Renewal of Vesak glory

By Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa

“There never was and there’ll never be nor is even now found, a person who is always blamed or one who is perpetually praised.”
The Buddha

“There was never an occasion when the Buddha flamed forth in anger, never an incident when an unkind word escaped his lips.”
Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan

The supreme teachings of the Buddha are co-eternal with eternity. His words are timeless. Each age rediscovers his thoughts. Men and women continue to be awakened into the reality of the truths he declared about the nature of life. His spiritual influence kindles an urge in mankind to embark upon a quest for liberation.

His gentle ways have illuminated for the totality of mankind an unfailing path towards compassionate co-existence. His dispensation guides the helpless, bewildered humans, out of the morass of hatred, violence, ill-will and ignorance, they are pathetically engulfed in.

On a sacred annual ritual, the Buddhist world celebrates, during the serene season of Vesak, three holy events associated with the life of the supremely enlightened Buddha.

Three-fold aspects

Routine has dominated us so thoroughly, that, at times, we do not take a moment to reflect on the real glory of these three-fold aspects of the life of the Buddha.

Take, for instance, the celebration of the birth of Prince Siddhartha that happened 2,638 years ago. I really wonder, whether it occurs to many to consider the miracle of this occasion.

We, in effect, celebrate the oldest birthday in recorded history.

This year, the birth of Prince Siddhartha takes on a special significance. As we celebrate Vesak, a recent event is quite fresh in our mind.

Late last year, the young British archaeologist Robin Coningham revealed that his sustained excavations at Lumbini - the site of Prince Siddhartha’s birth - brought to light evidence that conclusively authenticates, the exact spot where this sacred birth took place. The Coningham team came upon the remnants of the sala tree, under which Queen Maha Maya brought forth her great son. The scientific dating has attributed the site to the sixth century BC.

This enables as to add another fresh dimension, to the current Vesak festival. Incidentally, a moving human touch is imparted to this event, by a story associated with archaeologist Robin Coningham. His teenage son is at school a teacher asked the child: What does your father do?” Pat came the answer: “He works for the Buddha.”

The second event that elevates Vesak to its supreme spiritual glory is the attainment of supreme enlightenment by ascetic Siddhartha.

Implication

Our work-a-day attitude is likely to make us miss the profound implication of this event.

Here, what we do, is the celebration of the moment of spiritual transformation, that occurred within the being of one of the greatest ascetics in mankind’s sacred annals.

This is unparalleled-since the moment of inner spiritual transformation of any other religious teacher in human history, is not given this kind of celebration.

We now arrive at the third aspect of Vesak celebrations. This is the remembrance of the Buddha’s Maha Parinibbana - the great demise. Some are quite likely to raise a quizzical eyebrow here. Why should the passing away of a great religious teacher be so lavishly celebrated?

Demise

The great demise of the supreme Buddha represents the eternally valued moment of his attainment of complete liberation (Maha Pari Nibbana). Here, the Buddha has scaled the highest reaches of enlightenment - described as Maha Pari Nibbana. This of course, calls for celebration.

With each passing year, the Vesak celebrations, acquire fresh and advanced formats to express religious fervour.

Pandals

When we were children, there were pandals, occasional ‘carols’ (singing of devotional songs) and amateur theatrical presentations in the village. When we were quite young, we were given papier mache masks to wear, as part of our Vesak celebrations. If I recall right, these masks were of Chinese origin. The memory of the fresh smell, they exuded, when we wore them, still lingers. But, even today, I just cannot understand why children were given those masks, to enable them to experience Vesak joy. Currently these decorations have entered, in some instances, the digital era.

Electrically powered Vesak decorative arrangements are galore, these days.

Once, as a member of a panel to judge, innovative Vesak decorations, I was surprised no end, to see a Buddha statue, made of empty water bottles. At Vesak innovative thoughts, take wing.

Then there is the Dansala , the open house. People offer food and beverages free to those who travel around, pilgrims and others alike. A remarkable enthusiasm to “give”, pervades these “open houses”. Some of the items on offer, tend to overwhelm you by the surprises they have in store for the travelling devotees.

Devotees

Last year, a group of young fervent devotees, held an ‘open house’ where they inflated the tyres of motor vehicles - free. But, routinely they have a wide range of food items to offer. Some affluent donors, provide near five star meals.

Recent additions include, manioc, sweet-potatoes, Kos (jak) and ice-cream varieties. These all come within the worldly and the material aspects of Vesak celebrations.

While pageants displays and stunning arrays of illuminations represent the popular and mass manifestations of Vesak enthusiasm, the spiritual aspects of Vesak too, have begun to gain ground. School children observe precepts enmasse , engendering wholesome hopes about the disciplined progress of our younger generation.

But, refreshing and encouraging news about the widespread practice of mindfulness, reaches us from some western countries, generally thought of as being in the throes of utter materialism.

Discipline

It is heartening to discover that the “science of finding focus in stressed-out, multitasking cultures”, has begun to burgeon into the proportions of a mass discipline, in some regime of the western world.

A curriculum described as mindfulness based stress reduction, developed by mind-minding guru Jon Kabat Zinn, has found adherents in nearly every state of the US and in more than 30 countries.

Though the system is kept free of any specific spiritual branding to avoid unnecessary deviations, this system quite clearly has a close kinship to the Buddhist discipline of satipatthana (establishment of mindfulness.) In the MBSR Course, the Anapanasati (The mindfulness of breath) acquires a crucial position - as much as in Buddhist Mindfulness.

The Buddha’s eternal teachings, will sooner or later, incarnate among men and women, seeking serenity on the midst of an angst - dominated world to come to spiritual terms with those multi-distractions that cross and recross their life paths.

Teachings

Sri Lanka as the traditional custodian of the teachings of the Buddha, has taken to sophisticated media like cinema, to convey the message of the Buddha’s compassion, in the internationally valid language of moving images.

When we celebrate Vesak, we must recognise the Buddha not only as a spiritual leader of supreme significance, but also as a human revolutionary.

His globally reputed words that a man is not born an out-caste or a Brahmin, but he becomes either through his action, is taken as a revolutionary manifesto of social reforms.

But, the Buddha’s concept here goes much deeper. Through these words, he made spiritual liberation, a noble heritage of the whole of mankind - without restricting it to the privileged social groups.

This thought will enable us to celebrate Vesak, with an in-depth vision.