The world of Tzu Chi May 2021 (Vol.134)

H istorians generally agreed that Shakyamuni Buddha was born in 623 B.C., attained Enlightenment in 588 B.C. and entered Parinirvana in 543 B.C. Nevertheless, the actual dates of these events are not recorded in the Tripitaka , and are now hard to be verified. In Theravada Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, there is a legend that Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha on a full moon day of May, 623 B.C., in Lumbini, Nepal, near the Indian border. Thirty-five years later (588 B.C.), on the same date, the Prince attained Enlightenment under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya and became a Buddha. Then, on the same date in 543 B.C., Buddha entered Parinirvana in Kushinagar. Thus, these Theravada Buddhist countries celebrate the birth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana of Buddha on the first full- moon of May. The occasion to commemorate these three momentous events in Buddha’s life is commonly called Vesak Day. Now, why is it called Vesak instead of the Indian Pali or Sanskrit pronunciations of Vesakha or Vaisakha? This is because we follow the Sri Lankan Sinhalese pronunciation. The reason Sinhalese pronunciation is used can be traced back to 1950, when the first conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists was held in Kandy, Sri Lanka. At the conference, the host country proposed to designate the first full-moon of May as Vesak Day, and it was approved by representatives from all participating countries. Since then, the word used in Sri Lanka for 2,200 years became a common word among Buddhists worldwide. Heavily influenced by Sri Lankan Buddhism, the Malaysian Buddhist community used the term “Vesak Day” in their application as early as 1949, to make Vesak Day a public holiday. Singapore also used the same term when it declared Vesak Day as a public holiday in 1956. After the term Vesak Day was widely used in the Buddhist world for many years, some people suddenly felt that it was inappropriate, as the focus should be on Buddha and not on the month. Naming the festival Vesak Day felt like the month was celebrated rather than commemorating Buddha. As a result, suggestions to rename the festival were raised. In 1967, the Executive Board of the World Fellowship of Buddhists passed a resolution to rename it as Buddha Day. However, as the term Vesak Day has been ingrained among the masses, it continued to be used habitually until today. Having said that, many Mahayana Buddhist countries, such as, China, Japan and Korea, do not agree with the idea of celebrating the three momentous events together, as they believe that the events fell on different days. Indeed, this could hold some historical truth. According to Buddhist scriptures, when Vesakha is a month in the Hindu calendar that corresponds to the Gregorian calendar month of April or May. Vesak Day was named after the month where Shakyamuni Buddha was born, attained Enlightenment and entered Parinirvana on the full moon day of Vesakha. over Story 2021 • 05 22