The Days of
Shakyamuni Buddha's Festivals
Gautama Shakaymuni Buddha was born as a prince in the city of
Lumbini of Nepal, north of India, probably in 563 BC. There is no strong
evidence to show which day was his birthday.
At the age of 16, he had a marriage arrangement with his
cousin by his father, king of Shakya. At the age of 29, he left his palace to
find the solution for the pain of birth, oldness, disease and death. He devoted
himself to spiritual pursuits and Yoga practices. He failed by abstaining from
taking food by practicing self-mortification and asceticism. Later, he changed
his method and accepted a little milk and rice pudding from a village girl. At
the age of 35, he attained Enlightenment after 49-day meditation. After 45-year
spreading his doctrine, he entered the Parinirvana (Nirvana - Complete Silent -
Death) in 483 BC.
All Buddhism Sutra (Bible) were written more than one hundred year
after Buddha's Parinirvana. Those manuscript of sutra has vanished. Many people
deny that the sutra was spoken by the Buddha. A Chinese Buddhist monk,
Faxian, who traveled to India and Sri Lanka to bring Buddhist scriptures
back to China during A.D. 399-412. The sutra were translated into Chinese from
Pali language, which is a literary language of the Prakrit
language family. Pali language was commonly used at the time of Buddha.
From those translated sutra, Chinese estimated the time of Buddha's Birthday,
Buddha's Enlightenment and Buddha's Nirvana based on the lunar calendar. Ancient
India used the Hindu Calendar, which is similar to Chinese lunar calendar. The
following days of Buddha's festival are celebrated each year today in all
Chinese Buddhist temples. Asia countries imported Chinese Buddhism follow the
same dates.
| Chinese Lunar Calendar | Buddha's Festival |
| 8th day of 4th lunar month | Shakyamuni Buddha's Birthday |
| 8th day of 2nd lunar month | Shakyamuni Buddha's Renunciation |
| 8th day of 12th lunar month | Sakyamuni Buddha's Enlightenment |
| 15th day of 2nd lunar month | Shakyamuni Buddha's Nirvana |
| China Time Zone | USA Pacific Standard Time Zone |
| Buddha's Birthday 5/12/2008 | Buddha's Birthday 5/12/2008 |
| Buddha's Birthday 5/02/2009 | Buddha's Birthday 5/01/2009 |
| Buddha's Birthday 5/21/2010 | Buddha's Birthday 5/20/2010 |
The biggest festival is the Buddha's Birthday. Many
counties, which are uncertain the time of Buddha's birthday, celebrates on the
full moon day in May using Gregorian calendar, which is close to 15th day of 4th
Chinese lunar month. Because a solar month is longer than a lunar month. May
might contains two full moon days, such as May 2nd and May 31st in 1988. Also,
in USA time zones, May 2007 contains two full moon days on May 2nd and May 31st
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