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| Why We Celebrate Vesak | ||
| 作者 | Muesse, Mark W. |
|---|---|
| 出處題名 | The Middle Way: Journal of the Buddhist Society |
| 卷期 | v.79 n.1 |
| 出版日期 | 2004.05 |
| 頁次 | 10 - 12 |
| 出版者 | The Buddhist Society |
| 出版者網址 | http://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/ |
| 出版地 | London, England, UK [倫敦, 英格蘭, 英國] |
| 資料類型 | 期刊論文=Journal Article |
| 使用語言 | 英文=English |
| 附註項 | Dr Mark W Muesse is Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Rhodes College, Memphis Tennessee, USA. |
| 摘要 | Vesak is the day when Buddhists throughout the world celebrate the three most significant events in the life of the Buddha: his birth, his Enlightenment and his final liberation. It is no wonder Vesak is the most important holiday in Buddhism, for these three events represent the very advent of the Dhamma into this world. The Buddhist traditions have always celebrated these three occurrences on the same day. When I first learned of Vesak, I thought this was a little odd. It would be as if Christians were to make Christmas, Good Friday and Easter into a single holiday. As I have always thought we need more holidays rather than fewer, I wondered why Buddhists celebrated the Buddha's birth, Enlightenment and parinibbana all at once rather than on three separate occasions. Although there is some legendary material, there is little historical evidence to suggest that these events actually occurred on the same date, at a time when the earth was in the same precise location relative to the sun. After years of study, I have come to appreciate the deeper reasons for this way of celebrating the Buddha's life. There is, of course, great symbolic significance to the idea that he was born under the full moon of a spring month and died under that same full moon 80 years later. When my grandmother died exactly 92 years to the day from her birth, I realized what an extraordinary thing it is for a person's day of death to occur on the same date as his or her day of birth. When we observe that not only do the Buddha's birthday and parinibbana fall on the same date but that his enlightenment also occurs on that full moon day, we recognize that here is a unique person indeed. In this sense, then, Vesak is a reminder of the immense rarity of Buddhahood. But the celebration of the Buddha's birth, awakening, and final liberation on this one day means more than just honouring his uniqueness. More importantly, Vesak calls us to remember the deep, intimate connections among birth, death and Enlightenment. These profound connections are among the more essential reasons for celebrating Vesak as one festival rather than three. Most of us are accustomed to think of birth and death as opposites. We see them as marking the beginning and the end of a life, like the two great bookends of an individual life. This way of thinking of birth and death is true, of course, but it is also incomplete. Birth and death are much closer to one another than we usually imagine. As the Buddha saw, birth and death imply each another. All things that are born will die; all that dies has been born. What has not been born cannot die. We can also see, as he did, that birth and death are not just the great end points of our segmented existence. Every moment of life is a birth and a death, a coming into existence and a passing away from existence. Our whole lives, therefore, are permeated by a countless series of births and deaths. The word we give to this phenomenon is impermanence, anicca, the constant change that characterizes all reality. In every moment, we die and are reborn. Who we were passes away, and we are renewed. Like a snake shedding its skin, the old is left behind so that the new can emerge. With us, the change is not always as perceptible as leaving behind an old skin, observation and reflection show us that moment to moment, our thoughts, our feelings and our bodies change. What we glimpse in ourselves is the way all things are. From moment to moment, the entire universe is coming into being and passing away. For us to celebrate the birth of the Buddha together with his final passing away is thus to recognize the intrinsic connection between birth and death. Birth and death happen in every instance, not just at the beginning and the end of our lives. It is fitting that we recognize and honour together the Buddha's coming into being and his passing away from being. But Vesak is about more than just celebrating his birth and |
| ISSN | 00263214 (P) |
| 點閱次數 | 1098 |
| 建檔日期 | 2009.09.30 |
| 更新日期 | 2020.11.04 |
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