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The
Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya has stood for centuries as a reminder of
the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment. Gaya is a sacred place
of pilgrimage for Buddhists. Each year, the tree is venerated and
the viharas nearby resound to the chants of Buddhist monks.
The great celebration of the month of Vaishakh falls on the full
moon day on which Gautama, the Buddha, was born.
To Buddhists the world over, all full moon days are festive and
important. However, the full moon of Vaishakh is the most auspicious
of all. Gautama, the Buddha was born in 544 BC in Lumbini, Nepal.
Unlike most other religious teachers, he was born into a roval family
and surrounded by wealth and material ease. According to Buddhist
lore, Mahamaya his mother, often dreamt of white elephants at the
time of her pregnancy and thus knew that a divine child of miraculous
charisma and destiny would
Then as a young adult Siddharth, the prince born to King Suddhadhana
and Queen Mahamaya, undertook a short journey in the course of which
he observed the futility of human life. He saw the way a man grew
into adulthood passed into old age and then became helpless, sick
and feeble before death.
Saddened by the realization that life was a meaningless and hollow
passage from one state of being to the next, the prince went into
deep meditation under a Bodhi tree near Gaya, until he finally attained
enlightenment, once again on the full moon day of Vaishakh. He was
then 35 years of age and thereafter became known as Gautama, the
Buddha. He gave his first sermon in Sarnath, near the holy city
of Varanasi, to his followers who formed a Sangha, also on the Vaishakh
Purnima.
A tableux shows the Buddha delivering his first sermon at the deer
park in Sarnath, near the holy city of Varanasi.
A golden idol of the Buddha seated in repose, at Bodhgaya. The surrounding
images are of odhisatvas. Vesakha or Buddha Purnima, is a festival
of lights in many Buddhist countries. In Sri Lanka it is particularly
beautiful and picturesque.
The Buddha, who is considered the ninth avatar of Vishnu, reached
Nirvana or the extinction of self and freedom from the cycle of
rebirth, also on the full moon day of Vaishakh. Therefore Buddha
Purnima marks the three major events in the life of this great apostle
of peace. Buddhist countries like Japan, Burma and Sri Lanka celebrate
this festival with special fervour.
In Sri Lanka it is celebrated like Diwaliwith paper and bamboo stick
lanterns twinkling under the night sky. Kheeris shared by families
and distributed to the poor. Buddhists free birds from their cages
and refrain from eating meat on this day.
The
Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya has stood for centuries as a reminder of
the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment. Gaya is a sacred place
of pilgrimage for Buddhists. Each year, the tree is venerated and
the viharas nearby resound to the chants of Buddhist monks. 
