Thoughts and Significance of Celebrating Buddha’s Birthday – Buddhist Calendar 2562

Dharma talk:

Thoughts and Significance of Celebrating
Buddha’s Birthday – Buddhist Calendar 2562
Vietnamese Version:

Buddha’s Birthday or Vesak Day, Buddhist Calendar 2562 is again returning to our earth, millions of Buddha’s followers from East to West; from Europe to Asia, with millions of hearts just as one, and with a single belief in joyfully welcoming this important day.

That is the day when our World Honored One comes into existence with the great vow of Wisdom and Compassion, bringing peace and happiness for the majority; setting straight what is fallen down from net of hatred and ignorance, false beliefs; healing what is broken from ideologies of self-attachment and variations of mean selfishness; turning on the light for people to see “the original face” of themselves and showing them the way to escape from birth-death nights full of darkness.

Wishing for a life of peace and happiness and a life of interest does not belong to any individual person, any class or organization, but to all the people from different social backgrounds and in a broader sense, it is the wish of all human-beings with human nature and all living beings with Buddha nature.

Without human nature, human-beings become losers in the country and among their fellow ones, they are only interested in physical comfort and joy of luxury, make use of scientific achievements and knowledge to exploit people, animals, and environment for the satisfaction of wild passions filled with animal nature and evil consequence.

Without Buddha nature, sentient beings are all but slaves to material desires, deity, and karma-reward, therefore they do not have any chance to make their life civilized and humanitarian, and thus they find it unable to develop that civilization in a perfect way by power of self-belief, self-consciousness, and voluntary knowledge. Without Buddha nature, sentient beings will not have the great vow of Wisdom and Compassion so as to eradicate ignorance themselves, and explore the unlimited treasure of enlightenment in the tranquil nature that is included in their own minds as well as the mind of all sentient beings. Without Buddha nature, sentient beings find it unable both to explore what is lovely from others just for their mutual existence  and even worse, to investigate the close relationship between humans and environment for mutual respect and agreement, and thus for mutual protection and safeguard as well as for co-existence in peace and happiness. Without Buddha nature, sentient beings are even unable to improve their own life and life of others right at this life and the following lives.

Therefore, we the Sangha and Buddhists in the world celebrate the Buddha’s Birthday just for the purpose of marking the day when the Enlightened One comes into existence in this earth so as to emancipate knowledge for humans, to open up a new vision, both accurate and perfect to human life and the universe by the wisdom of “Causation” and shape a bright path for humans to free themselves from slaves to deity and material desires through long nights of darkness, to turn on the light of Buddha’s wisdom to humans and all species, thus making them realize the value of their co-existence, respect their presence, and join hands to improve life in the spirit of Wisdom and Compassion, Freedom and Liberation.

We the Sangha and Buddhists in the world celebrate the Buddha’s Birthday, since the day marks the appearance of Wisdom and the disappearance of ignorance; since the day marks the start of Compassion life and the clearing up of all hatred; since the day marks the existence of a life of liberty and the emancipation of lives of belief and knowledge slavery. And the day also marks the time when humans regain their control and are liberated from prisons of birth and death and from unilateral ideologies.

If we Buddha’s disciples celebrate the Buddha’s Birthday in such significant ways, certainly from the lotus stand, the Enlightened One will look at us with the eyes of Compassion, and from great concentration, the Enlightened One will offer us a smile of wisdom.

Making efforts to eradicate evil things and perform good deeds, to keep minds and thoughts clear and clean, and to serve all sentient beings with all the belief and the Bodhi vow is the most significant celebration of the Buddha’s Day by generations of our Buddha’s disciples.

Namo Bodhisattva, Mahasattva of constant efforts for celebration and offering.

Bhikshu Thich Thai Hoa

 (Chuyển ngữ/Translated into English by Nguyên Dung)

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Vietnamese Version: