Buddhist flags and lights, and shrines filled with flowers, fruits and other offerings.

BATHING OF THE BUDDHA

The Origins of Bathing the Buddha

One of the main activities of the festival is the “bathing Buddha” ritual. Legend records that when Prince Siddhartha was born, there were extraordinary and auspicious signs heralding his birth.

They describe the sky as being clear with brilliant sunshine, flowers blooming and birds singing. Dragons also appeared in the sky spurting two streams of purified water (one cool and one warm), that gently cascaded down to bathe him.

At his birth, seven lotus flowers sprung up beneath his feet as he walked – pointing one hand to the sky and ground he said “in the heaven above and the earth below, I vow to liberate all who suffer in these three realms”.

Since then, Buddhists all over the world celebrate the Buddha’s birthday by using fragrant water to bathe the image of baby Prince Siddhartha. This ritual highlights a universal message of “Let’s cleanse our inner dirt’ of greed, hatred and ignorance so as to allow the generosity, love and wisdom within us to shine forth!”

Benefits of Bathing the Buddha

“Noble son, the consequence of performing this bathing of the Buddha image is that you and the great multitude of men and gods will presently receive wealth, happiness, and long life without sickness; your every wish will be fulfilled. Your relatives, friends, and family will all be at ease. You will bid a long farewell to the eight conditions of trouble and forever escape the fount of suffering. You will never again receive the body of a woman and will quickly achieve enlightenment.”

– The Sutra On The Merit Of Bathing The Buddha

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BODHI TREE 

In the Kalingabodhi Jataka, the Buddha taught that,

“An object of reverence reminiscent of the Buddha has no physical basis; it is purely mental. But the great Bodhi tree, used by the Buddha, whether He is alive or dead, is an object of reverence.”

After his Enlightenment, in a show of profound gratitude to the Bodhi tree that sheltered him, the Buddha stood at a distance and gazed at the tree with unblinking eyes for one whole week.

In order for people to pay their respects to him while he was away on preaching tours, the Buddha also sanctioned the planting of a seed from the original Bodhi tree in front of his monastery. In this way, it would be as if he was ever-present.

One of the Bodhi trees in KMSPKS is a scion of the sacred Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka and is hence a direct descendant of the original Bodhi tree under which the Buddha attained Enlightenment. It is customary for Buddhists to pay respect to the descendants of the original Bodhi tree.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF STUPAS

Stupas are memorials of Enlightenment.

When the Buddha knew he was entering nirvana, he gave instructions that his body was to be cremated and his relics to be divided and enclosed in stupas. These holy monuments were designed with deep symbolism and sacred geometry.

There are two relic stupas in KMSPKS. One commemorates our founder Ven Sik Zhuan Dao. The second stupa is dedicated to the second abbot of the monastery Ven Seck Hong Choon.

A landscape with stupas becomes more calming, peaceful and joyful. Filled with Buddhist relics and holy objects, circumambulating stupas brings immeasurable merits and quickens one’s path to Enlightenment. Circumambulation is done by walking around in a clockwise direction, keeping one’s right towards the stupa.

FINAL NIRVANA OF THE BUDDHA

The Buddha himself was subjected to disease and decay like us. Describing his own eightieth-year body as a “worn-out cart”, his once beautiful complexion became flabby and wrinkled and he had to endure severe pain and illness which he bore with mindfulness.

In the Maha-parinibbana Sutta, realising the impermanent nature of life and all worldly phenomena, the Buddha has advised us to work out our own deliverance by being cheerful.

He also stressed on the importance of individual striving as no one can walk the path for us.

“Be ye a refuge to yourselves. Seek no external refuge.

Live with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge.

Betake to no external refuge.”

The Buddha made no attempt to appoint a successor. “Now, if it occurs to any of you – ‘The teaching has lost its authority; we are without a Teacher’ – do not view it in that way. Whatever Dhamma and Vinaya I have pointed out and formulated for you, that will be your Teacher when I am gone.”

“Ripe my age, little is the life remaining to me.

Leaving you, I will go, having made a refuge for myself.

Be heedful, monks, mindful, virtuous.

With your resolves well-concentrated, look after your minds.”

Finally in his last word, the Buddha continued to stress on the importance of cultivation.

“Now, then, monks, I exhort you;

All fabrications are subject to decay.

Bring about completion by being heedful.”

Source: KMSPKS