President,
Canadian Buddhist Council, Toronto.
Buddha
Purnima on May 19, 2008 holds most glorious significance for the
millions of Buddhists who comprise a third of the world’s total
population. In some countries it is also known simply as Buddha
Day commemorates three great events: The Birth, Supreme
Enlightenment and the Great Passing Away of Gautama the Buddha.
On this day all Buddhists are expected to reaffirm their faith
in the Buddha Dharma and to lead a noble religious life. It is a
day for meditation, and radiating loving kindness. In
thousands of temples across the world from Tokyo in the East to
San Francisco in the west, Buddhists will pay homage to an
Indian Prince who renounced the pleasures of a royal household
to bring peace and happiness to mankind. The Buddha or the
Supremely Enlightened One was born in 623 B.C. on a Boisakhi
Full –Moon day. The young Prince was named Siddhartha or “the
one who has brought about all good.” The parents, King Sudhodana
and Queen Devi Mahamayaa, ruled a Sakya kingdom called
Kapilavastu in Nepal.
Finally, on
the 35th Anniversary of his birth, again on the full
moon day of Vesak, and seated under the Bodhi tree in Buddha
Gaya the ascetic prince Siddhartha became the Buddha, the Fully
Enlightened One. For the next forty five years the Buddha
traveled around Northern India preaching his message of
universal loving kindness for all beings and the realization of
the nature of existence with the Four Noble Truths (1.
sufferings of life 2, causes of sufferings : Desires 3.
Removal of sufferings is Nirvana), 4.The Noble Eightfold
Path : 1. Psychology & Philosophy relating to Right
understanding of life, 2. Right Thought, 3.Right Speech, 4.Right
Action,5.Right Livlihood,6.Right Effort 7.Right Mindfulness &
8.Right Concentration.
Every year
Buddha Day (Jayanti & Purnima) glorifies South Asian Heritage
Month in Canada. Over 2552 years through out the world history,
Buddhism was started with boundless tolerance and compassion.
The very symbols of independent India emphasize her mother India
abiding Lord Buddha’s teaching and Great Emperor Asoka’s
Buddhist heritage. The wheel in the centre of the Indian
national flag is the wheel of the Law of the Buddha’s Teaching –
the Dharma, and the state emblem of India is an adaptation of
the famous Lion Capital was erected by Emperor Asoka at Saranath,
where the Buddha –Enlightened One first delivered his teaching
of compassion and wisdom to the world.
In the violent world through all
dangers and difficulties not a single drop of blood was shed in
the name of Buddhism. Human beings are walking with the Dharma
light of the Buddha as His followers (monks and Nuns) and
pilgrims in the Buddhist Pilgrimages at home (India) and abroad.
Spiritual enlightenment develops in our human minds and
consciousness systems by practicing universal love with
donation, right meditation and insight wisdom. India’s Buddhism
invites anyone to come and see for himself and permits him to
accept only those facts which agree with reason, logic, and
truth.
Buddhism encourages the seeker of
a new way to discard heresies, blind faith, miracles and magic.
Principles of Buddhism invite criticism and testing. Buddhism is
therefore, the most appealing and most compelling factor that
leads the modern minds in the East and West.
The Buddha then points out that
to hold any kind of fixed view about the past or the future
is to be trapped in a net like fish. Suffering lies in clinging
to views.
Scientist Albert Einstein great
genius of the 20th century found that among religious
only Buddhism emphasizes the importance of the scientific
outlook in dealing with the problems of morality and religions.
This threat has been leveled against religious conceptions of
man and the universe from the time of Galileo, Bruno and
Copernicus (17th century) who instrumental in
altering erroneous motions of the universe. So scientist
Einstein expressed this appreciation of Buddhism, “The religion
of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a
personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the
natural and spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense
arising from the experiences of all things, natural and
spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this
description.”
However, in a world of darkness and distress, the Buddha Dharma
still shines across the gulf of twenty five centuries and it is
not yet too late for us to follow its guiding beams and emerge
triumphant into a brighter and happier future. At no time in
history has the message of the Buddha been more relevant than it
is now to present day society of the 21st century.
