Art Winn, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit; Berkeley Buddhist Monastery
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| Buddhists pour water on bodhi trees on the full moon day of Kason (Aung Myint Htwe/wiki) |
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In Burma (what the military dictatorship now calls Myanmar) Vesak -- the blessed day of the Buddha's birth, great enlightenment, and passing into final nirvana -- is known as the Full Moon Day of Kason (ကဆုန်လပြည့် ဗုဒ္ဓနေ့), which is the second month in the traditional Burmese calendar [30].The date is a public holiday. Buddhist devotees typically celebrate by offering alms to Buddhist monastics, adhering to a more stringent set of Eight Precepts, practicing meditation, and freeing fish and birds from captivity out of mercy for all living being [31].
Throughout the country, the date is also marked by a traditional festival called the Nyaungye-thun or "Bodhi Tree Water Pouring Festival" (ညောင်ရေသွန်းပွဲ [my]).
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| Vesak lanterns set aloft (BBC/Getty Images) |
This is when devotees visit pagodas and monasteries (kyaung) to pour perfumed water on sacred bodhi trees using clay pots [32] to ensure the trees -- which hold great significance in Buddhism as the kind the wandering ascetic Siddhartha awakened under -- survive during the peak of summer [31, 33, 34].
This tradition dates back to the pre-colonial era and continues to take place at major shrines such as the Shwekyetyet Pagoda and Shwekyetkya Pagoda in the former royal capital of Amarapura [30].
Konbaung-era court poet Letwe Thondara composed a complete set of yadu poems describing this festival on Meza Hill, near Katha, where he had been exiled by King Hsinbyushin [30]. More
Mahayana Vesak: The Buddha's Birthday
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