Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: It's Buddhist Christmas: VESAK 2025

Saturday, May 10, 2025

It's Buddhist Christmas: VESAK 2025

Full moon appearing to mark the Buddha's life
The full moon day in May is called VESAK and signifies the day Siddhartha Gautama was born, became the Buddha (the "Enlightened One"), and made an end of all further rebirth (by attaining final nirvana). This thrice blessed day all took place on the full moon of the ancient month of Vesakha, roughly equivalent to the Gregorian calendar's May. (It varies every year). This year it falls on the 12th; therefore, most Buddhist temples in America will celebrate it on Sunday, May 11th, to fall closest to it. But in reality it will be celebrated all month long in various Theravada Buddhist temples, monasteries, and nunneries. One of the largest and most well-conceived celebrations happens in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the small town of Azusa (which boasts that it has everything from A to Z in the USA, but the word Azusa is really an ancient place name for a Native American Tongva village, just like Pasadegna, Topangna, and elsewhere all across LA County and beyond).

Vesak in Long Beach, May 17, 2025
Celebrations continue throughout the country and world. This Sunday (May 18, 2025) the Los Angeles Vihara, now located in Covina (after being established in Hollywood then moving to Pasadena), will hold a massive cultural program in honor of Vesak (after last Sunday's Uposatha or Full Moon Lunar Observance Poya Day Eight Precept meditation retreat). The Vihara is now the mindfulnessmeditationcenter.org but now distributes the latest information on WhatsApp rather than Facebook or the website. The event is free. Wear white in honor of longstanding Southeast Asian Buddhist tradition, extending back to the time of the historical Buddha.

WHAT HAPPENED?

It was a 100-mile odyssey in a steel chariot pulled by more than 350 horses, too far to walk.

We traveled on across Los Angeles (from Pasadena to the Valley over to Hollywood then east and further east) to visit five Buddhist temples in search of holiday festivities, finding three active ceremonies:

Nepali Buddhist/Hindu Temple (Shree Pashupatinath and Buddha Mandir for Buddha Jayanti) in Norwalk, a city in Los Angeles County on the eastside. From there we traveled north up the 605 Freeway and east to the
Mindfulness Meditation Center of Covina (the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara, which began on Beechwood under the Hollywood Sign decades ago, moved to Pasadena for another decade or more, then landed in a massive property deep in the San Gabriel Valley with plans for a large stupa monument) to observe the Eight Precepts (Poya Day, Uposatha, for a serious lunar observance, as distinct from next Sunday's more festive cultural event to celebrate the Buddha's birthday, great awakening, and final nirvana) then on to our evening destination:
Peace Point Meditation at DIMC, Azusa
Dhammakaya International Meditation Center, Azusa, to sit with 100 Buddhist monks from a dozen different Buddhist countries and at least 20 Buddhist nuns from all over. It is a strange spectacle in a very green forested area. Due to the cooling heat wave, it felt like being at a resort in Thailand, White Lotus style, with giant imperial Roman banners topped by golden eagles hanging in the distance, as if the Nazis had organized the 1936 Olympics only for Hitler's ego to be trounced by American Jessie Owens. So spectacular is the ceremony that it is shown live on TV in Thailand. Dressed in white, we take our seats as the monastics enter two by two in a long line, drone cam and boom cameras catching it all. The mayor gives a speech in honor of Mother's Day, a science professor named Dr. Gautam Somethingorother delivers a short speech on how much meditation has helped him and how depressed and troubled scientists are without spirituality, Vietnamese monks chant in unison, a representative of Hsi Lai (Going West) Buddhist Monastery from the other side of the San Gabriel Valley (hsilai.org), chants in the style of Taiwanese Fo Guang Shan Buddhism, donations are made to the Sangha by special guests (lots of gift-giving all the way around, as is the custom in Buddhist Thailand), then a giant circumambulation around one of two large golden Buddha statues ensues, while chanting traditional Pali language verses. Finally, candles are lit and we repeat words of loving-kindness (metta) led by a senior monk to bless the entire world. All the while, all the Thai women have their phones out to document their spiritual journey with selfies as if these grand dames were teens. Then gifts and snacks are distributed to the hundreds in attendance, who go off into the clear summer-like spring night. It seemed as if the only SoCal Thai monastery not in attendance was Tan Jeff's (American Ajahn Geoff's) Wat Metta because Ven. Thanissaro badmouthed Dhammakaya and doesn't get invited anymore. Ah, that's just like the Tan Jeff we know. More
Vesak is celebrated all month long at temples across US!

Come celebrate the Buddha's birth, great awakening, and passing into final-nirvana

The inclusive international Buddhist flag
Sunday, May 11 Vesak (Visakha) Day: Come celebrate (open to all) through the lighting of lanterns, meditation, and a candlelight procession. many Buddhist disciples will be dressed all in white and keeping the Eight precepts for the 24-hour period in observance of the most special uposatha (lunar observance) of the year.

Sunday, May 11, 5:30-8:45 pm PDT
Dhammakaya International Meditation Center
865 E. Monrovia Place
Azusa, Los Angeles County, California 91702

Vesak Day: A Celebration of the Buddha

Who was this incomparable human being?

Join us at the Dhammakaya International Meditation Center for a joyous celebration of Vesak Day! This in-person event is a wonderful opportunity to honor the life and teachings of the historical Buddha.

On this special celebration of the Buddha, Dhammakaya welcomes more than 150 Buddhist monastics from 12 Buddhist countries and traditions to join together as a united Sangha (spiritual community), including monastics from

Burma (Myanmar)
Taiwan
China
Tibet
Cambodia
Vietnam
Laos
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
Japan
Thailand.
(Dhammakaya is a Theravada Thai vihara).

Buddhist monks practicing for calm and insight

We will join in group meditation, sangha-dana (offering of necessities to the monastics), light lanterns to illuminate the meditation lawn, and participate in a candlelight walking meditation.

Vesak Day is a time for all to unite and reflect on the profound impact the Buddha has had on the world. Come and be a part of this meaningful celebration!