Bodhi Day 2011: Commemorating The Enlightenment Of The Buddha

Bodhi Day is a Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the Buddha achieved enlightenment, translated as bodhi in Sanskrit or Pali. Bodhi Day is celebrated on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month. In 2011, Bodhi day is observed on Thursday, Dec. 8.

The Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama into a noble, privileged Hindu household. When he was close to 30 years old, he abandoned his material lifestyle and retreated to the forest seeking answers to the problem of suffering, specifically old age, sickness and death. According to tradition, he initially sought bodhi (enlightenment) through meditation, self-mortification and practicing other austerities.

After several years of intense practice, he realized that bodhi was to be found through meditation, but through a Middle Way, away from the extremes of self-mortification and self-indulgence. The story goes that he meditated in Bodh Gaya under a peepal tree (a species of Banyan fig), now famously known as the Bodhi tree, and resolved to continue meditating until he achieved bodhi (enlightenment). It is believed that after 49 days of continuous meditation, Gautama achieved bodhi (enlightenment) at the age of 35. Since then he was known as the Buddha ('enlightened one').

Bodhi Day is celebrated in many mainstream Mahayana traditions including Zen and in Pureland Buddhist schools in China, Japan and Korea. Buddhists commemorate this day by meditation, studying the Dharma, chanting sutras (Buddhist texts) and performing kind acts toward other beings. Some celebrate by a traditional meal of tea, cakes and readings.

Click through the slideshow to see images from a Bodhi Day celebration and important Buddhist relics

Comments

[gordo001]

07:11 PM on 01/31/2012

Buddha may have been a person of peace but not all Buddhists follow his teachings. Though they try to come off as be so.

[freedom1947]

11:12 PM on 01/02/2012

The only religion of reality.

[gypsynomad]

07:33 AM on 12/10/2011

Any gesture symbolizes a peaceful moment I am all for it.

[kooldalai]

01:26 AM on 12/11/2011

How would you know....were you there?

[googlesward44]

02:19 AM on 12/14/2011

Don't have to be there to know a lie when I see one.

[Cindbird]

01:34 AM on 12/11/2011

You're Christian. No one is asking you to commemorate it.

[googlesward44]

02:19 AM on 12/14/2011

I know no one was asking ME to commemorate it, but since you were asking others who aren't Christian to commemorate it, I thought I would try to save them from this before their minds and hearts are completely taken over by falsehood.. Hey, I'm a Christian that's what we do...

[Cindbird]

02:32 AM on 12/09/2011

Bodhi actually translates as AWAKENED, not Enlightenment. It is also translated as wisdom or knowledge.

[kooldalai]

01:26 AM on 12/11/2011

It sure is....

[Doug Sandlin]

09:06 PM on 12/08/2011

A couple of videos on Awakening that I feel speak to the reality of it all quite well:

Adyashanti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hapq5fBIgI

Jed McKenna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDQX3MybtVA

[gypsynomad]

07:39 AM on 12/10/2011

Thanks...may I borrow?

[John Genryu]

05:02 PM on 12/12/2011

I have no time for Adyashanti but thanks for the Jed tribute. :)

[triple3gem]

07:11 PM on 12/08/2011

Just look at your own life right now. How are you? Not how you were or how you will be, but right now? That is your kamma.

[Edward Meeker]

02:07 PM on 12/08/2011

Just a question, I understood that in Japan Bodhi day is the tenth?

[BurtonDesque]

04:41 PM on 12/08/2011

Moved to the weekend for your convenience!

[Cindbird]

02:33 AM on 12/09/2011

Their calendar is a little different.

[Noble9]

11:39 AM on 12/08/2011

Bodhi will always be Patrick Swayze to me.

