The Nepal Weekly 
May 2, 2023
Siddhartha Gautama or Shakyamnu Buddha or the Lord Buddha was born in 623 BC on a full moon day of May in the sacred area of Lumbini located in the Terai plains of southern Nepal.The inscription on the pillar erected by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in 249 BC was testified. The location was explored by German archaeologist Anton Fuhrer and Nepali expert Khadga Shamsher Rana unearthed the Asoka’s pillar and remnants of an ancient temple in 1890.
Buddha Purnima, the day Buddha was born is the most sacred day in the Buddhist calendar. It is the most important festival of the Buddhists and is celebrated with great enthusiasm.
Followers of Buddhism have been celebrating Buddhist festivals for centuries, but the decision to celebrate this day formally was only taken at the first conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists held in Sri Lanka in 1950.
Although Buddhists regard every full moon as sacred, the moon of the month of Baishakh has special significance because on this day the Buddha was born, attained Nirvaana (enlightenment), and attained Parinirvana (Nirvaana-after-death of the body).
The teachings are recognised by entire world community as the middle path for the coexistence, tolerance and peaceful living of human being including take care of welfare of animals, creatures and plants as well.
The Buddha had a lot to say about how to understand life. After his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, he gave his first sermons to his disciples, teaching about the nature of suffering and the path to ending suffering.
Over this lifetime, the Buddha offered a detailed and wide-ranging set of teachings that would ultimately be codified in what we now call Buddhism. Collectively, these teachings are known as the dharma or Buddhadharma. As his teachings spread, they picked up parts of local religious traditions and cultures, and naturally adapted to reflect that.
The Buddha’s teachings span the nature of mind and emotions, the nature of suffering and the path to ending suffering, guidelines for living ethically, cosmology and the nature of reality, the possibility of achieving nirvana, and instructions for mind-training practices like meditation.
At the heart of the Buddhist teachings are the eightfold path and the four noble truths, which is where this deck begins. From the four noble truths to the Middle Way to the law of karma, here are some of the Buddha’s most central teachings.
Siddhartha Gautama was born as a prince to King Suddhodhan of Kapilvastu. He spent his early life in the palace. Later he got married to princess Yashodhara and begetting a son named Rahul. Gautama was distracted by the suffering and death of living beings and was desperate to find the reason for the cause and effect of all those sufferings.
Thus, at the age of 29, he gave up his lavish life and went into the wood to find the truth through meditating and started leading an ascetic life. After 6 years of strong penance and meditation, finally at the age of 35, Gautama Buddha was enlightened and was thus named ‘Buddha’.
Lord Buddha started teaching people about life and death, the purpose of birth, and the cause of suffering. He travelled to the Indian sub-continent, teaching people about his finding and the number of followers started to increase and now Buddhism as a philosophy has travelled worldwide.
Buddha taught till the age of 80 before he attained nirvana (death) and his teaching is always in demand and need in this 21st century. He spread the message of love and brotherhood and now the world where we live desperately needs to follow his teaching, to make this world a living place for all sentient beings.
Now, Buddhism is one of the fastest-growing religions with millions of followers and the philosophy is taught everywhere in schools and in universities. This indicates the need and importance of Buddhism as a philosophy and will be there until we personally implement it in our life. Thus, recognizing the importance of Buddhism, Lord Buddha is also titled ‘The Light of Asia’.
In Nepal, Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti is an official holiday and is celebrated in every nook and corner. There are numerous holy sites in and around Kathmandu valley, where Buddha Jayanti is celebrated. People visit monasteries, temples, Gumbas to pay homage to Lord Buddha for his gift to humanity. They also visit monks to take blessings and attain religious procession towards holy sites related to Buddhism.
To mark this occasion, a grand procession of Bhikshus and devotes is held at Lumbini in the morning, cultural events and preaching of Budhha’s teachings, prayers are conducted.
