{"id":29769,"date":"2014-05-14T01:15:25","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T05:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29769"},"modified":"2014-05-14T21:24:39","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T01:24:39","slug":"vesak-messagethe-buddhas-word-is-liberating-but-only-to-the-extent-and-the-manner-in-which-we-engage-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29769","title":{"rendered":"Vesak Message: The Buddha’s Word is Liberating but only to the Extent and the Manner in which we Engage with it."},"content":{"rendered":"

(Text of an Editorial Appearing in the “Daily Mirror”of May 14th 2014 Under the heading “Let us Think Trees this Vesak”)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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At Diyawannawa Lake-May 14, 2014pic via: facebook.com\/PresidentRajapaksa<\/p><\/div>\n

More than two thousand six hundred years ago on a Full Moon Day in the month of Vesak, Mahamaya, Queen of the Sakya King Suddodana, gave birth to a child, Siddhartha Gauthama. He was born under a Sal tree. Thirty six years later, this same Siddhartha attained enlightenment in the place now known as Buddha Gaya. It happened under a Bo tree. At the age of 80, the Buddha Siddhartha Gauthama passed on to parinirvana in a Sal grove in the city of Kusinara belonging to the Malla King. The three moments make the themagula that Buddhists all over the world celebrate as \u2018Vesak\u2019.
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Buddha Dhamma, which calls for and celebrates free thinking, guides and advocates; the word of the Buddha is prescriptive but not commanding. The significance of Vesak then can be written in many ways with one reading as
\nsublime as another, as superficial as the other. \u2018Meaning\u2019 after all is inscribed by reader and the Buddha Vacana does not forbid nor sanction. The following is therefore just one of many possible ways to make Vesak significant in ways that go beyond the spectacle that it has become. <\/p>\n

It is not all thoran and koodu of course. Buddhists do indulge in that which has acquired new cultural meaning and which is called \u2018Vesak Baleema\u2019 or \u2018Seeing Vesak\u2019. This however is not done at the cost of going to temple to observe sil or even just to light a lamp and recite gathas. Moreover, all the lights do not drown the significance of dansal, that quintessentially a Sri Lankan cultural thing which is as grand a spectacle of giving as any. <\/p>\n

To be more sober though, one can return to the themugula and note that all three moments were associated with a tree. Most importantly, one can draw much from the fact that the first act of the Buddha, upon attaining enlightenment was a giving of a unique kind. It was called Animisalochana Pooja. the Buddha, after his Enlightenment, spent a whole week in front of the tree, standing with unblinking eyes, gazing at it with gratitude. <\/p>\n

If \u2018tree\u2019 is metaphor, there\u2019s so much we can be thankful for and so many ways in which we can show gratitude. Our parents are \u2018trees\u2019 that sheltered. Teachers, authors of books that shaped our ways, friends who held our hands to help us through tough times, histories that nourished us, children whose innocence reminded us of the children that reside within us, the list can go on. There are implements which we do not revere but which help us at every turn. It is not for show that the humble farmer clasps hands to worship his mammoty. It\u2019s inanimate, yes, but the act empowers by encouraging humility.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t stop to reflect enough, perhaps. Deeper reflection, say on the lines of the exercises embedded in the Satipattana Sutta, would reveal connectivities that are far more profound. Such meditation would empower in many ways no doubt, but this side of that larger exercise, there\u2019s a lot to draw from this time of Vesak. <\/p>\n

Vesak is about the themagula. It is about the Buddha Siddhartha Gauthama. The Buddha\u2019s word. It is liberating, but only to the extent and the manner in which we engage with it. For now, since the themagula is about trees in addition to so many other things, it would not harm to think \u2018trees\u2019, literally and metaphorically. There\u2019s something called Animisalocana Pooja. We don\u2019t have to do it. We can, though. <\/p>\n

COURTESY: DAILY MIRROR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Text of an Editorial Appearing in the “Daily Mirror”of May 14th 2014 Under the heading “Let us Think Trees this Vesak”) More than two thousand six hundred years ago on a Full Moon Day in the month of Vesak, Mahamaya, Queen of the Sakya King Suddodana, gave birth to a child, Siddhartha Gauthama. He was …<\/p>\n

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