4/08/2008

Buddha Birthday

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Buddha's Birthday Celebrations
(Busshoo-e)

***** Location: Japan. Buddhist communities
***** Season: Late spring
***** Category: Observation


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Explanation

Busshoo-e 仏生会
Celebrated on April 8 in Japan
Kanbutsu-e 潅仏会 (かんぶつえ)、: Buddha's Birthday

There are many kigo related to this most important event for the Buddhist.
It is equivalent to the Christmas celebrations.

yuzuki yooka 卯月八日 eighth day of the fourth lunar month

Prince Siddhartha, Buddham Sharanam Gachhami, Gauthama, the Buddha. There are many names for him.

CLICK for more photos Siddhārtha Gautama, in Sanskrit, or Siddhattha Gotama, in Pali, was a spiritual teacher from ancient India and the founder of Buddhism.
He is generally recognized by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (Sammāsambuddha) of our age. The precise nature of such a supreme Buddha - whether "merely" human or a transcendental, immortal, god-transcending being - is differently construed in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !


Buddha, Shakyamuni, Shaka and Haiku  
INDIA SAIJIKI 

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basin to bath the buddha, yokubutsubann
浴仏盆(よくぶつぼん)


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honorable birthday celebration, gootan-e
降誕会(ごうたんえ)
celebration to bath the Buddha, yokubutsu-e
浴仏会(よくぶつえ)
"dragon flower celebration" 竜華会(りゅうげえ)
"birthday Buddha", tanjoo butsu 誕生仏(たんじょうぶつ)


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"high flowers", takabana 高花(たかばな)
"sky high flowers", tendoo bana 天道花(てんとうばな)
"flowers of the eighth day", yooka bana 八日花
pole with azaleas, sao tsutsuji 竿躑躅(さおつつじ)
"beginning of breaking flowers" hana ori hajime
花折始め(はなおりはじめ)
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In many parts of Japan, especially in Shikoku and Western Japan, people break the first brances of azaleas and wisteria from the mountain forests and bind them on a large pole, to be set up in the temple or in their own garden.



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Flower Festival, Hana matsuri 花祭 (はなまつり)
"flower hall", hana midoo 花御堂 (はなみどう)
"flower tower" hana no too 花の塔(はなのとう)
"flower house", katei 花亭(かてい)

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hydrangea tea, "sweet tea", amacha 甘茶 (あまちゃ)
"water with five scents", gokoosui 五香水(ごこうすい)
"water of five colors, goshiki no mizu
五色の水(ごしきのみず)
"birth bath water of Buddha" hotoke no ubuyu
仏の産湯(ほとけのうぶゆ)
Buddha and sweet tea, amacha butsu
甘茶仏(あまちゃぶつ)
temple who celebrates with sweet tea
amacha dera 甘茶寺(あまちゃでら)


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"amacha" is the name for a wild mountain hydrangea.
In this ceremony, amacha represents the sweet rain that fell upon the earth when Buddha was born.
The sacred five colors of Buddhism are green, yellow, red, white and black.






© Photo Gabi Greve, 2008
More about this statue of Shakyamuni


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Worldwide use


CLICK for more photos for Purnima

In many Buddhist countries of Asia, this ceremony is celebrated according to the lunar calendar, thus varying in date. Mostly it brings the beginning of the summer, so it can be seen as a kigo for summer.

Saga Dawa / Vesak / Buddha Purnima


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Things found on the way



. goshiki 五色  "Five Colors" of Buddhism .


"Birthday Temple"
Temple Tanjo-Ji and Honen Shonin 法然上人


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HAIKU


卯月八日 死んで生まるる子は仏
uzuki yooka shinde umaruru ko wa hotoke

eighth day of the fourth lunar month -
dead and then born
the child is a Buddha


. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .


. hotoke 仏  a dead body .


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wounded monk —
Buddham Sharanam Gachhami
his last prayer


Kumarendra Mallick, Hyderabad, India,


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Related words

***** Azalea (Japan) Tsutsuji, Satsuki, Rhododendron

***** Hydrangea (ajisai) Hortensia.

***** . Nehan-E 涅槃会 Nirvana Ceremony .
Early Spring (Feb. 15)

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. Gokuraku 極楽 - The Buddhist Paradise .


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3 comments:

Gabi Greve - Issa said...

Kobayashi Issa

kanbutsu wa yubi-kiri o suru tetsuki kana

bathing baby Buddha --
his hand shape a finger-promise
to the other kids

with a comment by Chris Drake
.

Gabi Greve - Issa said...

雀子がざくざく浴る甘茶哉
suzumego ga zaku-zaku abiru amacha kana

young sparrows
showered with sweet tea
poured on baby Buddha

Three years later Issa wrote this version:

sparrows splashed
with sweet tea poured
on baby Buddha

suzumera ga zabu-zabu abiru amacha kana (1818)

Issa's third version is a little more abstract, stressing the equal importance of all creatures:

young sparrows washed
with the same sweet tea
as baby Buddha

suzume-go mo onajiku abiru ama-cha kana (1819)

with a comment by Chris Drake

Gabi Greve said...

Kobayashi Issa

へぼ蜂が孔雀気どりや花御堂
hebo-bachi ga kujaku kidori ya hanamidô

the ordinary bee
struts like a peacock...
Buddha's birthday flowers

Gabi Greve explains that hanamidô ("blossom temple hall") is a miniature hall set up at Buddhist temples and decorated with colorful flowers on Gautauma Buddha's birthday, celebrated on the Eighth Day of Fourth Month. Small statues of the child Buddha are also decorated with flowers, and hydrangea tea is poured over the statue by visitors. The bee is enjoying the blossoms, Issa imagines--as if they have been gathered just for him.

David Lanoue
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