Buddhist Holidays

12/07/2014

Today, 2014 August

26/06/2014

2014 June 26: Day torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment were outlawed world-wide (1987); day to mourn their continued existence. [Torture is an illegal, immoral, and ineffective means of interrogation and punishment. All officials have a legal duty and moral obligation to refuse an order to commit torture and to prevent it from occurring. Anyone who attempts, conspires, or commits torture is legally culpable. All acts of torture should be investigated, prosecuted, and punished. Neither war nor civil strife nor emergency justifies torture.] [Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: adopted 12/10/1984; signed 2/4/1985; entered into force 6/26/1987.] [Text of Convention] [The Committee Against Torture monitors implementation of the Convention. For more information, seeU.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights website; Human Rights Watch website.] [Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Text of Declaration) and Article 7 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Text of Covenant) also guarantee freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.] [See U.N. website on Torture Victims' Day.] [In the name of the Buddha, and for love of the Buddha, Buddhists should condemn torture, and should demand an end to the use of torture - of anyone for any purpose.] [a/k/a International Day in Support of Victims of Torture]

29/04/2014

Today, 2014 April 29, marks the day production and use of chemical weapons was outlawed world-wide (1997); day to mourn their victims. [Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons a/k/a Chemical Weapons Convention: signed 1/13/1993; entered into force 4/29/1997.] [Text of Convention] [China and North Korea are believed to currently possess chemical weapons in spite of the Treaty's prohibition. China has ratified the Treaty; North Korea has not. The U.S. is currently in the process of destroying its chemical weapons in compliance with the Treaty.] [In the name of the Buddha, and for love of the Buddha, Buddhists should renounce the production, acquisition, and use of chemical weapons, and should demand destruction of all existing weapons.] [For more information, see Wikipedia article on Chemical Warfare. See also U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs (U.N.O.D.A.) website;Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (O.P.C.W.) webpage; Federation of American Scientists (F.A.S.) Biological and Chemical Weapons Main Page.] [a/k/a Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare] [See U.N. website on Chemical Warfare Victims Remembrance Day.]

22/04/2014

Today, 2014 April 22, is the day the world's nations guaranteed asylum to those persecuted in their homelands on account of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group (1954). [Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: signed 7/28/1951; entered into force 4/22/1954.] [Text of Convention] [For more information, see United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.) website; Human Rights Watch website.]

26/03/2014

2014 March 26: Day production and use of biological weapons was outlawed world-wide (1975); day to mourn their victims. [Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction a/k/a Biological Weapons Convention: signed 4/10/1972; entered into force 3/26/1975.] [Text of Convention] [China and North Korea are believed to currently have biological weapons programs in spite of the Treaty's prohibition. Both have ratified the Treaty.] [In the name of the Buddha, and for love of the Buddha, Buddhists should renounce the production, acquisition, and use of biological weapons, and should demand destruction of all existing weapons.] [For more information, see Wikipedia article on Biological Warfare. See also U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs (U.N.O.D.A.) website;Federation of American Scientists (F.A.S.) Biological and Chemical Weapons Main Page.]

21/03/2014

Today, 2014 March 21, is World Forest Day [a/k/a World Forestry Day], a Day to celebrate the complex living community of trees, plants, birds, and mammals that live in forests world-wide; day to give thanks for forests for cleaning the air of pollution. [Forest once covered 50% of the world. Today, forest covers only 30% of the world. Since 1600, 90% of the original forests that once covered the lower 48 states of the U.S. has been cleared away. Most deforestation of North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia occurred before 2000 and has stabilized. Deforestation continues to accelerate in South America and Africa. The rate of world deforestation averaged 5.2 million hectares per year between 2000 and 2010.] [For information about conservation of forests, see American Forests website; Forests.org website; International Union for Conservation of Nature (I.U.C.N.) website; World Wildlife Fund (W.W.F.) website; Greenpeace website. See also Statement of Principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests; Our Forests, Our Future: Summary Report of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development.] [In the name of the Buddha, and for love of the Buddha, Buddhists should demand an end to deforestation, and should demand universal observance of sustainable management practices of the world's forests.]

The Buddha spends a rains retreat at the palilaya forest, with an elephant and a monkey as attendants

This picture is of one episode in the Buddha's life, when he went to spend a rains retreat by himself, with no monks or lay people in attendance. The forest that he stayed in that year was a very big forest, the home of a big tusker elephant known as palilayaka, and the forest was named after that elephant. In Thailand it is called the "palelai forest."

The reason that the Buddha spent the rains retreat on his own that year is that he was tired of the monks of Kosambi who had split into two groups and were not in harmony, refusing to perform the duties of the order (sanghakamma) together. When the Buddha heard of this he went to see them to try to put a stop to their discord, but both sides refused to listen to him. That is why the Buddha went to stay on his own.

Due to the Buddha's great powers and kindness, the elephant known as palilayaka attended on him. In the morning he would bring fruits from the forest to offer to the Buddha and in the evening boil water for him by rolling rocks heated in a fire into a pool of water.

A monkey saw the elephant serving the Buddha and brought a honeycomb to offer. The Buddha received it but did not eat the honey, so the monkey took back the honeycomb and considered it. Seeing bee larvae inside, he took them all out and then took only pure honey to offer. This time the Buddha accepted it and ate the honey. The monkey, watching the Buddha from atop a tree, was overjoyed. Jumping about with excitement, he fell from the tree and was run through and killed by a sharp tree stump.

After the rains retreat the monks who had split into two groups agreed to make up their differences because the local lay people were not making any offerings to them. The monks sent a representative to see the Buddha and invite him to go back to the city. The elephant palilayaka was heartbroken to see the Buddha go, and followed him out of the forest, and even made as if he would follow the Buddha into the city. The Buddha turned to him and said, "Palilayaka. This is the limits of your territory. From here on is the territory of man, which are a great danger to animals such as you. You cannot come with me!"

Palilayaka the elephant stood and roared in grief, but did not dare follow the Buddha. As soon as the Buddha was out of sight, his heart broke and he died right there. The texts state that the elephant and the monkey, after dying at that time, were reborn as devas in the Tavatimsa heaven. (Mahidol University http://www.budsir.org/E_hist66.htm)

02/03/2014

Yesterday, 2014 March 1, was four holidays.

Shakyamuni Buddha Day--Day Tibetan Buddhists meditate on the Buddha's teachings and strive to fulfill the Precepts. The Buddha taught that right understanding and right thought are the means to wisdom. Wisdom is the realization of impermanence and interdependence. [See Shakyamuni Mantra] [a/k/a Siddhartha Buddha Day] [30th Tibetan day, UT New Moon day]

Sojong Day--Tibetan Buddhist day of fasting, confession, and reparation for harm done. [Observed primarily by monks and nuns.] [a/k/a Sojong Chemno]

Mindfulness Day--Zen Buddhist day for being mindful that you are connected to each and every sentient being that has ever existed.

Day the production and use of landmines was outlawed world-wide (1999); day to mourn their victims. [Protocol on Prohibition or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps, and Other Devices a/k/a Convention on Landmines a/k/a Mine Ban Treaty, amending the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects: Treaty signed/adopted 10/10/1980; entered into force 12/2/1983; Protocol signed 12/3/1997; entered into force 3/1/1999.] [Burma is still manufacturing and laying landmines. China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore may still be manufacturing landmines. China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, and the U.S. have not ratified the Protocol.] [Landmines maim and kill civilians, including children. Those that survive endure a lifetime of hardship.] [In the name of the Buddha, and for love of the Buddha, Buddhists should renounce the production and use of landmines, and should demand removal and destruction of all existing landmines.] [For more information, see International Campaign to Ban Landmines (I.C.B.L.) website; Landmine Monitor website.] [The U.N. has designated 4/4 International Day for Mine Awareness.]

03/02/2014

Action over inaction.

The BBC's Cindy Sui meets Taiwan's new-age Buddhists and looks at how they are changing how they observe their faith - through doing, not praying.

02/02/2014

2014 February 19: Day President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the internment of loyal Japanese Americans during World War II (1942); day to mourn Asian victims of internment and exclusion (past and present), make peace, and celebrate empowerment of Asian Americans. [The internment was authorized by Executive Order 9066.] [While Emperor Hirohito's Japanese government attacked the U.S., Japanese Americans did not authorize or approve of the attack. While it was appropriate to blame the Japanese government for the war against the U.S., it was immoral to blame all ethnic Japanese for the acts of the Japanese government.]
Posted Japanese American Exclusion Order
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_9066
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment