Happy Wesak Day (卫塞节快乐)

Friday, May 28, 2010 Wesak Day celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and passing away of the Buddha Gotama. Celebrating Wesak also means making special efforts to bring happiness to the unfortunate like the aged, the handicapped and the sick. