Vesak was known as Kason in Burma during ancient times in Burma people pour water to the Bodhi tree and worship the Bodhi tree.Even today we still do this and worship the Bodhi tree.
I thought he was American, either way Europe is quite bizarre as well since Buddha's story was converted to Barlaam and Josaphat and he was honored as a Christian saint for 900 years even saving monasticism from the protestant revolution.
If you enjoy that, then you' may enjoy the relationship between Anagarika Dharmapala and the Theosophical society: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagarika_Dharmapala#Dharmapala,_science,_and_Protestant_Buddhism
Oh u from Sri Lanka ? I am a born Catholic who recently converted to Buddhism❤ Buddhism is such a beautiful and a scientific religion . And I would love to visit Sri Lanka in the future.
As a Mongolian monk who's studying Tibetan Buddhism in last 12 years if my life. Its very interesting to learn how other people ( mostly westerners ) sees and learns about Buddhism from your channel. Thank you very much for information youre sharing. Next time when i talk with my western friends. I have a gift to give them..
@@asynchronicity well westerners always wants some kind of sign of success in meditation or other kinds of lessons. And for the Asians theyre more patient since they did it almost 2500 years ago
The temple you used in the first footage is a cult in Thailand called Dhammakaya. I think it will be very interesting topic for you to cover a “new age” cult in buddhism.
There are that kind of things happening in Sri Lanka as well. Various monks developing their own styes of chanting suttas and even interpreting dhamma in their own ways; some of these cults are very spiritual and influences Buddhist society in a positive way like Mahamewna monasteries in Sri Lanka and some goes negatively.
@@silentkiller421 Both those cults are equally harmful. It is just Sangha-Bedha - obviously. Equivalent of a "mortal sin" - for everyone else to understand. Those are actually Mahayana denominations - the Dhamma they teach; is different from Theravada. The real issue (according to me) is they pretend to be Theravada and teach Mahayana. Only few who studies both understand what they are doing. If someone teach Mahayana and call it Mahayana, I have no problem with that.
@@vishva8kumaraSuch boundaries and labels are ultimately without substance and therefore meaningless. My only concern is if they fleece the laypeople or fan the flames of hate and bigotry like some Myanmaran temples.
Thank you for this video! I'm especially happy to see you point out the variety in celebrations and meanings between countries. I practice in a Korean lineage, and we don't even call it Vesak unless it's a celebration with other Buddhist schools. We just call it Buddha's Birthday and, as you mentioned, that is all we celebrate at the time. We gave a separate celebration for Buddha's Enlightenment in December. Well done as always!
Vesak is the most colorful festival here in Sri Lanka. It is the day the Buddhist new year begins (2568 - 2024). This year, it will be celebrated on 23rd of May (Full moon poya day of Vesak). The day after Vesak is also a holiday. On this day, all the houses, streets and public places are decorated with lights and lanterns. Pandals are erected depicting stories from Buddha's past lives. Free food and beverage stalls are opened everywhere. Songs of the Buddha's virtues can be heard from all sides. It's like christmas in the west.
I wanna go there! Seriously tho, rural Colorado, western rural US in other less populated states. If u like, read all the 8 Patanjali Yoga Sutras. I didn't regret 🙏 From an Earth citizen traveler, currently in Thailand 🙏
I've long found it ironic that Olcott and his followers used colonial tactics against the colonialists themselves. Fight fire with fire, so to say. Meanwhile, around the same time all that was happening, there was a small group of Thai Theravadan monks who tended to renounce the institutional Buddhism that was beginning to flourish and began retreating to the forests to practice what they viewed as a real and strict Dhamma practice as the Buddha himself might have practiced, what is known today as the Thai Forest Tradition.
I went to the Vesak celebration at Borobudur last year. Or at least, the public, afternoon portion leading up to the release of the lanterns. I would say that a small minority of attendees were actual Buddhists. One of the monks, who I believe was visiting from Thailand, led a very non-religious group meditation in English, which was translated into Indonesian. The whole thing was kind of strange. On the one hand, it felt very commercialized. On the other hand, it was really refreshing to see local people, most of whom are Muslim with a smaller percentage of Christians/Catholics, gather for what is ostensibly a Buddhist religious event.
I remember reading about some of this in Tom Holland's Dominion. Even though Christianity wasn't able to increase it's share of followers in India, the native religions were forced to organize and reform themselves, and formulate their apologia in a way that was similar to those of Christianity.
@@speedwagon1824 : Because those states/regions mostly did not have well defined preexisting religions with a tradition of written scriptures and laws and a clergy/scribe class like that of Hinduism (actually any of the various forms of it) or Buddhism or even Islam. (Non-forced) Christianity of the Brits and Americans failed to convert significant amount of people where pre-existing organized religions with a clergy class was present who also restructured and reorganized themselves to counter Christianity. [Note: I am NOT against or in favor of Christian conversion and I am only interested to understand why conversions fail in some region and succeed in others]
Tbh idk about any new reforms that took place in Indian religions because of Christianity, If they did Christian percentage would have been way less In south india than it is now. I think it had an impact on how organised religion activates but not reforms
Korea and Japan are mentioned, but Buddhist traditions in these countries were introduced through Chinese Buddhism. The celebration of Buddha's birthday has been a pretty huge deal in China ever since 300 CE. It is often referred to as 浴佛節 or Buddha Shower Day, where you pour water on a statue of baby Buddha just like what you featured in this video. This tradition is mentioned in the biography of Liu Yao (劉繇 157-198) in the Records of the Three Kingdoms as a strange thing that a general by the name of Ze Rong (笮融 ?-196) who Liu Yao defeated likes to host annually. The text says "Every Buddha Shower Day, Ze would prepare massive feasts and set seats along the road stretching for tens of li (415.8 m). The crowds that gathered to watch the ceremony and feast are in the 10s of thousands ( 每浴佛，多設酒飯，布席於路，經數十里，民人來觀及就食且萬人)."
Nice! I'm a recent Buddhist convert (as in, little over 6 months, took refuge only last November) and attend teachings both from Chinese Pure Land and Gelug monastics. Just yesterday was the Chinese version of the celebration, Fódàn (Buddha's birthday) and although work obligations and living in a pretty solidly Catholic majority country hindered my ability to fully use the day to contemplate I'm lucky to have enough vacation days lined up to take this upcoming week instead and really take the time to go intensive in my spiritual practice, just in time for the South Asian and Tibetan date. Big fan of your work!
Brother Stay firm in faith , may noble triple gems of supreme buddha righteous dhamma and great sangha bless you I transfer loving kindness to you May understand four noble truths Buddha's path is the path to ultimate liberation
Wow! There are Buddhists in Bangladesh! Did the tradition continue from the time Buddhism first came to the area, or has it been reintroduced "recently"?
@@mikeharrison1868 Not recently, once upon a time (around 7-8 centuries ago) entire region called Bangladesh today was rulled by buddhist "pala" dynasty, majority of population were buddhist too, there are still many ancient buddhist archaeological sites like "shalbon bihar", "mahasthangarh" can be found here today! Now only the tribal people in hilly region of chittagong division of Bangladesh are buddhist.
As atheist we must propagate Buddha for he is the one that taught us to be skeptic and investigate. Let’s celebrate him 🎉Thankfully I’m traveling to Thailand !
I'm actually quite excited as a new Buddhist to celebrate Vesak for my first time. This video was very well done btw. As your videos always are. Namo Buddhaya ☸️
Vaishakh Poornima or Buddha Poornima in India. Vaishakh is month, while Poornima means full moon day. Other than Buddhist scriptures, A Hindu scripture, Nilottma Purana does explain about reverence and worship of Buddha's images to this day. Even some Kashmiri Shaivas in Kashmir worshipped him on that day. Other than Buddha Poornima, it is also considered the day when Vishnu took his 2nd avatar as Koorma avatar.
Greetings from Colombia. I love your videos. I have learnt too much about religion. I would like you speak not too fast, so we as non native English speakers could enjoy and learn more from you amazing work. Thanks.
You can use the speed control to slow down the video. I understand Japanese much better at 0.25 speed. You might find that the same thing holds true for English.
Vesak was celebrated in Korea throughout the Shilla and the Koryo Dynasties, since Koryo was a Buddhist nation. While the Joseon Dynasty oppressed Buddhism (tbf lots of temples were rich and corrupt at that point, and the Confucianist scholars who established Joseon were rightfully critical of Buddhism) and did not officially celebrate the holiday, the celebration never entirely went away among the temples and lay devotees. In fact, Vesak was one of the few nights when curfew was lifted to allow lantern processions in Joseon's capital. Aside from Hana Matsuri during the Japanese colonial period, the holiday as South Koreans know it in postcolonial Korea was officially established in 1975 as "Shakya's Birthday (석가탄신일)." While Buddhist denominations were glad to finally have a Buddhist holiday recognized by a local independent government after hundreds of years, the name "Shakya's Birthday" still troubled some. While Shakyamuni is sometimes unofficially shortened as Shakya, it's not an official title as Shakyamuni means "Sage of the Shakya Clan" and calling his birthday "Shakya's Birthday" would be the equivalent of calling Christmas "Nazareth's Birthday." For decades many Buddhist denominations have petitioned to change the name of the holiday to "Buddha's Birthday" and finally in 2017, its name was officially changed to "Buddha's Birthday" or more literally, "The Day Buddha Arrived (부처님 오신 날)."
I saw in a video that in South Korea Islam is growing faster. Is that true? I'd like to know which religion people in your country follow the most? What is the place and treatment of Buddhism there? Thanks!
Proud Sinhalese buddhist here...We have done our role for the buddhism and our great teacher for two and half millenias...In this world the very last buddhist will be a Sinhalese...If sinhalese are not there buddhism would be long lost...
Oh that is really so cool. Please protect Buddhism in your country for the future generations too. Pass it to your children as well. Love from a born catholic who converted to Buddhism last year. This is my first vesak
Thank you 🙏🏻 I have shared with my colleagues who teach high school students Studies of Religion in NSW Australia. In our curriculum Wesak is a Buddhist significant practice option. This video will provide lots of starting points for students to select and research diverse practices for their essays 🙏🏻
I have visited a few different Buddhist temple in the USA on Vesak. They have all done the ritual of pouring water on the head of a small statue of baby Buddha. Each person in the congregation would go up to the altar, take the ladle, dip it into the water and pour it over the statue. In one case, a non-Buddhist visitor (a friend I took with me), carelessly let the ladle touch the statue's head. The Buddhist directing the ritual said "oh, don't touch Buddha's head". In another Buddhist temple (Ekoji/Buddhist Churches of America) the children put on a little nativity play, retelling the story of the birth of Buddha. This just emphasized to me how much like Protestant Christianity this particular branch of Buddhism has adapted to American religious life.
Are you able to visit a Theravada Buddhist Temple in your country? If you like to follow or learn Buddhism visit a Theravada Buddhist temple or a monk since it is the purest or the right one. "Pouring water on the head of a small statue of a baby Buddha" ?? There is no baby Buddhas. I guess you meant Prince Siddhartha who later became Lord Buddha. And in my country (Sri Lanka) I have never seen such a thing like pouring water. But I have seen Hindu people do it to their statuses of Gods. They have around 330 million gods. They pour milk. Thanks! ❤
@@amilashirantha8004 Yes, I have been to Theravada temple here (Thai, Laotian). But the ones that did the Vesak water pouring were Mahayana (Chinese, Japanese, Korean). We have just about every kind of Buddhism here, due to immigrants from many different Asian cultures plus western converts.
Loi Khratong during late November in Thailand was always my favorite time of year when people would light lanterns and send them to the sky, signifying to Buddhists the letting go of their past sins, but it always made the night skies very beautiful to look at (and streets lowkey dangerous the next morning as they fell back down). Great video!
The “Panadura Controversy,” the name coined by the media in the 1870s, recalls the historic Panadura Debate, which ignited the Buddhist revival in colonial Ceylon. This debate attracted Colonel Olcott to Ceylon to take refuge in the Triple Gems and accept the five precepts. 🙏🏻
Holidays are a way to validate and reaffirm religiosity and I think it's too bad that some (maybe even most) buddhist convert communities don't take part. Some cities have a pan-buddhist celebration with all the centers and temples in the city coming together even though traditionally they celebrate on different days. My previous zen center didn't do anything for Vesak or the Japanese day for it (april 8th).
