KATINA 2011: While part of the world sinks in debt, goes up in flames, or is increasingly OCCUPIED by those unwilling to sit still while corrupt officials and corporate entities ruin life on the planet, the second most significant event on the Buddhist calendar is taking place.
The most significant event is, of course, the enlightenment-birth-passing of the Buddha, all of which are said to have occurred on the full moon day of the same month (in India called Vesakha).
Just behind this thrice blessed "Buddhist X-mas" (Vesak) is the Katina Robe Offering Ceremony following the annual Rains Retreat period of intensive monastic practice and lay study. Through the Asian rainy season, corresponding to our July-October, fully ordained monastics retreat into a period of intensive practice and teaching.
That period, sometimes referred to as "Buddhist Lent" (Katina) ends with a special sturdy robe offering. And this celebration is said to be the most meritorious offering of the year (possibly because it is done collectively to very ethical monastics who have been practicing and purifying their hearts for an entire season. Karma is such that it is not only the doer's intention but the recipient's character that determines the significance of the act).
Katina is being celebrated at Theravada temples across the US, particularly concentrated in the Los Angeles region, from cultures spanning Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, and the American insight meditation (vipassana) tradition.
2010 Sri Lankan Katina robe offering ceremony in Texas
BODHGAYA, India - The moment our car turned into a narrow, rocky path off NH 2 and I began to hang on for dear life, I knew we had arrived in Bodhgaya ["enlightenment grove"].
[Buddha Gaya is a Buddhist town in Bihar where Siddhartha gained enlightenment].
Here, Presidential Suites are affordable to the common man and barring the occasional ATM there are only small neighborhood shops. There is sparse vehicle traffic. But the large numbers of cow and horse carts and cycle rickshaws, which stalk you till you take a ride, make up for it.
Bodhgaya is ironically small. It is home to colossal statues, picturesque monasteries, a rich religious past, and an ancient tree. But the most important thing to take note of is where you walk. Pavement is scarce, and you need trekking gear to tackle the generous globs of dung and garbage and potholes.
But Bodhgaya still charms with its friendly people and cows that walk up and eat vada out of your hand.
It doesn't take much time to look around the entire town, since there are only four or five streets that you can walk into. You could complete an entire tour in less than three hours.
Accommodation is only average. But the smallest of restaurants boast of "Amrican Chopsew" and "American breakfast" and "multi-cuisine." I pick two of the most popular religious places in Bodhgaya to visit first, the 80-foot Buddha statue and the Mahabodhi ["Great Enlightenment"] Temple. More
Sudhir Kumar Jha (Deccan Chronicle, June 19, 2011) with Wisdom Quarterly
Laotian temple wallpainting of the Buddha-to-be undertaking extreme ascetic practices in his quest for enlightenment. A deva or gandharva (messengers of the devas) is overseeing his striving and providing some spiritual protection. The five behind him are said to be his five fellow ascetics, but their head gear suggests they are also devas from one of the many space worlds or "heavens" (squidoo.com).
"In a single moment, in one stroke, you can become enlightened. It is not a gradual process [although the Buddha's teaching, the Dharma, is a gradual training], because enlightenment is not something that you have to invent. It is something that you have to discover. It is already there. It is not something that you have to manufacture. If you have to manufacture it, of course, it will take time; but it is already there. Close your eyes and see it there. Be silent and have a taste of it. Your very nature is what I call enlightenment. Enlightenment is not something alien, outside you. It is not somewhere else in time and space. It is you, your very core." — Osho
It took the Buddha years of meditation to re[ach] enlightenment, same with other great thinkers like the Prophet Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Mahavira, and so on.
While each person has a different view about how one can achieve enlightenment, the general notion is that this is a long-term process that involves continuous realization about the integration of the mind, body, and s[pirit].
The truth is that enlightenment is an experience that goes beyond the physical and material realms that we so often exist in.
It is a feeling of being connected to the entire universe, being in sync with it along with the knowledge that you are being surrounded by intelligence and all the information and the vibes that you receive from everything around you is positive.
[If this is all "enlightenment" (bodhi) were -- simply "nonduality" (advaita) or "oneness" -- then this article would be correct. But this is not the way Buddhism defines the enlightened state and what it means to attain it.]
During this one realizes that the physical being is just a mask, but what lives is knowledge and the soul.
[What is the "soul"? The Buddha defined it as the epiphenomenal result of the Five Aggregates of Clinging. These five groups or "heaps" mean what we call a "soul" is actually a functionally integrated amalgamation of form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness, none of which is permanent. For this reason it is said that there is no soul or self -- even though there is much to investigate to understand why we are certain there is a self, soul, ego, personality, essence...]
At the core of each of our beings lies the soul [NOT according to the Buddha, who went to great pains to aid in liberated us of the very thing that makes enlightenment and liberation unattainable] -- this is pure and unadulterated.
But now you may ask the question, Why is it then that we have so much negativity in this world if all of our souls are pure? The thing is that a multi-layered fabric called the ego, which is sometimes so tight that it takes much time for the truth to pass through it, covers our souls. [Nonsense gets piled on top of nonsense, nonentity on top of nonentity.]
Getting to the core of one’s being is a process that takes several years, but what keeps one going is the secure knowledge that this is not just an illusion and is something that is within one’s reach. More
"Just as the ocean has a gradual shelf, a gradual slope, a gradual inclination, with a sudden drop-off only after a long stretch, in the same way this Doctrine and Discipline (Dharma-Vinaya) has a gradual training, a gradual performance, a gradual progression, with a penetration to insight only after a long stretch" (Udana 5.5).
"Meditators, I do not say that the attainment of insight is all at once. Rather, the attainment of insight is after gradual training, gradual action, gradual practice. And how is there the attainment of insight after gradual training, gradual action, gradual practice?
"When confidence has arisen, one visits [a teacher]. Having visited, one grows close. Having grown close, one listens. Having listened, one hears the Dharma. Having heard the Dharma, one remembers it.
"Remembering, one penetrates the meaning of the teachings. Penetrating the meaning, one comes to an agreement through pondering the teachings. There being an agreement through pondering the teachings, desire (dhamma-chanda) arises.
"When desire has arisen, one is willing. When one is willing, one contemplates. Having contemplated, one makes an exertion. Having made an exertion, one realizes with the body the ultimate truth. And having penetrated it with wisdom, one sees it" (MN 70).
The Buddha's teachings are infused with this notion of gradual development. His method of "gradual instruction" (anupubbi-katha), which appears in various forms in countless sutras, always follows the same arc: The Buddha guides newcomers from first principles through progressively more advanced teachings, all the way to the fulfillment of the Four Noble Truths and the full realization of nirvana:
Then the Blessed One, having encompassed the awareness of the entire assembly with his awareness, asked himself, "Now who here is capable of understanding the Dharma?" He saw Suppabuddha the leper sitting in the assembly. And on seeing him the thought occurred to him, "This person here is capable of understanding the Dharma."
Then when he saw that Suppabuddha the leper's mind was ready, malleable, free from hindrances, elated, and bright, he gave the Dharma-talk peculiar to Enlightened Ones: disappointment, cause, cessation, and path.
And just as a clean cloth, free of stains, would readily absorb a dye, in the same way, as Suppabuddha the leper was sitting in that very seat, the dustless, stainless eye of the Dharma arose within him, "Whatever is subject to origination is subject to cessation" (Ud. 5.3). More
Wisdom Quarterly reporting from Bodh Gaya, India (a multicultural Buddhist city)
The "Buddha Day Festival" (Buddha Purnima or Jayanti) falls on the full-moon night in the lunar month of Vaisakha (April or May depending on the year). It commemorates the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. This is officially the year 2454 (Buddhist Era). And according to another reckoning, it has been 2,600 years since the great enlightenment.
The Buddha in meditation (dhyana, zen, jhana, ch'an), Japanese style
Notwithstanding the Indian summer heat (routinely touching 45 degrees Celsius), pilgrims came from all over the world. They congregated in Bodh Gaya, the place of the great enlightenment, to attend the Buddha Day celebrations.
Nothing disturbs the serenity of a mindful meditator fully aware and at peace
The day is marked with devotions (pujas), meditation (bhavana), sermons (sutras or bhana, recitation) on the life of Gautama Buddha. There is continuous chanting reciting Buddhist scriptures from all traditions, group walking and seated meditation, banner waving processions, and honoring the Bodhi tree and the temple and statue erected on the spot believed to be where Siddhartha sat to reach buddhahood.
The Mahabodhi ("Great-enlightenment") Temple wears a festive look and is decorated with colorful flags, flowers, incense, banners, and a sea of saffron robes. The ancient Chinese scholar and traveler, Fa-Hien, recorded celebrations of this festival.
The Buddha, Sariputra (left), and Mahamoggallana, Cambodian style
There are Buddhist festivals throughout India, particularly at the main places memorializing his early life, later spiritual quest, and the establishingof the Dharma. The principal annual ceremony for all the Buddhist is the Vesak (Vaisaka) festival, as it is known in Sri Lanka and throughout the world.
"Great" Enlightenment?
He attained supreme enlightenment (buddhahood) -- that is,not only did he glimpse nirvana, but he consummated the perfections (paramis or paramitas) necessary to be a teaching buddha. (There is another kind of silent buddha, one who partiallydevelops the perfections and thereby gains enlightenment on his own without the ability to establish a dispensation or bring others to liberation). That is why Siddhartha's attainment is called the great enlightenment. It takes much longer than the path or quest of someone following a fully enlightened trailblazer.
His quest was successful beneath the Bodhi-tree at Buddha Gaya (Bodh Gaya or "Enlightenment Grove," Bihar state, India). Thirty-five years earlier, he was born in Lumbini Garden (on the frontiers of Northwest India). Forty-five years later, at the age of 80, he passed away in parinivana on the same day full-moon night of Vesak in Kushinagar, India.
The great Buddha of Bamiyan, Afghanistan (removed by the Taliban) was once a monastic cave complex in the hillside.
So Buddha Day celebrations are concentrated at these three locations: modern Lumbini (relocated in Nepal), Bodh Gaya, and Kusinara, India. One day Bamiyan may be recognized as the original Kapilavastu, where Siddhartha grew up, and Baluchistan (on the frontier provinces bordering modern Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) as the place where he was born. (According to ancient Indian tradition, a woman returns to her parent's home to give birth).
These are regarded as sacred places -- along with Sarnath (in the suburbs of Varanasi suburbs) where the Buddha set rolling the Wheel of the Dharma by delivering the first sutra.
Buddhists from Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Japan, and a growing number of Western countries (most notably Germany, England, France, and the US) participate in festive celebrations.
The great Buddha Day Festival, although it is a day of rejoicing, does not encourage hectic gaiety, fervent devotion, or abandon. Instead, it encourages reflection, joy, and calm. The happiness that Buddhists feel when they are "celebrating" it is a tranquil, peaceful, and full of well wishes.
The festival has a vibrant side, of course, with most Buddhist countries being decked in brightly illuminated with colorful lanterns, electric lights, banners, parades (or processions and circumambulations), and festive decorations.
"Moon of the Buddha" by Albert Falzon (English overdubbed in Spanish)
May's full moon day (May 17, 2011) will officially mark the twenty-sixth century of Buddhism.
Two-thousand six-hundred years ago, Siddhartha Gautama culminated six years of renunciation, moral-restraint, meditation, and keen investigation of mental phenomena with a startling realization:
"Everything that is of a nature to arise is of a nature to cease." Having purified and balanced his mind by successive practice of the eight meditative absorptions (jhanas), he emerged and began to contemplate Dependent Origination.
The Path to Complete Freedom
This is a formula or technique that leads to insight into the true nature of things -- revealing their radical impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and impersonal nature. A glimpse of the Truth causes the mind/heart to pull back and away from the corruptions (lust, anger, delusion) like a feather dropped in fire. The mind thus freed perceives nirvana, touches it, enters the first stage of enlightenment.
This momentous step -- after an inconceivably long course of "wandering on" through birth and death (innumerable past lives and states of becoming) -- begins the process of full liberation from suffering.
