Buddha Purnima, History And Importance In Hinduism

Buddha Purnima ( Vesak or Hanmatsuuri) is a major festival for those who believe in Buddhism. It is celebrated on the full moon of Baisakh month. On the day of Buddha Purnima, Gautama Buddha was born, on this day he attained enlightenment and on this day he was also blessed with greatness.

543 BC On the full moon of Baisakh month Buddha was born in Lumbini, Shakya state (present-day Nepal ). On this full moon day, 43 BC I was Mahaparinirvana in 'Kushanara' at the age of 40. The present-day Kushinagar was the 'Kushanara' at that time. Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Pournima is the most important festival and celebration of Buddhists. This festival is celebrated all over the world especially in India on the day of Vaishakh Purnima. On this day, the birth, enlightenment, and Mahaparinirvana of Tathagata Gautama Buddha took place.  Due to his humanistic and scientific Dhamma doctrine, the Tathagata Buddha is considered to be the greatest man and guru in the world. China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, with large Buddhist populations. Buddhists from around 180 countries, including Singapore, the United States, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, and Indonesia, celebrate the festival with great enthusiasm. In many of these countries, Buddha Jayanti is a public holiday. India also has a public holiday on the occasion of Buddha Pournima. 

Photo source: curejoy

Introduction

The birth of Lord Buddha, attainment of enlightenment (enlightenment or enlightenment) and Mahaparinirvana were all on the day of Vaishakha Purnima. On this day Lord Buddha also attained enlightenment. Today there are more than 140 crore people in the world who believe in Buddhism and celebrate it with pomp. Buddha is the ninth incarnation of Vishnu for the Hindu religionists. Hence, this day is also considered sacred for Hindus. This festival is held in India, China, Nepal, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Celebrated in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan, and many other countries of the world.

A place called Bodhgaya in Bihar is a sacred place of pilgrimage for Hindus and Buddhists. After the homicide, Siddhartha wandered in the forest for seven years in search of truth. Here he meditated hard and finally on the day of Vaishakh Purnima, he attained enlightenment under the Bodhivriksha at Bodh Gaya. Since then, this day is known as Buddha Purnima. On the occasion of Buddha Purnima, a month-long fair is held at Mahaparinirvana Vihar situated in Kushinagar, the Mahaparinirvanastha of Buddha. Although this shrine is related to Gautama Buddha, the surrounding area has a large number of people of Hinduism who worship Viharas. They come with reverence to worship. The significance of this Vihara is from the Mahaparinirvana of Buddha. The architecture of this temple is inspired by the caves of Ajanta. This Vihara has a 6.1-meter tall statue of Lord Buddha lying down (ground touch posture). Which is made of red loamy soil. This vihara is built at the same place from where this idol was taken out. There is a stupa on the east side of the vihara. Lord Buddha was cremated here. This statue is also a replica of the Mahaparinirvana statue of Lord Buddha made in Ajanta.

Sri Lanka and other South-East Asian countries celebrate this day as a 'Vesak' festival which is a distortion of the word 'Vaishakh'. On this day Buddhist followers light lamps in homes and decorate the houses with flowers. Buddhist followers from all over the world come to Bodh Gaya and offer prayers. Buddhist texts are recited on this day. In viharas and houses, they offer fruits and flowers on the Buddha statue and light a lamp, and worship it. Bodhi tree is also worshiped. Its branches are decorated with necklaces and colored banners. Lamps are lit around the tree and milk and fragrant water are added to its roots. Good works are done on this full moon day lead to the attainment of virtue. The birds are freed from cages and food and clothes are donated to the poor. On this day Buddha's ashes are displayed outside in the Buddha Museum in Delhi so that Buddhists can come there and pray.

In the year 2009, the date of Buddha Purnima was 7th May. Apart from India, it was also celebrated in some other countries on 6 May. The Mahanikaya and Dhammayutika votes of Thailand were celebrated on 7 May and also in Sri Lanka on 7 May. Whereas it was celebrated on 6 May in Singapore.

Buddha Jayanti History of India 

Dr. The first public Buddha Jayanti in India was celebrated in Delhi on May 2, 1950, under the presidency of Babasaheb Ambedkar. On this occasion, Ambedkar spoke on the life and work of the Buddha. The jubilee celebrations were attended by lawyers/representatives from many countries, the Bhikkhu community, and a community of about twenty thousand people. Thus began the Buddha Jayanti in India.

In 1951, a three-day Buddha Jayanti festival was celebrated under Ambedkar's presidency. In 1956, Babasaheb celebrated the last Buddha Jayanti of his life in Delhi. After Delhi, Babasaheb Ambedkar started Buddha Jayanti in Maharashtra in 1953. Till 1956, under his presidency and in his presence, a grand program of Buddha Jayanti was held in Maharashtra. Buddha Jayanti events in Maharashtra were held mainly in Mumbai. Babasaheb Ambedkar started the tradition of Buddha Jayanti Mahotsav in India and Maharashtra, so he became the founder of the public Buddha Jayanti Mahotsav in India.

‘All other religion founders get a holiday in the country on their birthdays. Then why is there no holiday on the birth anniversary of the Tathagata Buddha who gave the great message of humanity? Either reduce one of the planned holidays or give us one more holiday. ' Such an insistent demand Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was handed over to the then Central Government. Buddha Jayanti has been a public holiday since 1942. Due to Ambedkar's efforts and pressure, on 27 May 1953, the Central Government declared a public holiday on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti. The Maharashtra government, however, did not declare a public holiday that year. Babasaheb himself has mentioned all these matters in his speech at the 1953 Buddha Jayanti program in Mumbai.

Buddha Jayanti importance 

 Lord Gautama Buddha followed various paths to eradicate misery in the world. For this, he left his home and experienced the path of meditation and penance. However, on the pure full moon of Vaishakh, he gained knowledge and found the root of sorrow and the way to eradicate it. This full moon is celebrated as Buddha's full moon. 

Early Buddhism was very simple, easy to understand, based on moral principles, and rewarded humanity, compassion, and equality. During this period, the Buddha was considered to be of extraordinary quality but possessed a human body. Under the Bodhi tree, they got sambodhi (knowledge) which means they got knowledge about what are the undisturbed truths in this world and how the world works. He was first exposed to the four Aryan truths. Thinking deeply in the world and seeing the scenes of quarrels, fights, fights going on everywhere, sadness has spread everywhere. This first Aryan truth was realized. Thinking about what causes suffering, they find that it is all due to greed, craving. The desire for the same thing arose in the minds of two people, which meant quarrels, fights, fights to get that thing for themselves. Then he realized the second Aryan truth that craving is the root of sorrow. The thing that has a reason, that thing, because the cause disappears, is destroyed. This is an unbreakable principle. So that sorrow can also be prevented, this third Arya truth they understood. He also came to know the fourth Arya truth that if there can be restraint, there must be a way to achieve it. 

Buddhists do not believe in karma and reincarnation as Hindus do. Then he also understood the pratitya-samutpada, which explains how this birth-and-death rahatgadge works. Pratitya-samutpada means that something that arises is not spontaneous, but something antecedent because it depends on tradition. So there is a causal tradition that explains how births and deaths occur. It is explained in Pratitya-Samutpada how causal tradition relates to the previous and next births of one birth. (That is, there are previous births and next births. Gautama Buddha himself had many births. The stories of those births are called Jatakakatha. Of course, Gautama was not Buddha at the time of his birth). (Wikipedia)