Saturday, May 5, 2012

At this Fullmoon Day do all Buddhas Awaken:


5th May 2012 Vesak Day celebrates birth, Enlightenment, and passing away
of
the Buddha Gotama. Rejoice! Keep clean, calm, cool, clever, and caring...
About this Buddhist Vesak Festival: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak

This May full moon also celebrates the Buddha's third visit to Sri Lanka in
the eighth year after his Enlightenment, where he journeyed to Kelaniya on
the invitation of the Nāga King Maniakkhika (Mahavamsa i,72ff.).
The day also celebrates the crowning of king Devānampiyatissa (Mhv.Xi.42),
and the laying of the foundation stone of the Mahā Stūpa (Mhv.Xxix.1)
Please Remember:
At this very May full moon in year 528 BC the Blessed Buddha awakened
by
completely perfect and utterly unsurpassable self-Enlightenment!
At that time a girl named Sujata Senani lived in Uruvela. When adult she
prayed
before a certain Banyan tree, that she might get a good husband
equal to herself in caste & that her firstborn may be a son. Her prayer was
successful
. Since indeed it did happen. At the full moon day of the Wesak
month
, she rose at early dawn and milked the cows. As soon as new buckets
were
placed under the cows, the milk poured spontaneously in streams all by
itself! Seeing this miracle, she knew something special was happening!
That same night the Future Buddha dreamt 5 dreams making him conclude:
"Surely, truly, without any doubt, today I will reach perfect Enlightenment!"
His 5 colored radiance illuminated the whole tree. Then Sujata came and
offered
the cooked milk rice into the hands of this Great Being.



Later a local grass-cutter came going with a bundle of grass just harvested
from
nearby. He offered the Great Being 8 handfuls of Kusa grass, when he
saw
that this Sage was a Holy Man. The Future Buddha accepted the grass
and
proceeded to the foot of the Bodhi-tree. Reaching the imperturbable
Eastern
side, where all the Buddhas take their seat, he sat down saying to
himself: This is the immovable spot, where all the prior supreme Buddhas
have planted themselves! This is the place for destroying this net of desire!
Then the Future Buddha turned his back to the trunk and thus faced east.
Right there, he then resolutely settled on this mighty decision:

Let just blood and flesh of this body dry up & let skin and sinews fall from
the
bones. I will not leave this seat before having attained the absolute and
Supreme Self-Enlightenment!


So determined did he seat himself in this unconquerable seat, from which
not
a 100 lightning strikes could make him waver. At this very moment
the
rebel deity Mara -The Evil One- raised exclaiming: Prince Siddhattha will
pass beyond my power, but I will never allow it! And sounding the Mara's war
shout
, he summoned his mighty army for battle. Then Mara warned his evil
militia
: This Sakyamuni, son of Suddhodana, is far greater than any other
man, so we will never succeed to fight him up front. We must thus attack
him
from the rear. Frustrated, being unable even to touch this big wielder
of
power also with 9 mighty hurricanes of wind, rain, rocks, weapons, red
coals, hot ashes, sand, mud, and darkness Mara somewhat in panic shouted
at his army: "Why do you all stand still? Seize, kill & drive away this prince!"



