WATER FESTIVAL THAT I OBSERVED

MYANMAR ETHNIC GROUP

 The water Splashing Festival is originated in Brahman of in Brahmin of ancient India. The Brahmans used to go to the rivers at the beginning of a year to take a bath to wash away sins and evils and pray for the Sakra-devanam Indra to come down from heaven to see whether secular people are kind or evil.  

The Water Splashing Festival lasts three to four days.  After announcing the results of the prediction, the Brahman followers would slash water to one another, as a way of praying for rain and good harvest.

 

When Buddhism is spread into Southeast Asia and today it is to the western countries, the water splashing festival changed its original religious meaning, which was replaced by Buddhist stories.  Water splashing is no longer mainly a way of praying for rains and good harvest.  It became a Buddha bathing festival. The Buddhist legend had gradually been mingled with the customs of the local tradition since their conversion to Buddhism.  The modern festival is changed as water festival.

                Today people are totally forgotten the spiritual values of the water festival.  It became a holiday enjoyment.  People, mainly youngsters are couldn’t practice five precept during the festival days. it needs to be reformed.

 

A scene is in water festival on 14^th April, 2016 near SULE Pagoda

at Yangon, Myanmar.

THE ART OF LIVING

You have to practice meditation to learn the art of living: how to live peacefully and harmoniously within oneself, and to generate peace and harmony for all others; how to live happily from day to day while progressing towards the highest happiness of a totally pure mind.

To learn the art of living harmoniously, first one must find the cause of disharmony.  The cause always lies within, and for this reason you have to explore the reality of yourself.  The Vipassana technique helps you to do so, to examine your own mental and physical structure, towards which there is so much attachment, resulting only in tensions, in misery.  At the experiential level one must understand one’s own nature, mental and physical; only then can one experience whatever there might be beyond mind and mater.  This is therefore a technique of truth-realization, self-realization, investigating the reality of what one calls ‘oneself’.

Direct experience of reality is essential.  ‘Know thyself’– is from superficial, apparent, gross reality, to subtler realities, to the subtlest reality of mind and matter.  Having experienced all these, one can then go further to experience the ultimate reality which is beyond mind and matter.

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To To My all Dhamma BROTHERS & Sisters,

HAPPY WATER FESTIVAL  2016 Ven. Sumedha Bodhi Founder & convener Dhamma  Soldier’s  Association

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: Water festival is a traditional Buddhists festival celebrates among Buddhists.

Life of Buddha in Gandhara Art

The world famous statue depicting Ascetic Siddhartha practicing severe austerities is found in the Museum of Lahore, Pakistan. There is perhaps hardly any other piece of religious sculpture that can move viewers as this sculpture can. The renowned site, where the Golden Age of Buddhist art and sculpture flourished from the 1st century B.C. to the 7th century A.D. is Gandhara.

            Once famous center of Buddhist activities, is Taxila existed in its neighborhood. Its extensive ruins speak eloquently about the astonishing presence of this ancient seat of learning. The cells, where scholars resided and studied, can still be seen though the vagaries of time and weather have reduced these to a dilapidated condition. 

The tradition of Grandhara Art is the birth place of many strands of Buddhist art and sculpture. Historically, it is in the Gandhara tradition that the Buddha came to be represented first as a person. Prior to this, the Supremely Enlightened Buddha was symbolized in art and sculpture either through foot-prints or through a stylized Bodhi Tree. The personal representations of the Buddha originated probably through the inspiration derived from the Hellenistic tradition. In numerous bas reliefs and friezes, phases of the Buddha’s life are elaborately depicted.

Note:The matter taken from Buddhist Library

COME OUT FORM SUFFERING

Dependent upon ignorance and carving, there arises rebirth consciousnesses.  With rebirth consciousness, it is Vinnana paccaya aggregate (cittakhandha) arises.  With citta there are the five aggregates, and it will become like a house. When it is like a house, guests come.  When citta is like a house the guests will come.  Guests coming means thoughts about family, about children, about somebody guests’ thoughts, about this or that person, about this or that matter – enter the mind.  They are not always present in mind.  Only when there are thoughts, they appear in mind like guests.  If such guests frequent the mind then it will be full of matters, which will bring about suffering.  There will be lust, anger, delusion; Nibbana is attained only when there are no raga, and moha.

                How does it go onto realization of nibbana? While contemplating ‘this is matter’, ‘this is consciousness’ the aggregates of suffering do not have chance to arise.  Cessation of the aggregates of suffering is nibbna.  Conditioned things do not have chance to arise, and the developed stage of Sankarupekkha nana is reached where conditioned things do not have chance to arise.  From there the nibbana without conditions is reached.