When is Buddha Purnima?

Bud­dha Purn­i­ma is the most sacred day in the Bud­dhist cal­en­dar. It is the most impor­tant fes­ti­val of the Bud­dhists and is cel­e­brat­ed with great enthusiasm.

The exact date of Vesak is the first full moon in the fourth month in the Chi­nese lunar cal­en­dar. The date varies from year to year in the Gre­go­ri­an cal­en­dar but is typ­i­cal­ly in May.

Fol­low­ers of Bud­dhism have been cel­e­brat­ing Bud­dhist fes­ti­vals for cen­turies, but the deci­sion to cel­e­brate this day for­mal­ly was only tak­en at the first con­fer­ence of the World Fel­low­ship of Bud­dhists held in Sri Lan­ka in 1950. 

Although Bud­dhists regard every full moon as sacred, the moon of the month of Vaisakh has spe­cial sig­nif­i­cance because on this day the Bud­dha was born, attained enlight­en­ment (nir­vana), and attained parinir­vana (nir­vana-after-death of the body) when he died.

Traditions of Buddha Purnima

Shakya­mu­ni Bud­dha, the his­tor­i­cal founder of Bud­dhism, was born in what is present-day Nepal over 3,000 years ago. There are var­i­ous opin­ions con­cern­ing the exact dates of his birth and death, but accord­ing to Bud­dhist tra­di­tion, he is said to have been born April 8, 1029 BC and died on Feb­ru­ary 15, 949 BC, although oth­er Bud­dhist schol­ars place his birth five hun­dred years later.

Shakya­mu­ni Bud­dha was the son of the king of the Shakyas, a small clan whose king­dom was locat­ed at the foothills of the Himalayas, south of what is now cen­tral Nepal, fif­teen miles from Kapilavas­tu. Shakya of Shakya­mu­ni is tak­en from the name of this tribe and muni means sage or saint. His fam­i­ly name was Gau­ta­ma (Best Cow) and his giv­en name was Sid­dhartha (Goal Achieved) though some schol­ars say this is a title bestowed on him by lat­er Bud­dhists in hon­our of the enlight­en­ment he attained.

Even though many Bud­dhists observe Bud­dha’s his­tor­i­cal birth on 8th April, the exact date remains in ques­tion. Although mod­ern archae­o­log­i­cal and his­tor­i­cal research con­firms that Prince Sid­dartha Gota­ma lived around this time.

On Bud­dha Purn­i­ma, peo­ple dress in white clothes and give out kheer (a rice pud­ding) as, accord­ing to leg­end, a woman named Suja­ta once offered Gau­tam Bud­dha kheer on his birth­day and it has since become a tradition.

The dhar­ma­cakra or dhar­ma wheel is a sym­bol often seen dur­ing Vesak. It is a wood­en wheel with eight spokes. The wheel rep­re­sents Bud­dha’s teach­ing on the path to enlight­en­ment. The eight spokes sym­bol­ize the noble eight­fold path of Buddhism.