Mara then yelled: "Siddhattha, leave this seat. It is not yours, but mine!"
Hearing this, the Well-gone One replied: Mara, neither have you fulfilled the
10
perfections to the third degree, nor have you given the 5 great donations.
Neither have you striven for insight, nor for the welfare of all the world,
nor
for supreme self-enlightenment! Therefore does this very seat surely
not
belong to you, but truly indeed only to me. Suddenly overpowered by fear
Mara's followers fled helter-skelter in all directions. No two went in the
same
direction, but leaving their weapons in a chaos, they all fled terrified
by metaphysical panic. Seeing them flee thus, the great assembly of deities
triumphantly
shouted: Mara is defeated. Prince Siddhattha has won! Let us
celebrate
this truly sublime, wonderful and unique victory! It was before
the
sun had set that the Tathagata conquered Mara and defeated his army.
That same night, after having bathed, while the Bo tree rained red sprigs onto
his robe, The Consummate One gained knowledge of his prior lives during the
1st watch of the night: "With the mind thus concentrated, purified, bright,
unified, focused, tractable, compliant, steady & imperturbable, I directed
mind to remembrance of my past lives. I recollected many past lives, i.e., one
re-birth, two...five, ten... 50, a hundred, a thousand, 100 thousand,  many eons
of cosmic contraction, & many eons of cosmic expansion: There I had such
a name, belonged to such a clan & species, had such a body. Such was my food,
such
my life of pleasures and pains. Such was the end of my life. Passing away
from
that state, I re-arose there. There I had such name, belonged to such
a
sort & family, had such a form. Such was my food, such my experience of
pleasures
& pains. Such was the end of my life. Passing away from that state,
I
re-arose here. Thus I remembered my various past lives in all their various
modes
and manifold details. This was the first knowledge I attained in the
first
watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; the knowledge arose;
darkness
was destroyed; light arose as happens in one who is alert, aware,
and determined. But the very pleasant feeling that arose by this did neither
invade
my mind, nor remain. With the mind thus concentrated, purified, bright,
intact, pliant, malleable, steady, and totally imperturbable, I directed it to
the knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings. I saw by
means
of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human eye! I saw beings
passing away & re-appearing, and I realized how & why they are high or low,
beautiful or ugly, fortunate and unfortunate all in exact accordance with
the intentions of their prior actions: These beings who were endowed with
bad behaviour of body, speech, and mind, who reviled the Noble Ones, held
wrong views & acted under the influence of wrong views, with the break-up
of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of misery, the bad
painful destination, the lower realms, even in hell. But the beings who were
gifted
with good behaviour of body, speech and mind, who did not revile the
Noble Ones, who held right views and acted under the influence of right
views after the break-up of the body, after the death, have re-appeared in
happy destinations, even in a divine world! Thus by means of the divine eye,
purified and surpassing the human I saw beings passing away & re-appearing,
all in accordance with their particular mixture of good and bad kamma...
But the satisfaction that arose here did neither invade my mind, nor remain.
With the mind thus concentrated and completely absorbed, I then directed
it
towards understanding the ending of mental fermentation. I realized how
it
actually comes to be, that:

This is Suffering...
Such is the Cause of Suffering...
Such is the End of Suffering...
Such is the Way to End Suffering...



Such was the mental fermentations...
Such is the Cause of mental fermentation...
Such is the End of mental fermentation...
Such is the Way leading to the end of mental fermentation.

When my mind saw that, it was instantly freed of the fermentation of all
sense-desire, it was released from the fermentation of becoming, and it
became fully uncovered from the fermentation of ignorance. Thus fully and
perfectly
Enlightened - The Buddha - perceiving this immense glory, spoke
these 2 solemn  verses, which never has been omitted by any of countless
billions of prior Buddhas:

Through this round of countless existences have I searched, but yet failed
to
find "the Creator", who framed this construction: What Suffering indeed
is such endless birth, ageing, decay, sickness and ever repeated death!
Now I see that "the Constructor" of this structure is Craving...!!! Never shall
this
construction be built again, since all the rafters are shattered and the
main beam is busted and completely broken... At this calming of all Craving,
the
mind was finally, irreversibly and ultimately stilled…
Then, friends, this revelation of certainty arose in me: This release is indeed
immutable, this is the very last rebirth, this endless reappearance has finally
come to a happy end... Nibbāna  is verily the Highest Bliss!



About Absolute Awakening!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/buddha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/g/gotama.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/s/sujaataa.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/bodhisatta.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/b_f/bodhi.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/bodhirukka.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/bodhimanda.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/sammaa_sambodhi.htm


Good Picture video of the Gotama Buddha's life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrrmOR9suvc


Source:
The Jātaka Nidāna. The story of Gotama Buddha.
Tr. by N.A. Jayawickrama, Pali Text Society 1990.

http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=132935
Happy Vesak to All Beings!
Have a nice & noble day!
 
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

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