That's what happens in Australia. Federation Square in the Melbourne CBD becomes host for the Buddha's Birthday and Multicultural Festival. It's basically a huge Buddhist and pan-Asian festival that attracts Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Your Zen Centre seems to have been more of just a centre rather than anything else. You should visit a Buddhist temple or a monastery, doesn't matter if East Asian or South/Southeast Asian as you will see all types of people there celebrating Vesak.
Apologies if someone's mentioned this already. Some things that defines a Buddha is their rediscovery of the Buddhadharma and their ability to teach it. I.e. to have the skills to lead other beings to a state of enlightenment. So there is the logical possibility of rediscovering the path but not have the motivation, confidence or capacity to lead others to that realization (pratyekabuddhas) . Consequently the Buddha's first teaching at Sarnath, where he led his old friends to enlightenment, is also a fundamentally important date in the Buddhist calender. To me personally, it's a more important date than his birthday, as due to circumstance, he may not have gained enlightenment in that particular lifetime. (Or maybe I'm using that as an excuse beacause I didn't have a visa to visit Lumbini to complete my pilgrimage!) If the Buddha hadn't been able to convey the core of his experience we wouldn't have a living tradition coming down to us today. We'd just have a scholarly, though perhaps well intentioned, superficial philosophy called Buddhism.
I Was invited to partake in the preah vesak this wednesday here in Siem Reap but was curious to know what it is all about since I don't speak much Khmer. Thank you for this explanation!
I was privileged to attend my first formal Vesak celebration earlier this month at the Chan monastery where I attend classes and services; they held a very beautiful Buddha bathing ceremony.
I sincerely appreciate your neutral, yet in depth, analysis and explanation. I never feel like you are proselytizing or judging any of the topics you cover.
After a long day at a Christian school where theology is mixed with every subject and not much is secular or objective (all ‘secular music’ is banned, if that illustrates my point at all.) it’s refreshing to hear about religions in an scholarly and intellectual way. In chapel one day they told us how to ‘talk with god’ and how when asking a question and praying, that the first thought that popped into their mind might be god talking to them. The next week they said the same thing, gave a sermon about careers, and that it was not important what you wanted to do, but what god wanted you to do, and gave the same speech about how to ‘talk to god.’ Needless to say telling a room full of 5-10 year olds and a few teenagers that the first impulse in their brain might be god speaking to them, telling them that what god wanted them to do is all that mattered, and that obeying god was important, you’ve pretty much told a load of little kids to obey their first impulses… which has… shall we say.. FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES!
Vesak is like Christmas, Hanukkah and Diwali nowadays. They are celebrated in order to show the world that the religion exists. It is much more for non-believers than it is for believers. Passover and Easter is more sacred than Hanukkah and Chrismas but we hear about the latter two more because it is much easier to commercialize.
Who are you to decide which is more and less sacred? If you actually learn about different religions you'll come to realise there are deeper reasons these festivals happen when they do
What nonsense is this. Are you even Buddhist? Vesak is THE most important relgious event for Buddhist because it commerates 3 of the most important milestones in Lord Buddhas life. Don't create lies about things you dont know.
Hanamatsuri, which appears on this video as a springtime festival in Japan, itself originates from Vesak. Usually held in April but some sects set different dates
In Tibetan Buddhism during Saga Dawa we do hold to similar ideals but the laity are a bit more involved. Retreats are encouraged especially during that time period.
Great info. What s missing is written records from China that are dated back to 501 to 565AD to Wei, Jin and North-South Dynasties: During the Wei, Jin and North-South Dynasties, there began to be clear records of the Buddha's Birthday Festival on the 8th of April, for example, the ‘Jing Chu Years and Seasons’ records 荆楚岁时记: ‘On the 8th of April, all the temples set up fasts to bathe the Buddha in five-coloured perfume, and together they made the Dragon Flower Meeting. 魏晋南北朝时期，开始有明确的四月八日佛诞节的记载，比如《荆楚岁时记》记载： “四月八日，诸寺设斋以五色香水浴佛，共作龙华会 To completely ignore all the written records in Chinese on Buddhist birthday from more than a thousand years ago would not do justice to this topic.
You can read *Panadura Wadaya* (one of the Five Great Debates of Sri Lanka between Buddhists and Christians) online. The Christians lost every single time in front of their colonial leaders and common people and that was the reason people like Olcott visited Sri Lanka.
Is the anti-colonial nature of modern Vesak the reason why Diem banned Vesak flags in South Vietnam leading to the Buddhist protests including Thich Quang Duc's famous 1963 self-immolation?
No, it's a bit simpler and pettier than that. Diem was Catholic and his elder brother was the Archbishop of South Vietnam. Diem himself also held a deep personal hatred of Buddhists because many of his father's close relatives were burned alive by Buddhists during a persecution of Catholics authorized by the Vietnamese emperor. Diem just wanted vengeance.
No, Vesak has always existed. The festival was always celebrated since the ancient days. People in China were celebrating the Buddha's birthday since at least 300 CE during the fourth lunar month and there are Japanese woodblock paintings of women celebrating Vesak in Japan by bathing the Buddha statue. The festival as practiced across Asia was simply rebranded and unified in a way during the colonial era. You can still see despite the unification that the cultural differences between each celebration across Asia can differ. East Asians (exclude Tibetans and Mongols) still only celebrate the Buddha's birthday, whereas South and Southeast Asians + Tibetans and Mongols celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha.
Many people may not know about the teachings of Buddhism. The Buddha taught about the origin of the world and universe, quantum physics. Even Brahma, which Hinduism regards as the most excellent. There is still something more noble than that. There are as many as 31 worlds.
Origin of the world and universe? There's no way the buddha would know about it. He's just a man, a human, not a God. Nobody really knows. Every religious fools think they know even though they don't. Buddha was silent when someone asked him about God. Buddha was nothing more than a therapist or life coach in the stone age era. Before that he was just a rich boy that chose to be homeless. It's you followers that made him into a big icon that he is today. The guy never even wanted to become an icon.
Not sure if you will get to this (only watched through 2 minutes so far), but it should be noted that other Indian based religions also observe Vaisakhi. It was on this holiday that the 10th Sikh guru Gobind Singh initiated the start of the Sikh Khalsa. They were gathered to celebrate the Indian festival but, from then on, for Sikhs, this holiday has celebrated the founding of the Khalsa. Buddhist cultures adopted the Indian festival date and name (Vaisakhi --> Vesak or Wesak). Off hand, I don't recall what Vaisakhi stands for for Hindus.
Wrong Vesak. There are multiple Vesak days, the Sikh one is one month before. Buddhism came long before Sikhism- the Indian calendars themselves are Buddhist and come from Buddhist kings.
Vaisakhi has nothing to do with Vesak actually. It's completely unrelated and they're not celebrated on the same day. They just both have similar names because they're both named after the Indian lunar month of Vaisakha. Vesak as practiced in India is not called Vesak, it's called Buddha Jayanti, while the festival in various other parts of South and Southeast Asia like Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia are named after the second lunar month of Vaisakha on the Buddhist calendar.
@@user-jt3dw6vv4x I guess that's like confusing Chanukah for the "Jewish Christmas" simply because they coincidentally come around the same time of the year. So it's just a coincidence that the birth of Buddha is observed in the month of Vaisakhi?
@@lshulman58 Yeah it's just a coincidence. The Vesak festival has been celebrated across Asia for thousands of years, it's a very old festival but it was known by different names depending on the culture. In China it was celebrated as early as 300 CE and is still known as Fodan and in Japan, it's still known as Hanamatsuri (Flower Festival). In India, the festival is still known as Buddha Jayanti. It's only in some South and Southeast Asian countries that it's known as Vesak or Wesak or Visakha or Vixakha as it's named after the second lunar month on the Buddhist calendar which is also known as Vaisakha.
Wrong Siddhartha was born in Nepal, Buddha was born under the bodhi tree in India Buddha is a totally different enlightenment person with no relationship to siddartha
@@Idonothing-jj7qe When enlightened you're totally different person that's why the title Buddha was given. Siddharth was a normal guy when he was born near the Indo-Nepal border but the person whom world venerates Buddha was discovered or emerged under bodhi tree in India.
Interesting; although not all South East Asian countries were colonized such as Siam/Thailand. Is there Vesak festival (called Visakha Bucha) also recent or does it go back further I wonder.
Vesak is actually a really old holiday, it was celebrated in China as early as 300 CE and in various other Asian countries but with different names. It's just the various celebrations that occurred across Asia during the fourth lunar month (East Asia) and second lunar month (South and Southeast Asia) were sort of unified in this recognisable pan-Buddhist holiday as a result of what happened in colonial Sri Lanka.
Some things minor Wesak in the Pali language is pronounced as Vesaakha Vesaakha is the lunar month of April/May (full moon) BCE dates for the Buddha My research, full moon days -563/05/21 birth (calndr starts -487/05/21 death (76 years)
Subscribe to Sacred & Profane's newsletter here!: eepurl.com/gjbzuX
What on earth is "BOOODISM"?
Thank you on Vesak day 2024
There is nothing like hindu calender. The calender is basically based on saka era , Gregorian and geographical location
Both saka era and malava era calenders were of buddhists.
Vesak was known as Kason in Burma during ancient times in Burma people pour water to the Bodhi tree and worship the Bodhi tree.Even today we still do this and worship the Bodhi tree.
🙏
🙏🙏🙏
You dont worship the tree
@@jamesstevenson7725 we do .
@@jamesstevenson7725 in the early Buddhist art Bodhi tree was a sacred stupa. BUDDHIST regard the Bodhi tree as a stupa and worship it.
Amazing timing! I'm going to a Vesak retreat at a Buddhist monastery this weekend. Very helpful info.
Have a good Vesak! 🙏
A 19th-century British Theosophist becoming Buddhist and having a major influence on Buddhism in SE Asia is just really bizzare and fascinating.
I thought he was American, either way Europe is quite bizarre as well since Buddha's story was converted to Barlaam and Josaphat and he was honored as a Christian saint for 900 years even saving monasticism from the protestant revolution.
I instantly thought of the white savior trope and in extention of Dune
Not British he was an American
If you enjoy that, then you' may enjoy the relationship between Anagarika Dharmapala and the Theosophical society: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagarika_Dharmapala#Dharmapala,_science,_and_Protestant_Buddhism
@@DasWarVorbestimmtbut he didn't *force* Buddhists to do anything.
Happy and advanced vesak month wishes to all around here in R4B 🇱🇰💐☝💗🌝
Oh u from Sri Lanka ? I am a born Catholic who recently converted to Buddhism❤ Buddhism is such a beautiful and a scientific religion . And I would love to visit Sri Lanka in the future.
@@Faceon6790 yes please do visit ☝💗💐🙏 good visit 👍
Same tashi delek
As a Mongolian monk who's studying Tibetan Buddhism in last 12 years if my life. Its very interesting to learn how other people ( mostly westerners ) sees and learns about Buddhism from your channel. Thank you very much for information youre sharing. Next time when i talk with my western friends. I have a gift to give them..
Have you seen any patterns regarding differences in approach to the Dharma (Asian vs Western)?
An introductory short film to basic Buddhism, very well done.
@@asynchronicitywhat exactly and why are you seeking?
I did not expect an anime loli avatar on an account of a Mongolian monk but oh well.
@@asynchronicity well westerners always wants some kind of sign of success in meditation or other kinds of lessons. And for the Asians theyre more patient since they did it almost 2500 years ago
In India/ South Asia , Other than "Buddha Jayanti", Vesak is also known as "Buddha Purnima" ( Purnima translates as Full moon).
The temple you used in the first footage is a cult in Thailand called Dhammakaya. I think it will be very interesting topic for you to cover a “new age” cult in buddhism.
Boost this
There are that kind of things happening in Sri Lanka as well. Various monks developing their own styes of chanting suttas and even interpreting dhamma in their own ways; some of these cults are very spiritual and influences Buddhist society in a positive way like Mahamewna monasteries in Sri Lanka and some goes negatively.
@@silentkiller421 Both those cults are equally harmful. It is just Sangha-Bedha - obviously. Equivalent of a "mortal sin" - for everyone else to understand.
Those are actually Mahayana denominations - the Dhamma they teach; is different from Theravada. The real issue (according to me) is they pretend to be Theravada and teach Mahayana. Only few who studies both understand what they are doing. If someone teach Mahayana and call it Mahayana, I have no problem with that.
YES
@@vishva8kumaraSuch boundaries and labels are ultimately without substance and therefore meaningless. My only concern is if they fleece the laypeople or fan the flames of hate and bigotry like some Myanmaran temples.
I’m loving your Buddhism videos man! Keep up the amazing work!
May All being be happy by the grace the of Lord Buddha 🙏🌸
Namo Buddha!
Thank you for this video! I'm especially happy to see you point out the variety in celebrations and meanings between countries.
I practice in a Korean lineage, and we don't even call it Vesak unless it's a celebration with other Buddhist schools. We just call it Buddha's Birthday and, as you mentioned, that is all we celebrate at the time. We gave a separate celebration for Buddha's Enlightenment in December.
Well done as always!
성불하세요 :-)
Namu Kwanseum Bosal!
@@iancampbell1411 🙏🙏🙏
Wake up babe!! New ReligionForBreakfast upload!!
You neckbeards don’t have girlfriends 😂
Vesak is the most colorful festival here in Sri Lanka. It is the day the Buddhist new year begins (2568 - 2024). This year, it will be celebrated on 23rd of May (Full moon poya day of Vesak). The day after Vesak is also a holiday. On this day, all the houses, streets and public places are decorated with lights and lanterns. Pandals are erected depicting stories from Buddha's past lives. Free food and beverage stalls are opened everywhere. Songs of the Buddha's virtues can be heard from all sides. It's like christmas in the west.
🙏
In the name of budhdha genocide of Tamils...great joker
❤
In my small town in rural Colorado, we are gathering and reading a recently translated sutra, in English.
🙏🙏🙏🙏
Blessings of the Triple Gem! Wish you a meaningful Vesak - from Sri Lanka
I wanna go there! Seriously tho, rural Colorado, western rural US in other less populated states.
If u like, read all the 8 Patanjali Yoga Sutras. I didn't regret 🙏
From an Earth citizen traveler, currently in Thailand 🙏
I've long found it ironic that Olcott and his followers used colonial tactics against the colonialists themselves. Fight fire with fire, so to say. Meanwhile, around the same time all that was happening, there was a small group of Thai Theravadan monks who tended to renounce the institutional Buddhism that was beginning to flourish and began retreating to the forests to practice what they viewed as a real and strict Dhamma practice as the Buddha himself might have practiced, what is known today as the Thai Forest Tradition.
I went to the Vesak celebration at Borobudur last year. Or at least, the public, afternoon portion leading up to the release of the lanterns. I would say that a small minority of attendees were actual Buddhists. One of the monks, who I believe was visiting from Thailand, led a very non-religious group meditation in English, which was translated into Indonesian. The whole thing was kind of strange. On the one hand, it felt very commercialized. On the other hand, it was really refreshing to see local people, most of whom are Muslim with a smaller percentage of Christians/Catholics, gather for what is ostensibly a Buddhist religious event.
I remember reading about some of this in Tom Holland's Dominion. Even though Christianity wasn't able to increase it's share of followers in India, the native religions were forced to organize and reform themselves, and formulate their apologia in a way that was similar to those of Christianity.
Christianity did increase is followers in North-East India. 3 states in there are majority Christian, and by a lot.
Percentage wise it's very small but given how big India is, even a small percentage translates to large numbers in absolute terms.
@@speedwagon1824 : Because those states/regions mostly did not have well defined preexisting religions with a tradition of written scriptures and laws and a clergy/scribe class like that of Hinduism (actually any of the various forms of it) or Buddhism or even Islam. (Non-forced) Christianity of the Brits and Americans failed to convert significant amount of people where pre-existing organized religions with a clergy class was present who also restructured and reorganized themselves to counter Christianity.
[Note: I am NOT against or in favor of Christian conversion and I am only interested to understand why conversions fail in some region and succeed in others]
@@speedwagon1824Those people were naga head hunters that didn't follow dharma they were uncivilized savages prefect converts to Christianity
Tbh idk about any new reforms that took place in Indian religions because of Christianity,
If they did Christian percentage would have been way less In south india than it is now.
I think it had an impact on how organised religion activates but not reforms
Korea and Japan are mentioned, but Buddhist traditions in these countries were introduced through Chinese Buddhism. The celebration of Buddha's birthday has been a pretty huge deal in China ever since 300 CE. It is often referred to as 浴佛節 or Buddha Shower Day, where you pour water on a statue of baby Buddha just like what you featured in this video. This tradition is mentioned in the biography of Liu Yao (劉繇 157-198) in the Records of the Three Kingdoms as a strange thing that a general by the name of Ze Rong (笮融 ?-196) who Liu Yao defeated likes to host annually. The text says "Every Buddha Shower Day, Ze would prepare massive feasts and set seats along the road stretching for tens of li (415.8 m). The crowds that gathered to watch the ceremony and feast are in the 10s of thousands ( 每浴佛，多設酒飯，布席於路，經數十里，民人來觀及就食且萬人)."
Buddhism are no boundaries it's universal truth
Happy Vesak Day Everyone.☸️
Nice! I'm a recent Buddhist convert (as in, little over 6 months, took refuge only last November) and attend teachings both from Chinese Pure Land and Gelug monastics. Just yesterday was the Chinese version of the celebration, Fódàn (Buddha's birthday) and although work obligations and living in a pretty solidly Catholic majority country hindered my ability to fully use the day to contemplate I'm lucky to have enough vacation days lined up to take this upcoming week instead and really take the time to go intensive in my spiritual practice, just in time for the South Asian and Tibetan date. Big fan of your work!
Tashi Dalek, welcome to the Three Jewels!
Brother
Stay firm in faith , may noble triple gems of supreme buddha righteous dhamma and great sangha bless you
I transfer loving kindness to you
May understand four noble truths
Buddha's path is the path to ultimate liberation
If you don't mind me asking, what country do you live in? Are you from Italy?
As Bangladeshi Buddhists we call this festival "Boishakh"...... Happy vesakh to all 🎉❤
Wow! There are Buddhists in Bangladesh! Did the tradition continue from the time Buddhism first came to the area, or has it been reintroduced "recently"?
Not recently @@mikeharrison1868
@@mikeharrison1868 Not recently, once upon a time (around 7-8 centuries ago) entire region called Bangladesh today was rulled by buddhist "pala" dynasty, majority of population were buddhist too, there are still many ancient buddhist archaeological sites like "shalbon bihar", "mahasthangarh" can be found here today! Now only the tribal people in hilly region of chittagong division of Bangladesh are buddhist.
Boishak= Vaishsk = Vesak
Yes, many Bangladeshi monks came to Sri Lanka in recent times to evade persecution.
Glad to to see the important role Sri Lanka has played in the history of Buddhism getting recognized.
As atheist we must propagate Buddha for he is the one that taught us to be skeptic and investigate. Let’s celebrate him 🎉Thankfully I’m traveling to Thailand !
And Buddhism is a non-theistic religion.
I'm actually quite excited as a new Buddhist to celebrate Vesak for my first time. This video was very well done btw. As your videos always are.
Namo Buddhaya ☸️
Enjoy bro
Vesak is Vaisakha Poornima or the full moon in the Indian calendar month of Vaisakha. This is the day Buddha attained enlightenment.
Vaishakh Poornima or Buddha Poornima in India. Vaishakh is month, while Poornima means full moon day.
Other than Buddhist scriptures,
A Hindu scripture, Nilottma Purana does explain about reverence and worship of Buddha's images to this day.
Even some Kashmiri Shaivas in Kashmir worshipped him on that day.
Other than Buddha Poornima, it is also considered the day when Vishnu took his 2nd avatar as Koorma avatar.
Greetings from Colombia. I love your videos. I have learnt too much about religion. I would like you speak not too fast, so we as non native English speakers could enjoy and learn more from you amazing work. Thanks.
You can use the speed control to slow down the video. I understand Japanese much better at 0.25 speed. You might find that the same thing holds true for English.
@@be1tube Thank you sir
Im colombian and i watch these videos as at 1.5X speed
He really does talk fast. I'm an East Coast American, native English speaker, and his speech is really fast even for me.
I am a native English speaker, and I have to listen carefully to keep up with the narration.
Vesak was celebrated in Korea throughout the Shilla and the Koryo Dynasties, since Koryo was a Buddhist nation. While the Joseon Dynasty oppressed Buddhism (tbf lots of temples were rich and corrupt at that point, and the Confucianist scholars who established Joseon were rightfully critical of Buddhism) and did not officially celebrate the holiday, the celebration never entirely went away among the temples and lay devotees. In fact, Vesak was one of the few nights when curfew was lifted to allow lantern processions in Joseon's capital.
Aside from Hana Matsuri during the Japanese colonial period, the holiday as South Koreans know it in postcolonial Korea was officially established in 1975 as "Shakya's Birthday (석가탄신일)." While Buddhist denominations were glad to finally have a Buddhist holiday recognized by a local independent government after hundreds of years, the name "Shakya's Birthday" still troubled some. While Shakyamuni is sometimes unofficially shortened as Shakya, it's not an official title as Shakyamuni means "Sage of the Shakya Clan" and calling his birthday "Shakya's Birthday" would be the equivalent of calling Christmas "Nazareth's Birthday." For decades many Buddhist denominations have petitioned to change the name of the holiday to "Buddha's Birthday" and finally in 2017, its name was officially changed to "Buddha's Birthday" or more literally, "The Day Buddha Arrived (부처님 오신 날)."
I saw in a video that in South Korea Islam is growing faster. Is that true?
I'd like to know which religion people in your country follow the most? What is the place and treatment of Buddhism there?
Thanks!
Proud Sinhalese buddhist here...We have done our role for the buddhism and our great teacher for two and half millenias...In this world the very last buddhist will be a Sinhalese...If sinhalese are not there buddhism would be long lost...
Oh that is really so cool. Please protect Buddhism in your country for the future generations too. Pass it to your children as well. Love from a born catholic who converted to Buddhism last year. This is my first vesak
@@Faceon6790 happy wesak ❤❤ from srilanka 🇱🇰
Thank you 🙏🏻 I have shared with my colleagues who teach high school students Studies of Religion in NSW Australia. In our curriculum Wesak is a Buddhist significant practice option. This video will provide lots of starting points for students to select and research diverse practices for their essays 🙏🏻
I have visited a few different Buddhist temple in the USA on Vesak. They have all done the ritual of pouring water on the head of a small statue of baby Buddha. Each person in the congregation would go up to the altar, take the ladle, dip it into the water and pour it over the statue. In one case, a non-Buddhist visitor (a friend I took with me), carelessly let the ladle touch the statue's head. The Buddhist directing the ritual said "oh, don't touch Buddha's head". In another Buddhist temple (Ekoji/Buddhist Churches of America) the children put on a little nativity play, retelling the story of the birth of Buddha. This just emphasized to me how much like Protestant Christianity this particular branch of Buddhism has adapted to American religious life.
Do they have tithes, like that part in the service where they pass around a box and people put money inside?
Are you able to visit a Theravada Buddhist Temple in your country? If you like to follow or learn Buddhism visit a Theravada Buddhist temple or a monk since it is the purest or the right one.
"Pouring water on the head of a small statue of a baby Buddha" ?? There is no baby Buddhas. I guess you meant Prince Siddhartha who later became Lord Buddha. And in my country (Sri Lanka) I have never seen such a thing like pouring water. But I have seen Hindu people do it to their statuses of Gods. They have around 330 million gods. They pour milk.
Thanks! ❤
@@amilashirantha8004
Yes, I have been to Theravada temple here (Thai, Laotian). But the ones that did the Vesak water pouring were Mahayana (Chinese, Japanese, Korean). We have just about every kind of Buddhism here, due to immigrants from many different Asian cultures plus western converts.
Loi Khratong during late November in Thailand was always my favorite time of year when people would light lanterns and send them to the sky, signifying to Buddhists the letting go of their past sins, but it always made the night skies very beautiful to look at (and streets lowkey dangerous the next morning as they fell back down). Great video!
Had no idea about theosophists’ involvement, and I’ve been a Theravada Buddhist for years… Great vid!
Im a neo manichaean and I celebrate vesak on the 24th in may.
In sri lanka we celebrate wesak since 3rd BC
Happy Vesak day 🎉🎉🎉🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🌷🌷🌷 Excellent analysis.
The “Panadura Controversy,” the name coined by the media in the 1870s, recalls the historic Panadura Debate, which ignited the Buddhist revival in colonial Ceylon. This debate attracted Colonel Olcott to Ceylon to take refuge in the Triple Gems and accept the five precepts. 🙏🏻
Holidays are a way to validate and reaffirm religiosity and I think it's too bad that some (maybe even most) buddhist convert communities don't take part. Some cities have a pan-buddhist celebration with all the centers and temples in the city coming together even though traditionally they celebrate on different days. My previous zen center didn't do anything for Vesak or the Japanese day for it (april 8th).
