We Still Can Celebrate Vesak Under the Lockdown #Coronavirus Crisis
Author: Liberal HomoDeus
Posted on: 1st May 2020
Keywords: #Vesak, #COVID-19, #care, #virus, #pandemic, #renunciation, #lovingkindness, #retreat, #socialdistancing, #quarantine, #disease, #Buddhism
Length: 1349 words
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#Vesak Day has Southeast Asian origins, and while it might be considered a Theravadin holiday, other Buddhist traditions, including Zen and some Tibetan, also choose to celebrate #Vesak Day.
To commemorate this day, most Thai Buddhists will visit their local temples to ‘make merit’ and engage in special rituals such as giving donations, listening to sermons on Buddha’s teachings, and meditating. There are other activities that can be observed on this day. One is the candlelight processions that take place at major temples. This occurs in the evening of #Vesak Day and involves walking around the temple’s main chapel or a cetiya three times in a clockwise direction with incense sticks, lighted candle, and lotus buds in palms holding the ‘wai’ gesture.
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| Candlelight processions |
This occasion of #Vesak anniversary offers a chance for present generations to appreciate the Buddha, what he did and taught, and how his words still inspire Buddhists and non-Buddhists today. After His enlightenment to become a Buddha and the start of His dissemination of the His enlightened knowledge allowing world beings to rid themselves from sufferings, the creation of a new renunciation family was formed and this monastic lineage has been carrying on and benefiting the world even today. While it is true that monastic recruitment has historically posed a potential hardship for families who cannot afford to lose family members to the monastery, there can be many benefits that accrue to the families of those who ordain and many reasons why families would support the ordination of their members.
In the present days, renunciation as a Buddhist monk often leads to a communal existence that is organized along familial lines. Even though the main objective of renouncing the world remains aiming to walk the noble path of mental liberation, a primary motivation of joining the monastic Order for many Thais is to assist one’s family through the generation of merit. Entering the Sangha is thought to generate merit both for oneself and for one’s parents, especially one’s mother and ancestors. In this way, a young man can ‘repay’ his parents the debt he owes them for giving him life and raising him; therefore the support for the renunciant community can also redound to the benefit of the family, both those who are living and those who lived in the past. So, renunciation can be done for the sake of family and giving a pseudo-familial quality to the social lives of those who renounce.
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| Alms-offering ceremony |
And since people in many countries are now all locked in, in the midst of #self-isolation, no matter how severely the pandemic is, the best strategy to beat the #Coronavirus is by staying informed and cautious rather than obsessed and #panicked.
Do not forget the fact that over the centuries, dating back to the time of the Buddha, humans have dealt with war, famine, plagues, racism, and suffering of every imaginable kind. Do not be taken over by emotional habits and fixed views expecting the world to always make sense. In fact, the world is messy, however, it is fertile ground for enlightenment. It is the same world, after all, that gave birth to the Lord Buddha.
Meanwhile, as we all learn to adapt to the new reality with the #Coronavirus in our midst, Buddhists should keep in mind there are those who work so dedicatedly to keep the monastic community going. These temples and their staff and teachers because of their fluidity, their inventiveness, and their dedication make Buddhism available. At this every moment, they might need support more than ever. With the current extra social and economic uncertainty, these Buddhist temples could almost certainly use extra financial support. Generosity has always been vital, try not to ignore their emails and posts and ads updating about their new virtual offerings and online meritorious events and how they plan to weather the #COVID-19 storm. Try joining them online. They would sure love to see everyone there.
At Dhammakaya temple here, people probably noticed this: a sudden uptick of the Temple’s social-media and newsletter updates announcing the cancellation of many regular religious events in response to the call for social distancing as a means of controlling the virus’s spread. The Temple is adapting with online A/V offerings: talks, courses, practice gatherings, and so on. Yes, that is all been available for a long while now, but things have really kicked up in just the past couple of months of #pandemic #outbreak. It is really something to see so many temples wrestling with #COVID-19 situation from the smaller meditation centers to the bigger monasteries, and everything in between.
In the parallel scenario, temples with abundant food supplies through the generosity of their lay supporters open almshouses for the publics and those in need to come and pick up ready-made food weekly or daily depending upon their capacity. Dhammakaya Temple would never miss in playing a part in getting involved; group representatives from the Temple travel to give essential medical supplies and personal protective equipment to be used in the fight against #COVID-19 to hospitals and health-care centers and thank medical professionals for working with dedication, sacrifice and skill for the public to overcome the crisis and keep everybody as safe and sound as possible.
Everyone at the Temple here is grateful for the important work that doctors, nurses, scientists, medical workers and all others are doing at this time. During this hard and worrying situation we all are facing, if we can think about these brave healthcare workers, it will give us a real courage to go through. We are proud they are our community. To hearten every heart staying under mandatory lockdown, Dhammakaya Temple will offer Buddhists the celebration of #Vesak Day online via GBN channel on 6th May. The Temple has been working on the mission to help all beings through all Buddhist means and continue to work further in the future new normal #post-COVID-19. Wishing everyone well over the next weeks and months. We will meet again, take care.
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