[kooldalai]

01:29 AM on 12/11/2011

loved that movie....Point Break

[H P]

05:49 PM on 12/31/2011

Lebowski! :)

[onlyThis]

10:43 AM on 12/08/2011

In my understanding the Buddha did not "achieve" enlightenment. One does not "achieve' enlightenment. Enlightenment occurs when there is the final and absolute realization that there is not now, and never has been, any "one" to achieve enlightenment. When the final illusion of identification as an individual falls away nothing is left except the pure freedom of Be-ing. Not being this or being that, just Be-ing. This Be-ing manifests as an individual, but it is seen that this individual is nothing more (and nothing less!) the the movement, the expression, the actualization of What Is. Again, this is just my understanding.

[thunk]

01:17 PM on 12/08/2011

Sounds right. It always strikes me that, in this era of modern science, the Buddhist view does not recognize physical reality as the source from which this experience arises. I wonder what the Buddha himself would have maintained in the face of the revelations of evolutionary biology and neuroscience.

[sandalwood]

02:17 PM on 12/08/2011

Buddhism and Science:
Probing the Boundaries of Faith and Reason
Dr. Martin J. Verhoeven--Religion East and West, Issue 1, June 2001, pp. 77-97

"Western interest in Eastern religions, especially Buddhism, historically coincided with the rise of modern science and the corresponding perceived decline of religious orthodoxy in the West. Put simply: Modern science initiated a deep spiritual crisis that led to an unfortunate split between faith and reason—a split yet to be reconciled. Buddhism was seen as an "alternative altar," a bridge that could reunite the estranged worlds of matter and spirit. Thus, to a large extent Buddhism's flowering in the West during the last century came about to satisfy post-Darwinian needs to have religious beliefs grounded in new scientific truth."

"As science still constitutes something of a "religion" in the West, the near-absolute arbiter of truth, considerable cachet still attends the linking of Buddhism to science. Such comparison and assimilation is inevitable and in some ways, healthy. At the same time, we need to examine more closely to what extent the scientific paradigm actually conveys the meaning of Dharma. Perhaps the resonance between Buddhism and Western science is not as significant as we think. Ironically, adapting new and unfamiliar Buddhist conceptions to more ingrained Western thought-ways, like science, renders Buddhism more popular and less exotic; it also threatens to dilute its impact and distort its content."

http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/VerhoevenBuddhismScience.htm

[Sean Robsville]

06:21 PM on 12/10/2011

Revelations of evolutionary biology: http://seanrobsville.blogspot.com/2011/06/is-richard-dawkins-buddhist.html

Neuroscience: http://seanrobsville.blogspot.com/2011/06/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving.html

[sandalwood]

02:39 PM on 12/08/2011

Your comment leads to the distinction between Nibbana and Parnibbana...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parinirvana

Also interesting is... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_mind

[somebody9191]

09:00 AM on 12/08/2011

Happy Bodhi Day to One & All (or is it one with everything?)

[ZenGardner]

09:10 AM on 12/08/2011

I think "One & All" in this case might be redundant. But thanks, and same back to you.

[rwash515]

06:08 PM on 12/19/2011

Have u ever looked out into the distance sky and felt that oneness with the universe?
Buddhism teaches we are one with the universe and more so.

[ZenSufi]

09:21 AM on 12/08/2011

Make me one with everything, but hold the mustard.

[Helen Weals]

10:46 AM on 12/08/2011

Yeah, i also have that t-shirt

[Ambidextre]

11:35 PM on 12/08/2011

X, hands a $20 bill to a zen hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything."
Zen hot dog vendor does as told and moves on.
X to zen hot dog vendor, "Where's the change?"
Zen hot dog vendor to X, "Change must come from within."

[researcher]

03:24 PM on 12/07/2011

one of the greatest realizations of humankind. the origin of suffering and most of the world still does not have knowledge of his realization.

even most buddhists confuse symptoms of ignorance for the origin of suffering.

this confusing symptoms for an origin is a common phenomena with humankind.

the materialists do this everytime with their brain research into consciousness.

thank you " the buddha" for taking the time and effort to reveal to the world that the origin of suffering is ignorance.

[Jared Keith Jones]

05:09 PM on 12/07/2011

"He had one of the greatest realizatio­ns of all humankind: the origin of suffering. Most of the world still does not have knowledge of his realizatio­n. Even most Buddhists confuse the symptoms of ignorance for the origin of suffering. This recurring theme of confusing symptoms for origin is common to all humankind. Materialists do this every time they engage in brain research. Thank you "Awakened One" for taking the time and effort to reveal to the world that the origin of suffering is ignorance."

First, use some structure. Doesn't that look nice?
Second, why do you post this on every single Buddhist topic that comes up on Huff Post? I'm fairly certain everyone knows you don't like the idea that delusions (and desire) are the root of samsara and that - in fact - ignorance is the real cause... and that also - in fact - ignorance has a cause that arises from somewhere else. We get it.

[artboxone]

11:48 AM on 12/08/2011

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

[henriette and hube]

04:32 PM on 12/08/2011

Jaraed, good to see you here and to read your words which I always enjoy.

Our sutra study group has just come to the end of the 24 chapters of The Middle Way using the Dalai Lama's book. Next we go into The Exploration of Tsongkhapa's Three Princal Aspects of the Patexploring the method for putting the teachings of the Middle Way into practice. I've already read further ahead anxious to see what the DL has to say.

Can I finally say LESS ignorance than before?

Anyway, I love to read your lucid and wise posts.

Thanks with two palms together.

[sandalwood]

02:31 PM on 12/08/2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman#Brahman_in_Early_Buddhism

[researcher]

04:30 PM on 12/08/2011

"The teaching of Śri Aurobindo starts from that of the ancient sages of India that behind the appearances of the universe there is the Reality of a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and eternal. All beings are united in that One Self and Spirit but divided by a certain separativity of consciousness, an ignorance of their true Self and Reality in the mind, life and body. It is possible by a certain psychological discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness and become aware of the true Self, the Divinity within us and all".

Although not a Hindu I find many of Aurobindo's teachings in alignment with my life long research into these mysteries of life. He understands the very best that when the Infinite Absolute manifested the many ignorance was born.

Ignorance has meaning and purpose, as it is the nature and indeed necessity of the Infinite to manifest the many within “its” dynamic nature. The Buddhists have yet to see this meaning and purpose of our original ignorance. Our original ignorance is also our original innocence.

“Śri Aurobindo accepts position of Advaita Vedanta, but gives more emphasis to relative creation and manifestations of Brahman in the relative creation. With Matter as a starting point, Aurobindo finds Brahman completely involved and hidden in it, and then describes a process by which Brahman starts to display itself through a groving scale of principles, showing more and more of its qualities in this world.”

[researcher]

04:32 PM on 12/08/2011

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/B­rahman#Bra­hman_in_Ea­rly_Buddhi­sm

this is a most interesting link as it compares and contrasts some of these most revealing teachings of buddhism and hinduism.

[Blackorpheus]

06:24 PM on 12/06/2011

Never has our beleaguered globe been less Buddhist than right now as we approach "Bodhi Day 2011."

[Myoho Mod]

03:38 PM on 12/08/2011

We are in the age of decline but the Bidhisattvas are emerging from the earth and they are dancing with joy!

[Blackorpheus]

04:02 PM on 12/08/2011

Are you referring to Bodhisattvas or Hasidim?

[researcher]

04:10 PM on 12/08/2011

is this really true? fewer people are dying from wars per cent age wise then in the history of humankind.

it looks like it is worst now but technology allows us to see everything happening in the world almost in real time.

the planet appears to be awakening but at a snails pace. of course appearances are just that appearances. check it out.

[Blackorpheus]

04:24 PM on 12/08/2011

Alas, the planet is far from awakening. I just read about an international panel of scientists commenting on the carbon level world-wide. About as dire a prognostication as one can imagine. When, utterly unanticipated, an iceberg the size of Berlin breaks off from an Antarctic glacier, the earth is far from awakening. Similar data I've read for some time seem mostly unimpeachable. Among other very knowledgeable scientists, Stephen Howking recently commented very bleakly about the state of the planet.