#Vesak2021 On #Zoom, Attendees Can Enjoy The Beautiful And Inspiring Ceremony From A Distance
Author: Witcoin Miner
Keywords: #rebirth, #Buddha, #pandemic, #impermanent, #enlightenment, #pursuit, #chanting, #meditation, #Kamma, #Nibbana
Length: 1573 words Date: 15th May 2021
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#Vesak is a celebration of the Lord #Buddha’s birthday, marks his #enlightenment which means when he discovered life’s meaning, and commemorates his entering into #Nibbana which means when he passed away with no more #rebirth. The date of #Vesak changes each year as it take places at the time of the first full moon of the ancient lunar month of #Vesak, which usually falls in May or early June. This year, it falls on Wednesday 26th May.
#Vesak Ceremony held to remind people to clear their minds of negative thoughts like greed and hatred. Many Buddhists will do good deeds, take part in #chanting and #meditation, reflect on Buddhist teachings, bring offerings to the temple and share food with others.
This year in particular temples across the country have been ordered by the government agency since the mid of May to chant a prayer called the Rattana Sutta every evening until the end of the month or potentially continue till the #COVID-19 #pandemic subsides. The #chanting activity will broadcast live on national television throughout the #Vesak week.
This ancient Rattana Sutta prayer is believed to be written by Venerable Ananda, the #Buddha’s personal assistant. According to Buddhist legends, Venerable Ananda used it to ward off plagues, attacks from demons, and famine ravaging the city of Vesali, an ancient city in present-day northeastern Bihar state, on the Gandak River in India. The prayer asks spirits in the earth, air, and those among people to have mercy on humans, saying…
‘To all the spirits, those in the earth, as well as in the air, and those congregating in this place, may all the spirits be kind, listen to the exultations of the Triple Gem that I declare with respect, the prayer begins…’
Based on the Thai government announcement, the auspicious daily prayer is meant to boost public morale amid the epidemic and bring luck to the country. By doing this way, people’s mental health will be treated by prayer chants and #meditation to relax. Although many might criticize it as superstitious or unscientific, the officers believe the activity renders positive impact rather than being harmful.
In response to the official order, temples nationwide have already started cleaning, disinfecting, and preparing for the #Rattana Sutta prayer, but would not be closed to the general public as they are a pillar of emotional support for citizens in tough times. Temple administrators said that, if people cannot go to the temple in these times, they will feel upset.
Buddhists worldwide are looking forward to celebrate the annual #Buddha Day or #Vesak in their own way. Generally, they will reflect on the #Buddha’s life history in order to comprehend the trace of his countless lifetime perfection #pursuit so that they will get inspired to follow his foot step and assured to walk on the path with determination.
The #Buddha’s unique pattern of perfection #pursuit is amazingly appealing. The beginning of his lives-long journey toward ultimate self-#enlightenment, according to the Jataka tales of his past existences inform us that such an ideal life as being born handsome, intelligent, wealthy, privileged, skilled in sports, and highly educated as most Buddhists are more familiar with the #Buddha’s later life story, was not where he began.
The Jataka stories explicitly demonstrate Buddhist principles on #rebirth in combination with the notion of the Law of #Kamma. The overall idea of #rebirth explains that some part of consciousness lives on after death, and keeps returning to this or other realms of existence until liberated through Buddhist practices namely generosity, Precepts and #meditation.
The stories reveal Buddhist perspective on death more as a process of mental transition to obtain a new form of existence. By reframing death as #rebirth, it changes how we can think about our own passing, not as an end but as a new beginning.
Taking the issue of #rebirth seriously is aimed to develop a more sophisticated understanding of our previous existence deeds and our future existences in the hereafter, that we will face up to our tendency to bring mistakes that we have made in the past into the future. The hope of this reckoning is that we might better understand these conditions and cultivate enlightened wisdom to end causes of production of the negative repeated circle.
While the notion of the Law of #Kamma explains that there is nothing that happens by chance. There are causes for everything, seen or unseen, known or unknown. They may be spiritual or mental causes, or they may be physical; or they may be a combination of both. We cannot have #Kamma without #rebirth and vice versa.
An understanding and acceptance of the principle of #Kamma and its fruit is an essential component of right view, a firm conviction in the validity of the Law of #Kamma and its unfolding through the process of #rebirths. #Rebirth, then, is not about providing certainty, but a means of developing ethics within conditions of uncertainty. To take the issue of the Law of #Kamma involving in the process of #rebirth seriously means to think about how we can end these histories of suffering.
The Jataka stories illustrate that thorough the countless #rebirths under the influence of the Law of #Kamma, the #Buddha-to-be or the so called Bodhisattva had continued working on his self-development until completing the Ten Perfections. In his final life time, he was born into a wealthy family; he is believed to have been a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in the country in what is now called Nepal in the 5th Century B.C. It is believed that he realized that wealth and luxury did not guarantee happiness.
He at one night in his 29 years of age decided to leave his princely life to become a nomad. After six years of studying and #meditation on his travels, he became spiritually aware and reached his goal of finding meaning in life. This is called #enlightenment. At this time, he became the #Buddha and for the rest of his life he taught his followers of his experiences. #Buddha is a title, rather than a name, which means the enlightened or awakened one.
According to his teachings, everyone, regardless of their place of birth or gender, is capable of exiting the cycle of #rebirth. And to do so, based on his experiences, it does not mean joining with something; it means disjoining entirely, or ‘extinguishing’ the fire of life.
To accomplish such extinction, his students including us must first comprehend that all things are just mind and matter, arising and disappearing, that things are insubstantial. The occurrence of disappearing after arising is a mark or characteristic by which we understand that something is #impermanent. And, if we want to determine whether something is #impermanent or permanent, we must try to see, through the power of #meditation. #Meditation is the greatest instrument because it is an efficient tool to help us cultivate insight.
#Meditation is integral to the continuous development of mindfulness. If our #meditation is powerful enough to enable us to see the arising and disappearing of phenomena, then we can decide that the phenomena observed are #impermanent. At this point, we understand the three characteristics of all conditioned phenomena: impermanence, suffering and the non-self nature of things or in Pali term: Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta.
Thus, the value of #meditation lies in the ability to remove the cloak of continuity in order to discover the real nature of impermanence and to realize that there is really nothing in this world to be attached to, and nothing to crave for. By our ordinary perception, we are not able to see the impermanence of things because impermanence is hidden by the delusion of continuity.
Delusion causes suffering. Because of delusion, humans seek satisfaction through eating and copulating, only to find that the pleasure from these activities is remarkably evanescent. The trouble is that this cycle of pleasure, satisfaction and dissatisfaction is, well, rather unsatisfying. To perpetually pursue satisfaction is suffering. And this is what Buddhism teaches.
To become aware of this process and gain distance from it is through #meditation practice which gives insight to provide relief, not through reading books or attend talks or talk about removing attachment which we will not be able to get rid of any form of attachment.
To celebrate this upcoming #Vesak, we will not only practice Buddhist teachings of removing craving and attachment for ourselves but also enlist the service of relieving suffering and bringing awakening into our world, even though we are sometimes good self, sometimes bad self, sometimes in the lucid reality of no-self, and at still other times confused and suffering with our own problems. Bear mind that our world needs the #Buddha’s enlightened knowledge to guide and our best effort to disseminate the knowledge. Every great Buddhist practitioner, in the history of Buddhism, while remained working toward the enlightening goal, knew their limitations and acted for the benefit of beings anyway.
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Related article(s)
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
http://aloosechitchatblogg.blogspot.com/2020/05/we-still-can-celebrate-vesak-under.html
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