04/08/2026
Today is Buddha's Birthday, Hanamatsuri in Japanese tradition, April 8th. Let us celebrate a Joyous Buddha's Birthday which sweeps in both the happy and the hard days of life.
On a Hanamatsuri in 1246, the teacher Dogen said: "Great assembly, do you want to see the birth of the World-Honored One?" Dogen held up his whisk, drew a circle, and said: "The World-Honored One has been born. In the entire world in ten directions, in mountains, rivers, and lands, all the human beings and all sentient or insentient beings, and all buddhas in the three times in the ten directions, all have been born simultaneously with Gautama, the World-Honored One. Not one thing is born before or after that."
Vesak, is a celebration that commemorates the Buddha's birth. It is named for the month of May and is celebrated on a full moon on varied days by the lunar calendar in much of Asia. However, in Japanese Buddhism, where it is called "Hanamatsuri" the Flower Festival. It is cerebrated each year on April 8th.
