Buddhist Worship: Worship in Buddhism

By http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion

Buddhist Worship: Worship in Buddhism

Buddhists can worship both at home or at a temple. It is not considered essential to go to a temple to worship with others.

At Home

Buddhists will often set aside a room or a part of a room as a shrine. There will be a statue of Buddha, candles, and an incense burner.

Temples

Buddhist temples come in many shapes. Perhaps the best known are the pagodas of China and Japan.

Another typical Buddhist building is the Stupa, which is a stone structure built over what are thought to be relics of the Buddha, or over copies of the Buddha's teachings.

Buddhist temples are designed to symbolise the five elements:

• Fire
• Air
• Earth, symbolised by the square base
• Water
• Wisdom, symbolised by the pinnacle at the top.

All Buddhist temples contain an image or a statue of Buddha.

Worship

There as many forms of Buddhist worship as there are schools of Buddhism- and there are many of those.

Worship in Mahayana tradition takes the form of devotion to Buddha and to Bodhisattvas.

Worshippers may sit on the floor barefoot facing an image of Buddha and chanting. They will listen to monks chanting from religious texts, perhaps accompanied by instruments, and take part in prayers.

Holy days and Festivals

Festivals play a big part in the lives of many Buddhists. Most Buddhists, with the exception of the Japanese, use the Lunar calendar.

The dates of Buddhist festivals and the way they are celebrated vary from country to country, and between Buddhist traditions.

The most important holy days are: Wesak, Dharma Day, Sangha Day, Parinirvana Day , Losar

Wesak

Wesak is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday, and, for some Buddhists, also marks his birth and death.

Buddha literally means 'one who is awake' and has become enlightened. It is a term that denotes a person who has attained the supreme wisdom and compassion of Enlightenment.

To Buddhists Enlightenment is a blessed state in which the individual attains Nirvana - the transcendence of desire and suffering. Many of Buddha's disciples have attained Enlightenment, and there have been many other Enlightened teachers.

The celebration of Wesak is a chance to remember the story of how the Buddha gained Enlightenment, and to reflect on what it might mean for individual Buddhists to move towards Enlightenment themselves.

Celebrations

The festival is celebrated with much colour and gaiety. Homes may be cleaned and decorated. In Thailand, for example, special Wesak lanterns are made of paper and wood, and often there a large ceremonial releases of caged birds.

In many countries during the festival, Buddhists will visit their local temple for services and teaching, and will give offerings to the monks of food, candles and flowers.

Chanting and praying are an important part of Wesak. The 'Bathing the Buddha' ceremony is also often included. Water is poured over the shoulders of the Buddha and serves as a reminder to purify the mind from greed, hatred and ignorance.

Chinese Buddhists incorporate elements of their country's culture into their religious celebrations like the traditional dancing dragons.

Gifts are taken to an altar to be offered to the Buddha statues. This shows respect and gratitude to the Buddha for his life and teachings.

If there is food it is usually vegetarian as Buddhists try not to harm animals.

Dharma Day

Dharma day marks the beginning of the Buddha's teaching. The word Dharma can be translated as truth and is the term used for the path to enlightenment, or the Buddhist teaching.

Soon after his Enlightenment the Buddha went to find his former disciples and share his experience with them. This event could be seen as the start of the Buddhist religion, and is what Dharma day celebrates.

The first teaching to the Buddha's original five disciples is known as ÔThe First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma (Dharmachakra).Õ

In early Buddhism, the time around what has now become Dharma Day (the eighth lunar month in the traditional Indian calendar) marked the beginning of the rainy season.

At this point, the Buddha and his monks and nuns would suspend their nomadic lifestyle for three months. They would shelter together until the monsoon season was over, and use this time as a period of further meditation and reflection.

At the end of this time, they would resume their travelling, passing on the Buddha's teachings to those who were interested.

Dharma day is now seen as a chance to express gratitude that the Buddha, and other enlightened teachers, have shared their knowledge with others.

Dharma day is usually celebrated with readings from the Buddhist scriptures, and is an opportunity to reflect deeply on their content.

If an individual practices Buddhism within a monastic tradition, Dharma day is, wherever possible, celebrated in a temple, Buddhist centre or monastery in the presence of monks or nuns.

Sangha Day

This festival is also known as Fourfold Assembly or Magha Puja Day.

Sangha Day is the second most important Buddhist festival. It is a celebration in honour of the Sangha, or the Buddhist community. For some Buddhists Sangha refers only to monks and nuns. It is a chance for people to reaffirm their commitment to Buddhist practices and traditions.

Sangha Day commemorates the spontaneous gathering of 1,250 enlightened monks (arahants), to hear the Buddha preach at Veluvana Vihara.

At this gathering, the Buddha gave his first sermon, or recitation of the Patimokkha (the rules and regulations of the monastic order).

Sangha is the term used for the Buddhist spiritual community. On Sangha Day Buddhists celebrate both the ideal of creating a spiritual community, and also the actual spiritual community which they are trying to create.

The Sangha is precious in Buddhism as without those in the community to look up to or share aspirations with, the spiritual life would be very challenging.

Sangha Day is a traditional time for exchange of gifts; it has become a prominent festival among Western Buddhists even though it is less well known in the East.

Celebrations vary, but can include chanting, meditation, the lighting of oil lamps, and the reaffirmation of people's commitment to Buddhist practice.

Parinirvana Day

This is a Mahayana Buddhist festival that marks the death of the Buddha. It is also known as Nirvana Day.

Buddhists celebrate the death of the Buddha, because they believe that having attained Enlightenment he achieved freedom from physical existence and its sufferings.

The Buddha's death came when he was eighty years old, and had spent forty years teaching after his Enlightenment. He died in a state of meditation, and attained nirvana, a release from the cycle of death and rebirth.

The Paranibbana Sutta describes the Buddha's last days, and passages from it are often read on Parinirvana Day.

Buddhists celebrate Parinirvana Day by meditating or by going to Buddhist temples or monasteries. As with other Buddhist festivals, celebrations vary throughout the world.

In monasteries Parinirvana Day is treated as a social occasion. Food is prepared and some people bring presents such as money, household goods or clothes.

The day is used as an opportunity to reflect on the fact of one's own future death, and on friends or relations who have recently passed away. The idea that all things are transient is central to Buddhist teaching. Loss and impermanence are things to be accepted rather than causes of grief.

Meditations are carried out for the newly deceased to give them help and support wherever they might be now.

Losar

The most important holiday in Tibet is Losar, which celebrates the Tibetan New Year.

It's celebrated in February, but the exact date varies each year according to the lunar calendar.

In 2005 Losar will be celebrated from Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th February.

Losar is a three day festival. On the first day celebrations are usually restricted to the family, with the second and third days being the time to visit and exchange gifts with friends and more distant relatives.

This is also a time for Tibetans to visit monasteries and make offerings.

Losar is marked with activities that symbolise purification, and welcoming in the new.

Buildings are whitewashed and thoroughly cleaned, people wear new clothes and special food is prepared.

Buddhist monks adorn the monasteries with the finest decorations, and conduct religious ceremonies.

Rituals are performed to drive away evil spirits, and people celebrate with feasts and dancing.

The festival of Losar can be traced back to the pre-Buddhist period in Tibet.

In the times when Tibetans practiced the Bon religion, every winter a festival was held where people offered large quantities of incense to please local spirits and deities.

This festival eventually became the annual Buddhist festival we know today.

Courtesy to http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion