Vesak Day by Alastair Gornall

Who was the Buddha? What did he teach?

In Theravada Buddhism (the form of Buddhism practised in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia) the festival of Vesak is the day of the year in which the Buddha was (1) born, (2) became enlightened, and (3) died/entered nirvāṇa. According to tradition, the Buddha was born in Lumbini (modern Nepal) as a prince in the clan of the Śākyas in around fifth or sixth century BCE. The oldest biographies (c. first century CE) state that he was brought up in the city of Kapilavastu in a life of luxury without any knowledge of suffering. At 29 he finally escaped the confines of the palace and for the first time witnessed old age, sickness, and death. Increasingly disenchanted with courtly life he abandoned his wife and son in pursuit of spiritual liberation. After six years as a wandering mendicant, having unsuccessfully studied with different ascetics, he sat alone under a tree (the Bodhi tree in what is now Bodh Gaya) to meditate. After 49 days of meditation he gained enlightenment. He then spent the next 45 years of his life wandering northern India teaching and converting people of all walks of life—farmers and kings alike—until he passed away at the age of 80 in Kusinara.

The Buddha was not concerned like his contemporaries with metaphysical questions (who created the universe? etc.) but rather wanted to solve the problem of human suffering. Upon his enlightenment he realised the causes of human suffering and how it could be removed forever. To summarise his basic teachings—in an admittedly cursory manner—he believed that we suffer because we fundamentally relate to the world contrary to how it actually is. We consider it firstly to be substantial, that is, to be comprised of essentially existing ‘things’, and secondly we habitually treat these things as permanent. Furthermore our relationship with these things is one of desire and attachment. We become attached to our possessions, loved ones, our own identities, even abstract ideas, for instance. Ultimately, however, this attachment is based on the wrong perception that the world around us is substantial and permanent. When these ignorantly construed objects of attachment fade away we inevitably suffer. The Buddha taught that by truly realising the insubstantial and impermanent nature of the world this suffering would end forever. That cessation of suffering is said to be nirvāṇa.

What does Vesak mean?
T he word vesak is Sinhala and derives from the Pali word vesākha (< Sanskrit, vaiśakha). Pali is the main scriptural, ritual and literary language of the Theravada Buddhist tradition (practised by monks donning orange robes). Vesākha refers to the Southern Asian lunar month that overlaps with the months April to May in the Gregorian calendar, so called because during these four weeks, the moon passes through the constellation of Visākha (< Sanskrit, Viśākha ‘fork’).

Vesak Day takes place on the full moon day of Vesākha as it is the most auspicious day of the month in traditional astrology. For this reason it is not just a sacred day for Buddhists but also for other religious traditions of Indian origin. Some Hindus for instance worship one of the incarnations of the god Vishnu on this day too (see, kurma-jayanti).

Differences in South and East Asian Calendars
East Asian Buddhist traditions (Japan, China, Korea) which practice Mahāyāna Buddhism commemorate the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death on different days in the Chinese lunar calendar. The Buddha’s birth in the Chinese lunar calendar is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth month (3 May in 2017). Due to its proximity to Vesak Day many Chinese Buddhists in Southern Asia celebrate the Buddha’s birth on this day instead, essentially adopting the Indian lunar calendar. The first World Council of Buddhists (see below) in 1950 also tried to reconcile the Chinese and Indian lunar calendars by declaring that a common Vesak Day should be celebrated on the first full moon occurring in May of the Gregorian calendar.

How is the festival celebrated?
The festival is celebrated in a variety of different ways throughout the Buddhist world. In Sri Lanka in particular it is customary to build toraṇas or elaborate festival archways, which often depict scenes from the Buddha’s previous lives. In modern times these toraṇas are often illuminated and act more as public displays than functional entrances to the festival arena (usually a village or temple). The construction of decorative festival archways is traditional not just for Buddhists but is common among Hindus too. It has been suggested that the archway became connected in Sri Lankan Buddhist culture with Vesak in particular because of its structural similarity with the fork-like constellation of Visākha.

In the Chinese Buddhist tradition the celebration of the Buddha’s birth is accompanied by a ritual in which devotees pour scented water over an image of the newborn Buddha, who is often standing with his right arm stretched upwards with a finger pointing to the sky and the other arm stretched downwards pointing to the ground. This posture relates to the first miracle performed by the Buddha, who having been born is said to have pointed to the heavens and earth to declare his mastery over the universe.

Why is Vesak a national holiday in Singapore?
The simple answer to the question is that 33.9% of Singaporeans are Buddhists, most of whom practise Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism. Mahāyāna Buddhism came to Singapore with the first Chinese migrant communities. More recently, migration from Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka, in particular, has led to a rapid increase in Theravāda Buddhists in Singapore too.

The longer, historical answer relates to the emergence of pan-Buddhist political movements in colonial Asia. In late nineteenth-century Sri Lanka, Buddhist monks and certain powerful lay people increasingly agitated against British rule on religious grounds. They campaigned for religious rights as part of the fight for what they saw as Sri Lanka’s national culture. A significant milestone in this anti-colonial pressure was the British government’s recognition of Vesak Day as a public holiday in Sri Lanka in 1889. An eccentric American journalist and anti-colonialist, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832 – 1907), designed a Buddhist flag in imitation of a national flag for the occasion, which can still be seen flown all over Asia today. The movement soon spread throughout the region. This culminated in the first ‘World Fellowship of Buddhists’ held in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1950, with representatives attending from 27 nations. There a declaration was made to promote ‘Vesak Day’ as a national holiday for all Buddhists throughout the world.