Buddha Purnima
Buddha Purnima festival is celebrated every year in the Hindi month of Vaishakha to commemorate the birth anniversary, Enlightenment and Mahaparinirvana (death anniversary) of the Gautama Buddha. The birth name of the Gautama Buddha was Siddhartha Gautama who later became a great Buddha and called as Gautama Buddha. He became a great spiritual teacher and founded Buddhism. Although, the real date of his birth and death is unknown however, it is estimated by many historians between 563-483 BC. He was born in the Lumbini, Nepal to the King Shuddhodana (King of Kapilvastu) and Queen Maya Devi and died at his 80 in the Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh.
Bodh Gaya, Lumbini, Kushinagar and Sarnath has become the most important pilgrimage sites for the Buddhists as these places are deeply attached to the life of Gautama Buddha. Bodh Gaya is the place where Gautama Buddha obtained the Enlightenment after many years of Tapa, Sarnath is the place where he first taught the Dharma, Lumbini is his birth place and Kushinagar is death place.
The day of celebration of Buddha Purnima varies from year to year. According to the Gregorian calendar, Buddha Purnima falls every year from the end of April to the end of May. Buddha’s birthday celebration date has been declared by the Taiwanese government on 2nd Sunday of the May.
Buddha Purnima Celebration
It is celebrated every year on the full moon day in the month of April or May to celebrate the birth anniversary, death anniversary (Nirvana) and enlightenment of the Lord Buddha. Buddha Purnima celebration has special significance for the Buddhists people as the founder of the Buddhism was born.
Variety of social, cultural and religious events and ceremonies like prayer meetings (including Panchasheel, Sutrapath, Ashtasheel, Sutrasraban), fair, Bodhidroom Mela and lots of activities are arranged by the Buddhists for three or more days to specially celebrate this event. Holy books, magazines and other reading materials are distributed by the Bhuddhist organizations among people.
At this day, special programmes and messages are distributed by the radio channels, TV channels and newspapers to give the real message of celebration among common people. Religious people came from all the corners of the world to the Bodh Gaya to get participated in the Buddha Purnima celebrations. People participate in the celebration ceremonies like prayer reciting, lectures on the Gautam Buddha life history, religious speeches about the Buddhist scriptures, meditation, Lord Buddha statue worship and processions.
People came to the temple and offer holy water to the statue of Buddha and then worship by offering flowers, incense, candles and fruits. Buddhist people help poor people by offering money, food and other necessary goods. Caged animals are freed at this day to distribute the message of; freeness is the basic rights of each and every living creature according to the Buddha.
On the day of Buddha Purnima celebration, Mahabodhi temple is decorated by the religious people using beautiful flowers, flags and other things. At this unique day, Buddhist people perform special rituals like followers bathe, wearing white clothes after holy bath, get together to pray, preaching teachings of Lord Buddha, eat and distribute the kheer and etc. They serve common public at this day by setting up the clean drinking water stalls in the public places. Some of the particular activities which are carried out at this day by different countries such as: