Sculpture of Buddha, CambodiaBuddhist center expects thousands at birthday party
By Robert Knox
Boston Globe Correspondent (Massachusetts, USA)
June 1, 2006
You don't have to be a Buddhist to celebrate the Buddha 's birthday, according to planners of a celebration in Braintree this weekend. "It's for everybody," said Venerable Pannaloka Bhante of the Samantabhadra Buddhist Center .
And you won't have to travel to Asia to enjoy cultural performances by Buddhists from places such as Cambodia, India, Laos, Tibet, and China. Performers from more than 10 countries will celebrate the birth of the historical spiritual leader who was born 2 1/2 millennia ago.
Planners of Sunday's event are expecting more than 3,000 Buddhists to take part in the celebration at the Samantabhadra Buddhist Center. That is how many attended last year's celebration during the course of the event, they say.
Delegations are expected this year from as far away as Toronto and Washington, D.C. More than 70 venerable monks are set to participate in ceremonial events.
The celebration is an opportunity to blend the cultures of a dozen Buddhist communities, according to organizers. By coming together at the Samantabhadra Buddhist Center, followers of the Buddha's path strengthen the kinship among different Asian communities.
The birth of the Buddha is traditionally placed at 80 years prior to the date of his death , they said, a calculation that makes this his 2,550 th birthday.
This year his birthday falls on April 15th of the lunar calendar. The June date chosen for the celebration in Braintree is a convenient weekend date, Pannaloka Bhante said.
Twenty-five hundred years after his birth, the teachings of the Buddha (or Buddhism), remain important for mankind, Pannaloka Bhante said.
"It signifies many things, how to overcome human suffering. . . . It's a very, very important thing for everybody," he said.
Events such as the war in Iraq and fighting in other countries show the importance of the Buddha's teachings, he said: "The Buddha pointed out how we can come to the peaceful solution."
Buddhism teaches that human unhappiness comes from "the fire of desire, the fire of hatred, and the fire of ignorance," the Nepalese senior monk said. "The solution is love and compassion."
The cultural performances in Sunday's celebration include an outdoor procession, chanting by various groups in their national languages, dances by different groups, music, and sermons.
The Samantabhadra Buddhist Center is at 155 Quincy Ave. in Braintree. While the celebration starts officially at 11 a.m., the main ceremony begins at 12:30 p.m. with a procession including Vietnamese and Thai youths in traditional costumes and ceremonial participants carrying Buddhist flags and the Buddha statue.
Cultural performances include national music, costume, and dance by groups representing Thai, Laotian , Vietnamese, Nepalese , Sir Lankan , Burmese , Indian , Chinese , and Bangladeshi traditions.
The ceremonial highlight is the ritual bathing of a statue of the Buddha as a baby, commemorating the first day of his life, during which miracles were said to foreshadow his importance to humanity.
The ritual symbolizes purification and the "return to the Buddhist nature," said Venerable Thich Thien Hue , a Vietnamese who has become a leader of Buddhist communities in the Northeast US region. The ceremonies are expected to conclude at 4 p.m.
The Samantabhadra Buddhist Center was founded five years ago by Thich Thien Hue . In addition to serving as a center for meditation and other spiritual practices, it offers classes on Buddhist history, scriptures, and meditation practices, and welcomes anyone interested in learning about Buddhism.
"The Buddha did not come for Buddhists," Thich Thien Hue said. "He came for all people."
In Buddhist tradition, Samantabhadra is the "Lord of the Truth," who represents the practice and meditation of all Buddhas.
The Buddha, a title which means the "awakened one," was born Siddhartha Gautama to an aristocratic family. At age 29 , he renounced a life of luxury and began the life of a wandering hermit in search of enlightenment. After studying the spiritual traditions of his time, he realized that happiness was not found in pleasure or its renunciation, but in looking inward to achieve a detachment from desire.
The Buddhist teaching that inner peace could be attained and suffering overcome by contemplation and meditative spiritual practices spread widely through Asia. In the post-World War II period, it has made significant inroads in America, in part through the contacts made during the Vietnam War.
Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.
By Robert Knox
Boston Globe Correspondent (Massachusetts, USA)
June 1, 2006
You don't have to be a Buddhist to celebrate the Buddha 's birthday, according to planners of a celebration in Braintree this weekend. "It's for everybody," said Venerable Pannaloka Bhante of the Samantabhadra Buddhist Center .
And you won't have to travel to Asia to enjoy cultural performances by Buddhists from places such as Cambodia, India, Laos, Tibet, and China. Performers from more than 10 countries will celebrate the birth of the historical spiritual leader who was born 2 1/2 millennia ago.
Planners of Sunday's event are expecting more than 3,000 Buddhists to take part in the celebration at the Samantabhadra Buddhist Center. That is how many attended last year's celebration during the course of the event, they say.
Delegations are expected this year from as far away as Toronto and Washington, D.C. More than 70 venerable monks are set to participate in ceremonial events.
The celebration is an opportunity to blend the cultures of a dozen Buddhist communities, according to organizers. By coming together at the Samantabhadra Buddhist Center, followers of the Buddha's path strengthen the kinship among different Asian communities.
The birth of the Buddha is traditionally placed at 80 years prior to the date of his death , they said, a calculation that makes this his 2,550 th birthday.
This year his birthday falls on April 15th of the lunar calendar. The June date chosen for the celebration in Braintree is a convenient weekend date, Pannaloka Bhante said.
Twenty-five hundred years after his birth, the teachings of the Buddha (or Buddhism), remain important for mankind, Pannaloka Bhante said.
"It signifies many things, how to overcome human suffering. . . . It's a very, very important thing for everybody," he said.
Events such as the war in Iraq and fighting in other countries show the importance of the Buddha's teachings, he said: "The Buddha pointed out how we can come to the peaceful solution."
Buddhism teaches that human unhappiness comes from "the fire of desire, the fire of hatred, and the fire of ignorance," the Nepalese senior monk said. "The solution is love and compassion."
The cultural performances in Sunday's celebration include an outdoor procession, chanting by various groups in their national languages, dances by different groups, music, and sermons.
The Samantabhadra Buddhist Center is at 155 Quincy Ave. in Braintree. While the celebration starts officially at 11 a.m., the main ceremony begins at 12:30 p.m. with a procession including Vietnamese and Thai youths in traditional costumes and ceremonial participants carrying Buddhist flags and the Buddha statue.
Cultural performances include national music, costume, and dance by groups representing Thai, Laotian , Vietnamese, Nepalese , Sir Lankan , Burmese , Indian , Chinese , and Bangladeshi traditions.
The ceremonial highlight is the ritual bathing of a statue of the Buddha as a baby, commemorating the first day of his life, during which miracles were said to foreshadow his importance to humanity.
The ritual symbolizes purification and the "return to the Buddhist nature," said Venerable Thich Thien Hue , a Vietnamese who has become a leader of Buddhist communities in the Northeast US region. The ceremonies are expected to conclude at 4 p.m.
The Samantabhadra Buddhist Center was founded five years ago by Thich Thien Hue . In addition to serving as a center for meditation and other spiritual practices, it offers classes on Buddhist history, scriptures, and meditation practices, and welcomes anyone interested in learning about Buddhism.
"The Buddha did not come for Buddhists," Thich Thien Hue said. "He came for all people."
In Buddhist tradition, Samantabhadra is the "Lord of the Truth," who represents the practice and meditation of all Buddhas.
The Buddha, a title which means the "awakened one," was born Siddhartha Gautama to an aristocratic family. At age 29 , he renounced a life of luxury and began the life of a wandering hermit in search of enlightenment. After studying the spiritual traditions of his time, he realized that happiness was not found in pleasure or its renunciation, but in looking inward to achieve a detachment from desire.
The Buddhist teaching that inner peace could be attained and suffering overcome by contemplation and meditative spiritual practices spread widely through Asia. In the post-World War II period, it has made significant inroads in America, in part through the contacts made during the Vietnam War.
Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.
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