Go to a Theravada templs (or any non east asian nikaya vhara) and you will find it celebrated there.
Tibetan Buddhists celebrate it too.
That's what happens in Australia. Federation Square in the Melbourne CBD becomes host for the Buddha's Birthday and Multicultural Festival. It's basically a huge Buddhist and pan-Asian festival that attracts Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Your Zen Centre seems to have been more of just a centre rather than anything else. You should visit a Buddhist temple or a monastery, doesn't matter if East Asian or South/Southeast Asian as you will see all types of people there celebrating Vesak.
Apologies if someone's mentioned this already. Some things that defines a Buddha is their rediscovery of the Buddhadharma and their ability to teach it. I.e. to have the skills to lead other beings to a state of enlightenment. So there is the logical possibility of rediscovering the path but not have the motivation, confidence or capacity to lead others to that realization (pratyekabuddhas) . Consequently the Buddha's first teaching at Sarnath, where he led his old friends to enlightenment, is also a fundamentally important date in the Buddhist calender. To me personally, it's a more important date than his birthday, as due to circumstance, he may not have gained enlightenment in that particular lifetime. (Or maybe I'm using that as an excuse beacause I didn't have a visa to visit Lumbini to complete my pilgrimage!) If the Buddha hadn't been able to convey the core of his experience we wouldn't have a living tradition coming down to us today. We'd just have a scholarly, though perhaps well intentioned, superficial philosophy called Buddhism.
I Was invited to partake in the preah vesak this wednesday here in Siem Reap but was curious to know what it is all about since I don't speak much Khmer. Thank you for this explanation!
Thanks for making this
New ReligionForBreakfast video = Good day
Also, the lady at 4:42 bathing the Buddha cracked me up.
Buddhism is such a fascinating tradition. And those temples! They’re amazing, like they were taken out of a dream or fantasy book.
I was privileged to attend my first formal Vesak celebration earlier this month at the Chan monastery where I attend classes and services; they held a very beautiful Buddha bathing ceremony.
Namo Buddhaya.
For your information, Vesak is Waisak in Bahasa Indonesia. Selamat Memperingati Hari Tri Suci Waisak. 🙏😊
Namo Buddhaya 🙏☸️
I sincerely appreciate your neutral, yet in depth, analysis and explanation. I never feel like you are proselytizing or judging any of the topics you cover.
thanks for this video. it has inspired me to practice this holy day with more sincerity and pride
Wow had no idea Vesak existed, now i do what a wonderful channel :)
Good documentary 💯
After a long day at a Christian school where theology is mixed with every subject and not much is secular or objective (all ‘secular music’ is banned, if that illustrates my point at all.) it’s refreshing to hear about religions in an scholarly and intellectual way.
In chapel one day they told us how to ‘talk with god’ and how when asking a question and praying, that the first thought that popped into their mind might be god talking to them.
The next week they said the same thing, gave a sermon about careers, and that it was not important what you wanted to do, but what god wanted you to do, and gave the same speech about how to ‘talk to god.’
Needless to say telling a room full of 5-10 year olds and a few teenagers that the first impulse in their brain might be god speaking to them, telling them that what god wanted them to do is all that mattered, and that obeying god was important, you’ve pretty much told a load of little kids to obey their first impulses… which has… shall we say.. FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES!
Vesak is like Christmas, Hanukkah and Diwali nowadays. They are celebrated in order to show the world that the religion exists. It is much more for non-believers than it is for believers. Passover and Easter is more sacred than Hanukkah and Chrismas but we hear about the latter two more because it is much easier to commercialize.
Who are you to decide which is more and less sacred?
If you actually learn about different religions you'll come to realise there are deeper reasons these festivals happen when they do
What nonsense is this. Are you even Buddhist? Vesak is THE most important relgious event for Buddhist because it commerates 3 of the most important milestones in Lord Buddhas life. Don't create lies about things you dont know.
Not to mention that Vesak Days isn't even commercialized as you claim for other religious events. No one literally does sales during the Vesak.
Christmas isnt really celebrated as some awareness campaign for Christianity, thats a rather bizarre idea.
@@theophrastusbombastus1359He is correct about Hanukkah. Not a major Jewish holiday, but promoted to compete as the "Jewish Christmas" in USA.
I learned a lot here!
That was interesting and well presented. Thank you. : )
Nice to know about what is Vesak 🙂
can you talk about that big mandala temple? and other stuff related to mandala?
Nice video, I wonder if this is related to Vaisakhi at all but ill need to watch the video to find out lol
No its not
I would love to see your commentary on the Thai Dharakama group.
w video fr, namu shakamuni buddha
Vaisak is also very special for Hindus as well. We celebrate it through out India. It's generally mid of April
Om mani padme hung.
සාදු ....සාදු ...සාදු
vesak comes from vesakhi one of the most important months for india as it the first month of many regional calendars ,for example punjabi and bengali
The lighted floats and the street food remind me of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Our street food isn't free, though.
That's nice to hear, yeah those are very large floating lanterns. People also float small lotus lanterns on the water.
Thank you.
Great content and information
Proud and lucky to be indian buddhist 🙏🇮🇳🙏
love to all
Thank you for sharing
We just started our Holy Month! Our Vesak falls in the 23rd
Theravada and Mahayana traditions celebrate vesak in different way
Your videos are so easy to digest, it's like I'm having religion...for...break...hey wait a minute
Hanamatsuri, which appears on this video as a springtime festival in Japan, itself originates from Vesak. Usually held in April but some sects set different dates
You should do a video on Dalit Buddhism
Very good
In Tibetan Buddhism during Saga Dawa we do hold to similar ideals but the laity are a bit more involved. Retreats are encouraged especially during that time period.
Great info. What s missing is written records from China that are dated back to 501 to 565AD to Wei, Jin and North-South Dynasties: During the Wei, Jin and North-South Dynasties, there began to be clear records of the Buddha's Birthday Festival on the 8th of April, for example, the ‘Jing Chu Years and Seasons’ records 荆楚岁时记: ‘On the 8th of April, all the temples set up fasts to bathe the Buddha in five-coloured perfume, and together they made the Dragon Flower Meeting.
