Visakha Puja Day:

The Day Human Independence

8th May 2552

(For broadcasting on Radio Thailand on Visakha Puja Day, 8th May 2009)

By Phra Dr. Anil Dhammasakiyo

Wat Bovornnivet Viharn

Visakha Puja day is a global Buddhist festival and the one of the oldest festivals in the world. Internationally, it is widely recognized as the ‘Vesak Day’ or simply even the ‘Buddha Day’. It is not only Thai Buddhists who celebrate this day, but Buddhists around the world of all schools of Buddhism celebrate this day with various activities as an expression of a loving gesture of homage and recollecting the virtues of the Buddha, who was born, attained enlightenment, and passed into final nirvana, each occurring on the full‐moon day of the lunar month of Vesakha.

Since 1999, with the recognition made by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Visakha Puja day has been even widely celebrated not only among Buddhist populations but non‐Buddhist alike. In the global world, the Buddha is not only considered as the founder of Buddhism but he is also the instigator of the universal message and methods of creating peace and happiness in various levels from an individual, society and the whole world. For example, the Buddha’s timeless messages on the four noble truths and dependent origination explain the causes of the problems including global crisis which we are facing at present and the way bringing those disastrous crises to an end.

As a true celebration of the Visakha Puja day, I would like to invite every listener to celebrate the day not only as a part of an annual festival but celebrate it spiritually and wholeheartedly by practicing the teachings mindfully and culture them to shape who we are.

Remind you that the Visakha Puja day is more meaningful than what we thought. It is the day when the Buddha freed mankind from all bondage and taught us to develop a true humanness without divine help. The Buddha freed us from the idea that human destiny depends on the grace of god. Instead he taught us that our destiny is in our own hands. In other words, the Buddha was telling us that we shape our own life with a wholesome heart. This message is very clear from the incident of the Buddha’s birth when he uttered that he is the foremost of the world which means he is above all divine power.

At the Enlightenment, again, the Buddha after relinquished desire (or attachment), desirelessness (or aversion), and indifference (mixed attachment/aversion), uttered, “Now is birth‐and‐death finished! The ridge‐pole of that house built over many lives is broken.” This is yet another refreshing message of human independence showing that every consequence in our life is not under divine power but upon us. We can attain the supreme humanness with our own effort. 

At the final death, the Buddha again reminds us of human potentiality that we are living in a transient world so live your life mindfully. Mindfulness becomes the flagship teaching of 2 Buddhism in modern scientific world which in fact proved scientifically that it can solve all levels of human and global crisis with a simple development of mindfulness.

Recently, the Thai government with the cooperation of Thai sangha and Buddhist universities just successfully organized the grand international Buddhist conference on the United Nations Day of Vesak. The whole theme of the conference was Buddhist approach toglobal crisis.

This is another example of implying Buddhist wisdom which was taught on the Visakha Puja day to utilize not only to gain mental and spiritual peace but as a means of a solution to increasing global crisis. Buddha’s teaching on interdependence and causality reflect a Buddhist stand on this view. Everything is related to every other thing. If there is no peace in a society, there should be a variety of interdependent and interrelated causes that bring about such a situation. All these causes have to be attacked simultaneously and removed to make a reversal of the processes that have brought about a loss of peace in our society so that we can rebuild a culture of peace. This is achievable, of course, with an integrated selfdevelopment

approach to counteract the causes that bring about conflicts, social divisions and unrest.

Today, the nationwide celebration of Visakha Puja begins with the offering foods to monksand novices. At many places the Sangha and the government have officially  organized all day event. Also, every Buddhist Wat nationwide celebrates today with chanting, meditation, sermons and circumambulation.

All these celebrations bring people together for harmony and happiness making a contribution towards peace and cooperation. As a food for thought on this auspicious day may I suggest everyone of us to put aside a few minutes every day to sit in the inner silence of meditation in order to reflect upon the Buddha’s timeless teachings to realize the source of Dhamma in life at the source of our own mind, and thus to really appreciate the significance of the existence of the Buddha – a true celebration of Visakha Puja day.