Celebrating Vesak

Celebrating Vesak

Greetings, my brothers and sisters.
A lot of you observe , celebrate , note or nod your head in knowing when it comes to Zen Buddhist practices or traditions. So , let us embrace our Buddhist brothers and sisters with an acknowledgement of VESAK. This year we celebrate it on May 20th , the first day of the new moon in the 2nd month of their calendar year. Known as “ Buddha’s Birthday”, this day celebrates Buddha’s birth, Enlightenment, and passing. So important was this holiday , as Thich Nhat Hanh says in his book, LIVING BUDDHA LIVING CHRIST , that, when the French controlled government of Vietnam sought to end Vesak ( thus ending Buddhism and establishing Christianity once and for all ) , a revolt among the people took place , toppling the government. The rest is history.
Ways to observe Vesak are simple and elegant.
Meditate. Embrace all sentient beings making this a Meta ( all loving) practice. This means to dedicate your affirmations to love all sentient beings in the world.
Honoring the 5 PRECEPTS. These are 5 ideals to live one’s life mindfully. Not to steal, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to gossip or say hurtful things, not to engage in unmindful consumption of chemicals, pornography, violence and the like, and ( most importantly ) not to kill.
This last one means more then not embracing violence. This includes not eating meat. so FOR ONE DAY be a vegetarian. IT WON”T KILL YOU and it will save a planet. JUST ONE DAY embrace all sentient beings in a positive , loving way.
Who knows, perhaps an understanding of Buddha nature will arise and some day our grandchildren will be celebrating Bob Day or Dave Day or Jane Day ( yeah, I know, as long as it isn’t Doris Day). You get my drift.
Amitabha