26/05/2021
May the Noble Triple Gem, the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha bless you all.
Dear dhamma devotees and dhamma friends,
Wish you all happy and peaceful Vesak Day....!
As a Buddhists today is one of the greatest and significant day because many Buddhists who live in all over the world celebrate the full moon day of vesak in order to respect three important occasions of life of the Buddha. They are the birth, the enlightenment and the passing away which took place on vesak day. In fact, Buddhism is the message for awakening from ignorance and leading to wisdom. Before the appearance of the Buddha, people were living in the dark and they did not know how to overcome their suffering. However, after Buddhaโs enlightenment, people had a hope and a new philosophy that guided them to cultivate their mind for the realisation of ultimate truth. When the Buddha was born, it is said that many suffering beings were able to overcome from their sorrowful lives. In particular, when we look in to the history of Buddhism, we can find that once the bodhisattva was born, he had a special ability and he walked on seven lotuses and by standing on the last lotus, he uttered a beautiful stanza as follows;
โโAGGO HAMASMI LOKASSA
I am the chief in the world
JETTO HAMASMI LOKASSA
There is no one equal to me
SETTO HAMASMI LOKASSA
I am supreme
AYAMANTIMA JATI NATTIDANI PUNABBAWO
This is my last birth no rebirth for me.โโ
From this excellent Dharmic poem, we can understand that as a bodhisattva, he invited all of us to be like him. This means that as Buddhists, we have to work for Nirvana to eradicate the cause of rebirth. We need to discipline our mind, body and speech.
The second commemoration is enlightenment of the Buddha which is the most important one. According to the Buddhist teaching, the bodhisattva had to fight with all the defilements. Even the mara used his all the powers to disturb the Buddhaโs cultivation for the enlightenment. However, the Buddha did not give up. So, he was able to eradicate three poisons; greed, anger and delusion. This incident teaches us that although it is not easy to cultivate the Dhamma, we should not give up and we should cultivate Dharmic thoughts every moment of our lives in the same way the Buddha did. Also, we must keep our self-effort, right understanding, confidence and insight in order to fight with all the negative thoughts such as lust, ill-will, hatred, craving and ignorance. We should always imagine and take the Buddha as an example and motivation for our own cultivation.
By preaching the Dhamma for 45 years, the Buddha showed to the world that no matter how much money, how much power, how many relatives and friends, how many material things that we have, one day, we have to leave everything behind even our own body. That is the third important event of the Buddha that occurred on vesak full moon day and on his last moment of life, he addressed his disciples and preached that
โโHANDADANI BHIKKHAWE - AMANTAYAMI WO WAYADHAMMA SANKARA - APPAMADENA SAMPADETHAโโ
This means that all phenomena are subject to change. Therefore, without being late, each and everyone should cultivate the Dhamma for the attainment of final liberation of Enlightenment,, Nibbana. If we can live according to this last advice of the Buddha, that is the true vesak celebration. So, this is high time for all of us to understand that our life is too short to have negative thoughts such as hatred, ill-will and delusion which cause us to suffer life after life. So, we should examine ourself whether we need happiness or suffering and whether we need to be born in good realms or bad realms. There is no one who can take our suffering and even the Buddha can't do it. Also, no way to escape from sicknesses, getting older and death. All the suffering are in our life because of birth and the birth can be stopped by only attaining Enlightenment. To attain enlightenment, we should follow the Buddhist teachings and we must put them in to practice for realization of Nibbana. So,, in this auspicious day, let's make a vow and determination that from today onwards, I will never do any wrong action, think any negative thought and speak any bad word. I will Cultivate Dharmic thoughts, pure intention, loving kindness, compassion and wisdom for the well-being of myself as well as others and all sentient beings.
"The one who lives with the Dhamma is protected by the Dhamma.....!
SADHU SADHU SADHU....!