Under the Bodhi Tree
We are often swept up with the misleading story of the Buddha's heroic effort, fighting temptation and fear: Siddhartha sat down, gritted his teeth, vowed not to stand until he attained his goal of enlightenment even if his blood and skin should shrivel up and turn to dust, in spite of Mara's fearsome attacks and his own self-doubt.
This is exactly the wrong notion that prevented enlightenment. It was not Siddhartha's fierce determination that ultimately allowed his heart/mind to find the Truth. Too much "efforting" fills the heart with yearning, strains the mind, and wearies the body. The breath ("spirit") is then anything but calm, subtle, soothing, or serene.
The Middle Way
In this way, no realization is possible. The Bodhisattva (the buddha-to-be) had for years failed in his efforts exactly because of this sort of strenuous striving and fierce determination. The "Middle Path" avoids extremes of striving/laziness, austerity/luxury, rigidity/limpness, or views. It invites balance and direct-knowledge.
In our world so filled with lust, greed, and lassitude, we need to hear the message of strong determination. But in a world of annoyance, hate, and drive, we need to hear the other side of the story -- the letting go, the letting be, the mindful (or non-thinking, non-striving, non-preference, non-judgmental) attention.
The meditative absorptions allowed Siddhartha to maintain equanimity in the face of keen investigation. He was observing, not "doing." He was practicing mindfulness (bare attention), not discursive thinking.
The purity of heart/mind cleansed by deep concentration/collectedness (samadhi) allowed his insight-practices (vipassana) to succeed. Indeed, two of the most important arms of the ennobling Eightfold Path are "right concentration" and "right mindfulness." "Right" simply means balanced, optimal, effective, not strenuous, dogmatic, or driven.
That First Vesak Day For a long time (innumerable aeons) we have wandered on this weary trail of rebirth, lusting here, lusting there, ever in search of satisfaction, meaning, and peace. We do not find them for very long. Good states and situations pass away. When the mind is brightened by absorption and brought to bear on insight-practices -- nirvana. That's it! There it is! And finding it Siddhartha, now the Buddha, is reputed to have exclaimed:
"I who wept with all my brothers' tears, laugh and am glad, for there is liberty!"
What was it? What eternal truth did he rediscover? Nirvana, nirvana, what is this "nirvana"?
Nirvana. nir-va, to blow out. According to ancient lore, complete freedom; according to Buddhist lore, liberation. The goal of Buddhism is the condition of [enlightened individual,] one who has achieved nirvana: a condition where there is neither earth nor water nor fire nor air; neither infinite space nor infinite consciousness; nor the sphere of void, nor the sphere of perception or non-perception. It is the end of woe. (Yoga Illustrated Dictionary, Kaye & Ward).
Priyanka Kurugala (Daily News Sri Lanka) Victoria (Vcrump-haill) with novice monks, McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India
A discussion to establish a novice monastic training center in Bodh Gaya, India (the site of the Buddha's enlightenment), to mark the 2600th year of Buddhism (Sambuddhathva Jayanthi) was held at Charikaramaya under the patronage of chief abbot of the Asgiriya Chapter, Ven. Udugama Buddharakkitha.
Addressing the meeting, the abbot said the Indian Maha Bodhi Society and its General Secretary Ven. Rewatha are working to protect the heritage of Buddhists in India. The program launched by Anagarika Dharmapala in India to protect Buddhism should be continued, he said.
"India is a large country. Sri Lanka should get the Indian government's support to spread Buddhism in India. We should train many monks to make this a success," the abbot said.
"When I was participating in a ceremony at Andra Pradesh in India, a number of Buddhists requested me to send Buddhist monks to carry out Buddhist missionary activities. Some requested us to ordain them. Therefore, it is necessary to set up a bhikkhu training center in India," he added.
KATINA 2011: While part of the world sinks in debt, goes up in flames, or is increasingly OCCUPIED by those unwilling to sit still while corrupt officials and corporate entities ruin life on the planet, the second most significant event on the Buddhist calendar is taking place.
Laotian temple wallpainting of the Buddha-to-be undertaking extreme ascetic practices in his quest for enlightenment. A 
