Vesak or Wesak, the most sacred occasion of the Buddhist year, is a lunar festival. Its name is derived from the ancient Indian month of Vesākha (Pali) Vaiśākha (Sanskrit) – corresponding to May in the Julian calendar.
It celebrates the birth of the Buddha in Lumbini (in modern Nepal), his enlightenment in Bodhgaya and his passing in Kushinagar (both in India). These are three of the four key Buddhist pilgrimage sites, the other being Sarnath in the outskirts of the holy city of Varanasi, where the Buddha started his public teaching. I have been blessed to visit all four sites, an experience that I will treasure for ever and carry deep inside me.
Vesak is marked in different ways in different countries and according to different local customs. In Malaysia, for example, where about one fifth of the population is Buddhist, people take part in a grand parade that starts from the Brickfields Mahavihara, the main Theravada temple in Kuala Lumpur. Giant floats are adorned with statues of Buddhas, and garlanded with flowers of every colour. Atop them, Buddhist monks bless onlookers with water as they pass. Hundreds of people walk behind these floats, as they weave through the city centre then slowly return to the temple, a round trip lasting nearly three hours. It is beautiful to see all the people walking alongside the floats, smiling as they go, some carrying candles, some holiding flowers, while onlookers take photographs from the pavements – not just Buddhists, but also Muslims and Hindus, people of all faiths and none.
No matter what form the festival of Vesak takes, what is important is the spirit in which it is celebrated. Particularly on this day there should be no room for greed, hate, or ignorance, the three poisons that seem to prevail in this world right now. With the Middle East in flames and so-called ‘leaders’ encouraging the insanity, never was such a reminder so urgently needed.
This year the first full moon of the month falls on the 1st of May. So – if you decide to celebrate on this date, you could have the possibility of a rich trinity: the traditional Springtime festival known in the European Pagan tradition at Beltane; International Workers’ Day for the more secularly inclined; and Vesak when, as Buddhists, we once more get to admire the night sky and reflect on our very own three in one.