魏晋南北朝时期，开始有明确的四月八日佛诞节的记载，比如《荆楚岁时记》记载： “四月八日，诸寺设斋以五色香水浴佛，共作龙华会
To completely ignore all the written records in Chinese on Buddhist birthday from more than a thousand years ago would not do justice to this topic.
Good point.
🤗 yes yes
as some rando i think im a Buddhist but really doesnt matter if i am or not just here to enjoy life, there nothing to earn your not grinding in WoW
I'm curious if Vesak was introduced to America at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago during the Columbian Exposition of 1893?
6:56 today I learned that religious debates didn't start on RUclips in the 2000s
You can read *Panadura Wadaya* (one of the Five Great Debates of Sri Lanka between Buddhists and Christians) online. The Christians lost every single time in front of their colonial leaders and common people and that was the reason people like Olcott visited Sri Lanka.
Incredible video
Is the anti-colonial nature of modern Vesak the reason why Diem banned Vesak flags in South Vietnam leading to the Buddhist protests including Thich Quang Duc's famous 1963 self-immolation?
No, it's a bit simpler and pettier than that. Diem was Catholic and his elder brother was the Archbishop of South Vietnam. Diem himself also held a deep personal hatred of Buddhists because many of his father's close relatives were burned alive by Buddhists during a persecution of Catholics authorized by the Vietnamese emperor. Diem just wanted vengeance.
Nah Diem was a treacherous catholic convert
Very informative 👏👌
Buddhism S tier religion
For real
Very informative
I love south korean vesak festival.
Oooh fresh
I can't believe Wesak celebration is one of those things the British inadvertently helped to create.
No, Vesak has always existed. The festival was always celebrated since the ancient days. People in China were celebrating the Buddha's birthday since at least 300 CE during the fourth lunar month and there are Japanese woodblock paintings of women celebrating Vesak in Japan by bathing the Buddha statue. The festival as practiced across Asia was simply rebranded and unified in a way during the colonial era. You can still see despite the unification that the cultural differences between each celebration across Asia can differ. East Asians (exclude Tibetans and Mongols) still only celebrate the Buddha's birthday, whereas South and Southeast Asians + Tibetans and Mongols celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha.
Many people may not know about the teachings of Buddhism. The Buddha taught about the origin of the world and universe, quantum physics. Even Brahma, which Hinduism regards as the most excellent. There is still something more noble than that. There are as many as 31 worlds.
Origin of the world and universe? There's no way the buddha would know about it. He's just a man, a human, not a God. Nobody really knows. Every religious fools think they know even though they don't. Buddha was silent when someone asked him about God. Buddha was nothing more than a therapist or life coach in the stone age era. Before that he was just a rich boy that chose to be homeless. It's you followers that made him into a big icon that he is today. The guy never even wanted to become an icon.
Make a video about Mahasiddhas and Bodhisattvas
☸️
Not sure if you will get to this (only watched through 2 minutes so far), but it should be noted that other Indian based religions also observe Vaisakhi. It was on this holiday that the 10th Sikh guru Gobind Singh initiated the start of the Sikh Khalsa. They were gathered to celebrate the Indian festival but, from then on, for Sikhs, this holiday has celebrated the founding of the Khalsa. Buddhist cultures adopted the Indian festival date and name (Vaisakhi --> Vesak or Wesak). Off hand, I don't recall what Vaisakhi stands for for Hindus.
Wrong Vesak. There are multiple Vesak days, the Sikh one is one month before.
Buddhism came long before Sikhism- the Indian calendars themselves are Buddhist and come from Buddhist kings.
Vaisakhi has nothing to do with Vesak actually. It's completely unrelated and they're not celebrated on the same day. They just both have similar names because they're both named after the Indian lunar month of Vaisakha. Vesak as practiced in India is not called Vesak, it's called Buddha Jayanti, while the festival in various other parts of South and Southeast Asia like Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia are named after the second lunar month of Vaisakha on the Buddhist calendar.
@@user-jt3dw6vv4x
I guess that's like confusing Chanukah for the "Jewish Christmas" simply because they coincidentally come around the same time of the year.
So it's just a coincidence that the birth of Buddha is observed in the month of Vaisakhi?
@@lshulman58 Yeah it's just a coincidence. The Vesak festival has been celebrated across Asia for thousands of years, it's a very old festival but it was known by different names depending on the culture. In China it was celebrated as early as 300 CE and is still known as Fodan and in Japan, it's still known as Hanamatsuri (Flower Festival). In India, the festival is still known as Buddha Jayanti. It's only in some South and Southeast Asian countries that it's known as Vesak or Wesak or Visakha or Vixakha as it's named after the second lunar month on the Buddhist calendar which is also known as Vaisakha.
Baisakh purnima
As a Nepali I'm proud that I was born in same country where Buddha was born 🇳🇵🇳🇵🙏
So why u wanted too fake nepal hindu rashtra why not buddist country 😂
Wrong Siddhartha was born in Nepal, Buddha was born under the bodhi tree in India
Buddha is a totally different enlightenment person with no relationship to siddartha
I’m confused by this reply section. Siddhartha was born in Nepal and was enlightened under a tree in India.
@@Idonothing-jj7qe When enlightened you're totally different person that's why the title Buddha was given. Siddharth was a normal guy when he was born near the Indo-Nepal border but the person whom world venerates Buddha was discovered or emerged under bodhi tree in India.
I love these eastern videos
It would be great if you can cover some more native folk religions in Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Vietnam's Đạo Mẫu is especially interesting.
Interesting; although not all South East Asian countries were colonized such as Siam/Thailand. Is there Vesak festival (called Visakha Bucha) also recent or does it go back further I wonder.
Vesak is actually a really old holiday, it was celebrated in China as early as 300 CE and in various other Asian countries but with different names. It's just the various celebrations that occurred across Asia during the fourth lunar month (East Asia) and second lunar month (South and Southeast Asia) were sort of unified in this recognisable pan-Buddhist holiday as a result of what happened in colonial Sri Lanka.
Some things minor
Wesak in the Pali language is pronounced as Vesaakha
Vesaakha is the lunar month of April/May (full moon)
BCE dates for the Buddha
My research, full moon days
-563/05/21 birth (calndr starts
-487/05/21 death (76 years)