The Spirit of Vesak

Somewhere along the process of evolution human developed the faculty of thinking and the capacity for self-awareness. Since then man had began to wonder about the natural world that he lives in and its effect on his awareness. He had strived to understand and make sense of the many natural phenomena that he experiences around him and their impact on his consciousness. In the process of doing so man had come out with many different explanations for their common experience of these phenomena.

But there are two things that many among the human race share in common as a result of their attempt to understand their experience of the world. Firstly, they realized that the world is plagued with suffering and is unsatisfactory; and, secondly, they share a feeling or a sense of something beyond their experience that is greater than themselves, something that is ever present, that transcends and is untouched by the unsatisfactoriness of their world. This something, they believe, they must seek, and finding it, they believe, will deliver them from the unsatisfactoriness, the suffering, of their earthly existence. This belief had given birth to many of the world’s major and minor religious and spiritual traditions that we have today.


The Buddha’s teaching too originated in a somewhat similar fashion. The Bodhisatta began his quest for liberation from suffering with this reflection:

“Why, being myself subject to birth, do I seek what is also subject to birth? Why, being myself subject to ageing, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, do I seek what is also subject to ageing, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement? Suppose that, being myself subject to birth, having understood the danger in what is subject to birth, I seek the unborn supreme security from bondage, Nibbāna. Suppose that, being myself subject to ageing, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, I seek the unageing, unailing, deathless, sorrowless, and undefiled supreme security from bondage, Nibbāna.”

~ Ariyapariyesanā Sutta, Majjhima Nikāya Sutta 26

The account of the Bodhisatta’s disenchantment with the worldly life and his subsequent renunciation is well known to all Buddhist. Having witnessed ageing, sickness, and death (the old man, sick man, and the corpse), the Bodhisatta realized first hand the unsatisfactory nature of human existence. As a result the vanity of youth, health, and life he had as a royal prince living a pampered life in his palace, vanished in him. They no longer hold any appeal to him and he was no longer obsessed with them. The impact of this realization on him was that he began to consider this matter of suffering very seriously for the first time. And when he met the monk and conversed with him he realized that there is a possibility of making an end to this existential suffering. He discovered that many men have renounced the worldly life in order to seek for this very thing that transcends the unsatisfactoriness of our mundane earthly existence. Hope was kindled in him and there and then he decided that he too will renounce the worldly life to seek for the answer to life’s suffering.

Six years later, after much trials and tribulations, he finally found what he was looking for while meditating alone under a tree in the forest. On the full-moon day of the month of Vesākha that year, while he was contemplating deeply into the nature of his experiences of the world, he finally made a breakthrough and totally tear away the dark veil of delusion that had up to that point concealed from him the goal of his quest. We Buddhist say that he attained enlightenment.

The Buddha’s enlightenment is unique in the religious history of modern man. For instead of discovering salvation from life’s suffering in some kind of personal God, or Gods that dwell in some heavenly world, as most of the existing religions of his time and those before and after that, do, he discovered that freedom lies in the realization of a natural state or phenomenon which is totally impersonal. This is a state which nature is the total opposite of the unsatisfactory world of our conditioned existence. It is a state that is totally peaceful, a state which very nature is that of peace (santilakkhaṇa). Freedom is to touch this state of total peace with the mind, a state which the Buddha called Nibbāna.

Because it is an impersonal natural state Nibbāna does not favor anybody who believes in it, nor does it reject anybody who does not, as a personal God will do. Nibbāna is a state which is accessible to anybody who knows, is capable, and is willing to follow the method of developing his or her mind in order to attain it. And the Buddha (the Enlightened One), as the Bodhisatta is called now that he is enlightened, realized that there are beings who are capable of understanding and developing the path that he himself had followed in order to attain enlightenment, and free themselves from suffering. And so he declared:

“Open to them is the door to the Deathless,
“Let those with ears now show their faith.”

                ~ Ariyapariyesanā Sutta

For the next forty five years, right until the final moments of his illustrious life, the Buddha selflessly and tirelessly shared the Dhamma with anybody who cared to listen to him. He taught them the Dhamma, the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. After his passing away at the age of eighty, his enlightened disciples compiled his teaching and passed it down to subsequent generations. This great teaching, so meticulously preserved by the elders of the Saṅgha, had survived until today. We are the fortunate heirs to the Buddha’s great heritage. The door to the Deathless is still open to us. All we need to do now, we who have ears to heed the Buddha’s words, is to show our faith in him and walk the path he had shown us with confidence, and to continue to walk, even if it will take us more than one or two lifetimes to reach the end. For at the end is the door to the Deathless and once we pass through that door we will be free.

On this coming Vesak day let us remember the spirit of the original intention of the Buddha’s teaching. In his own words the Buddha said “Both formerly and now I declare only suffering and the cessation of suffering.” (Alagaddūpama Sutta, Majjhima-Nikāya Sutta 22) The Buddha may have taught us many non-meditative practices in order to help us cultivate a wholesome mind, such as the practice of dāna, the observance of sīla, rendering service to others, showing due respect to our elders, etc. But these practices are recommended only as a support for the attainment of the goal of the Noble Eightfold Path, the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. Although to do good is a very important part of what it means to be a human, and the Buddha had definitely advised us to do so (e.g. Dhammapada 183), it is nevertheless not the be all and end all of the Buddha's teaching. It is definitely not it's final goal. It is just a supportive condition for the attainment of the final goal. The goal is not even to developed a concentrated and tranquil state of mind where one can dwell in peace. For the peace of a concentrated mind is still conditioned, transitory and subject to change. It is still unsatisfactory. But it is also a supportive condition for attaining the goal. Psychic powers of various kinds such as the divine eye (ability to see things far away even in another world), thought reading, levitation, etc. are also not the goal. At best they are supportive conditions and at worst a distraction from the goal. The final goal of the Buddha’s teaching is the unshakeable deliverance of mind.

“So this holy life, bhikkhus, does not have gain, honor, and renown for its benefit, or the attainment of virtue (sīla) for its benefit, or the attainment of concentration for its benefit, or knowledge and vision (i.e. the divine-eye) for its benefit. But it is this unshakeable deliverance of mind that is the goal of this holy life, its heartwood, and its end.”

                        ~ Mahāsāropama Sutta, Majjhima-Nikāya Sutta 29

Vesak day is called Buddha day in Myanmar. It is a day for us, the beneficiaries of the Buddha’s compassion and heritage, to honor the memory of the Buddha and to reaffirm our commitment to keeping his teaching alive in our hearts. And in honoring the Buddha we should keep in mind the spirit of his original intention. Let us make this the spirit of Vesak, for it was on Vesak Day that the Buddha fulfilled for himself, the intention of his renunciation, his quest for liberation from suffering. Let us, in accordance with the Buddha's last advice to us, strive on with diligence to walk the Noble Eightfold Path and gradually but surely make our way towards the door of the Deathless. This is the best way that we can honor the Buddha.

“Then the Blessed One said to the Venerable Ānanda: ‘Ānanda, the twin Sal trees have blossomed forth all over, though out of season. And in reverence of the Tathāgata, those trees rain blossoms, scattering, strewing and continuously spreading them all over the body of the Tathāgata. And in reverence of the Tathāgata, celestial mandārava flowers and celestial sandalwood powder fall from the air above, scattering, strewing and spreading all over the body of the Tathāgata. And in reverence of the Tathāgata, celestial music sounds in the air above. And in reverence of the Tathāgata, celestial songs in the air above are heard.

“‘Ānanda, mere acts of reverence of this kind cannot be deemed to honor, esteem, venerate, revere, and worship the Tathāgata rightly. (Only) the bhikkhu, or bhikkhunī, or the male lay-disciple, or the female lay-disciple, who practices fully according to the Teaching, who is endowed with correctness in the practice of the Teaching, and who lives in perfect conformity with righteousness and truth, can be deemed to honor, esteem, venerate, revere and worship the Tathāgata in the highest degree.

“‘Therefore, Ānanda, you should train and practice, resolving to practice fully according to the Teaching, to be endowed with correctness in the practice of the Teaching, and to live in perfect conformity with righteousness and truth.’”

~ Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, Dīgha-Nikāya Sutta 16

I wish all of you a fruitful and meaningful Vesak day. May you be well, happy, and peaceful. May peace ever dwell in your heart, may wisdom always be your guide.