BIG BUDDHA DAY is the day of the full moon in May.
On this day, Buddhists around the world celebrate the Buddha's birthday, enlightenment, and passing away into parinirvana.
It is called Vaishakha in Sanskrit, Vesakha in Pali, and more commonly Vesak or Wesak.
In the East, it has long been the case that different lunar calendars have led to some countries celebrating Wesak on different days [and even months] to eachother.
Therefore, the international Buddhist community is promoting the idea of picking one specific day for everyone to celebrate.
We are naming that particular occasion Big Buddha Day as it is the most important and commonly observed of all the various Buddhist Holy Days and it has come to be respected by all the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana schools.
So we are whole-heartedly encouraging countless other non-denominational groups to gather together on the May Full Moon Day each year in the unified spirit of limitless Peace, Compassion and Wisdom.
On the most pure and simple level, the very least we can do on this special day is gather in one place and sit in meditation together: Body Still, Speech Silent and Mind at Rest.
In a space not connected with any one particular Buddhist tradition or another, not too bothered with performing rituals or making speeches, we can simply allow the Buddha Mind within all of us to rise up and radiate: Natural, Open and Awake.
