Buddha Purnima
Today is the Buddha Purnima. The Purnima means full moon day. Buddha Purnima falls on full moon day in the Hindu month of Vaishakh.
This year it is 2567 Birth Anniversary of Gautam Buddha. Gautam Buddha was born on this day.
He attained Enlightenment on this day
He attained Mahaparinirvana on this day.
Gautam Buddha was an ascetic and spiritual teacher of ancient India who lived during the 6th or 5th century BCE. He was the founder of Buddhism and is revered by Buddhists all over the world.
Gautam Buddha was born in 563 BCE in Lumbini, in ancient India, (now in Nepal), raised in Kapilavastu and he died at the age of 80 at Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh India in 483 BCE.
Gautam Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha. His father Suddhodana was the head of the Sakhya clan. This is the reason why Gautam Buddha is known as Sakhyamuni or Sage of the Sakhyas. His mother Maya was a Koliyan princess. At his birth it was predicted that either he will become great king or a great religious leader. Gautam's father shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering, so that he would become a great king instead of a great religious leader. So as a young prince, he lead a very protected and a luxurious life away from all the sufferings.
However, Siddhartha, with his charioteer, went out of the protected palace grounds for the first time and, he was shocked by his encounter with human suffering. He saw a man bent with old age, a person afflicted with sickness and a corpse and a roaming asciatic. He lost interest in royal life and decided to end all the human sufferings. He left the palace in the middle of the night against the will of his father, to live the life of a wandering ascetic leaving behind his son Rahula and wife Yaśodhara. Gautam sought a higher spiritual goal after being disillusioned with lay life. Accompanied by Chandaka and his horse Kanthaka travelled to the river Anomiya. After this point, he journeyed alone into the woods as
an ascetic.
Gautam practised yogic meditation under Ārāḍa Kālāma, who taught a meditation "the sphere of nothingness". And later under Udraka Rāmaputra he achieved higher levels of meditative consciousness called The Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. After this, Gautam then to himself, practiced extreme ascetic techniques like very minimal food intake, various forms of breath control, and forceful mind control. He became so emaciated that his bones became visible through his skin. Still not satisfied Gautam ended asceticism, fasting and he accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata.
He understood that dhyana (meditation) is the path to liberation. He attained Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, Bihar while meditating under the peepal tree (Bodhi tree).
Buddha preached the "Madhyama, the Middle path of moderation" away from the two extremes - the self-indulgence of Charvakas and extreme penance and severe asceticism of Ajaivikas. He preached Noble Eightfold Path - training of the mind, meditative practices, sense restraint, kindness, mindfulness, and dhyana (meditation).
Gautam became known as the "Buddha" or "Awakened One" or "Woken to the true nature of reality or "Yatha Bhutam"(sees the world as it is).
He died in Kushinagar, attaining parinirvana.
Buddhism:
Buddhism is a religion, based on the teachings of Buddha. The main principles of this belief system are karma, rebirth, and impermanence.
The Buddha himself rejected the idea of a Creator God. Buddhist philosophers have argued that belief in an eternal God is nothing but a distraction for humans seeking enlightenment.
However Buddhists today pay reverance to deities Vajrapāṇi, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara.
Buddhism is built on the belief that all men are created equal. This is why Buddhism rejects the caste system.
Lastly Buddhism is not a dogmatic religion.
Buddha says "You have the right to question and find out the answers and only when you are convinced fully, follow it".
- ✍️ Dr Prema Pangi
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