,

Buddha Purnima 2023 – Quotes and Relevance

Posted by

Buddha Purnima 2023 will be celebrated on the 5th of May this year. The day holds special significance for Buddhists ( people who follow Buddhism) as it is believed to be the day Lord Buddha was born.

Buddha Purnima is also known as Vesak Day or Buddha Jayanti.

While most of us know about Lord Buddha, nevertheless, here is a small introduction to the life of the great teacher and reformer.

Buddha Purnima Quotes

THE LIFE OF BUDDHA

 

According to Buddhist texts, the Buddha was born as a Kshatriya, or warrior, into the powerful Shakya clan. He was born in Lumbini, which is now part of Nepal.

Being a prince, Siddhartha lived a life of life of luxury and comfort. His Father shielded him from any exposure to the miseries of the world, such as old age, illness, and death. Thus living happily, he wed Princess Yashodhara at the age of 16, and they had a son.

However, the young prince had a life-changing experience at the age of 29, when he went for a ride through the city. For the first time , he came across a diseased man, and also saw what old age and death looked like. He witnessed human suffering.

Further  ahead he saw an ascetic who had renounced the world and yet seemed happy. Thus Prince Siddartha made the decision to give up his wealth and family and lead an ascetic lifestyle. He turned to extreme self deprivation but later realized that did not free him from pain and suffering.

Consecutively ,Gautama gave up his life of extreme austerity and, while meditating under a tree, attained enlightenment. From then onwards, Siddhartha became “Gautama Buddha “or the ” Enlightened one “. The name Buddha comes from the Pali word  “buddhi” or the ability to discern the Truth from Falsehood.

 

Buddha Purnima Quotes

TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA

 

Buddha Purnima is all the more reason to remember the teachings of Lord Buddha. These are based on the 4 principles , also called the Four Noble Truths

Dukkha – Our existence comes with sadness or misery, it is part of living.

Samudaya – Dukkha or Misery arises from having desires

Nirodhu –  One can eliminate desire

Magga – One can attain happiness by following a path or Magga of rightfulness.

 

What is the Rightful PATH ?

 

The Eightfold Path provides the tools to achieve this goal, that includes

The right beliefs,

The right desires,

The right speech,

The right behaviour,

The right livelihood,

The right effort,

The right mindfulness,

and right meditational accomplishment.

How is BUDDHA Purnima relevant today ?

 

Buddha Purnima Quotes

 

Coincidentally, while we celebrate Buddha Purnima in May this year ,May is also the Mental Health Awareness month. After the COVID pandemic the world is focusing on improving mental health , mindfulness is a term we often come across and that is what Buddha also teaches.

MINDFULNESS

To live in the moment , to be mindful in your speech , thought , work and desires. This is the gist of his teachings if I oversimplify it.

When you are mindful , you live in the present.

When you focus on what is best today, you already take care of the future, this helps in reducing suffering and making you feel happier.

 

MINIMALISM

 

Buddha also talks about limiting your desires to escape misery. Actually this translates into living a  minimalistic life, something we all need to do to take care of when we are faced with population explosion, social media pressures and the climate crisis.

Today , more than ever , we need to follow the teachings of Buddha , to make peace within and without.

 

Happy Buddha Purnima to all !

 

(This post is my contribution to BlogChatter’s Initiative #CauseAChatter where we talk about #MentalHealth )

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Zariya Healings.

Your comments make my day so don’t forget to let me know if you liked this post.

 

31 responses

  1. Alpana Deo Avatar
  2. Cindy D'Silva Avatar
  3. Shilpa Garg Avatar
  4. Surbhi Prapanna Avatar
  5. Afreen Ansari Avatar
    Afreen Ansari
  6. MeenalSonal Avatar
  7. Neha Sharma Avatar
  8. Swati Mathur Avatar
    Swati Mathur
  9. Rakhi Jayashankar Avatar
  10. Harjeet Kaur Avatar
  11. Kaveri Chhetri Avatar
    Kaveri Chhetri
  12. Flavia Cutinho Avatar
  13. Ambica Gulati Avatar
  14. Ambica Gulati Avatar
  15. Ritu Bindra Avatar
  16. Samata Avatar
  17. Anjali Tripathi Avatar
  18. Aastha Avatar
    Aastha
  19. Dipali Bhasin Avatar
  20. Sivaranjini Anandan Avatar
  21. Manisha Garg Avatar
  22. Nikita Jhanglani Avatar
  23. Docdivatraveller Avatar
  24. Janaki Avatar
  25. Varsh Avatar
  26. Vasumathi DS Ponday Avatar
  27. Jeannine Avatar
  28. Shalini R Avatar
  29. Zenobia Merchant Avatar
  30. Pooja Jha Avatar
  31. Noor Anand Chawla Avatar
    Noor Anand Chawla

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: