The Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was born in the Sakya country in the sixth or fifth century before the common era, left a palace at twenty nine after seeing age, sickness, death and a wandering ascetic, and after six years of extreme austerity gave them up as useless and found what he called the middle way. What he taught was four statements about suffering and a path of eight parts, and he was explicit that he was not a god and that nothing was to be accepted on his authority. The Hindu tradition later counted him among the avatarams of Vishnu, which Buddhists have generally not accepted and which is listed here because a great many Indian households believe it.

Seated cross legged with half closed eyes, in one of a small set of fixed gestures: the earth touching hand of the enlightenment, the teaching wheel of the first sermon, the open palm of fearlessness, the folded hands of meditation. A cranial protuberance, long ear lobes from the weight of a prince’s ornaments, and a plain monastic robe. Early Indian art would not depict him at all and showed an empty seat, a footprint or a wheel.

Son of Suddhodana of the Sakyas and Maya, who died a week after the birth; raised by Mahaprajapati, who later became the first ordained woman. Husband of Yasodhara and father of Rahula, both of whom he left and both of whom later joined the sangha. Ananda, his cousin, was his attendant and the one who remembered the discourses.

Vesak, the full moon of Vaishakha, on which the birth, the enlightenment and the death are all placed. The three refuges are taken in the Buddha, the dhamma and the sangha, and the five precepts with them. Flowers are offered and allowed to fade where they lie, as a teaching on impermanence, and lamps and incense are lit. The uposatha days of the moon are kept by lay people with eight precepts.

Sri Lanka

The Poya full moon of every month is a public holiday and an observance day, Vesak is kept with lanterns and free food stalls, and Poson marks the arrival of the teaching on the island.

North India

Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar and Lumbini are the four places, and Ambedkar’s conversion of 1956 at Nagpur brought millions into the tradition in a single day.

Maharashtra

The Navayana Buddhism of Ambedkar is the largest Buddhist tradition in India by numbers, and Deekshabhoomi at Nagpur is its centre.

Nepal

Lumbini is the birthplace, and Buddha Jayanti is a national holiday with the Swayambhu and Boudha stupas at the centre of it.

• Buddha Purnima · Vesak
• Buddha Jayanti
• Vesak
• Poson Poya · Mihindu Maha Poya
• Vesak Poya
• Poson Poya
• Esala Poya

• Namo Tassa (homage to the Buddha)
• Tisarana (the three refuges)