Thubten Lekshey Ling Nyingma Buddhist Centre is conducting a half-day program at their premises near MG Road to commemorate the birth, awakening and final passing away of Gautama Buddha on the 17th of May. Buddha Purnima falls on the full moon day of the month of May.
Three of the most important events in the life of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, his birth (Buddha Jayanti), his awakening into Buddhahood, and his final passing away, coincide on this auspicious day.
“The relevance of this auspicious day in our lives is to reflect on the qualities of the Buddha, gain inspiration, rekindle these qualities within us and firm up our own journey to awakening”, said Phuntsok Namgyal, the spokesperson for Thubten Lekshey Ling. “According to Mahayana Buddhism, all of us have the innate ability to awaken into Buddhahood. Buddha is one who has awakened bodhi to perfection. Guatam Buddha attained this state and showed us the path. He showed that all we have to do is to wake up from confusions and we would be Buddhas. Ignorance is the root cause for all suffering. Through eradicating ignorance, we are not only able to be forever free from suffering, but also able to endlessly and tirelessly benefit all other beings in eradicating their suffering.”
There are three things I like about this announcement out of Bangalore:
1. The non-sectarian, and indeed non-Buddhist, press release.
2. The fact that Ahmednagar, Maharastra State, where the Avatar Meher Baba Trust offices are located, also has an MG Road.
3. The use of the lunar calendar. “Purnima” simply means full in Sanskrit, and it refers to the full moon. Another famous Purnima is Guru Purnima. World teachers and Gurus tend to be born, and tend to act, on or about the full moon, the time of the greatest lunar light, because this is when the human mass mind is most active.
I have not recognized any of the other announcements, and in fact, have not attended anything locally about Buddha’s Birthday, because in general, Asian Buddhism is dead. There simply is no light in it anymore. I have been to a local Japanese Buddhist celebration of Buddha’s birthday, by the organization of local Japanese lineages, in which the keynote speaker talked about absolutely nothing but his golf game and his father. When you worship your ancestors, and put them in the place of the Buddha, you are simply being stupid. That your ignorant birth culture may reward you for that is no excuse. Mass stupidity does not justify individual stupidty, and mass stupidity is not the Teaching of the Noble One.
