Send us your Buddha Day news
This week we'll be welcoming news - in words, pictures, video and audio - of how you marked the day where you are. If you have a space for your Centre, just upload it to The Buddhist Centre Online (or to your usual webspaces and let us know) and tag it 'Triratna' and 'Buddha Day'. Or email us your content directly and we'll add it to our coverage.
+ Follow this space to see what's going on around Triratna.
The Triratna festival
It's a little-known fact that there is not one single festival common to all Buddhists worldwide, and there are many festivals nobody has heard of outside particular countries or traditions. In founding Triratna (as the FWBO) Sangharakshita settled on three festivals celebrating the Three Jewels: Buddha Day, Dharma Day (July) and Sangha Day (November), always on or around the Full Moon.
It would be misleading to claim all Buddhists are celebrating with us this week, but many millions are doing so - if not in ways you'd necessarily expect.
In south Asia, many Buddhists are celebrating Wesak, but, despite the United Nations' adoption of Wesak as an internationally recognised festival, it remains the case that most Buddhists worldwide do not celebrate Wesak! Some Mahayana Buddhists mark Buddha Day this week, but as the Buddha's birthday; some Tibetan traditions mark Buddha Day in December. Some mark his birth, death and Enlightement all in one go. Such is the vast diversity of Buddhism.
Happy Buddha Day!
You can buy this image from the Clear Vision archive.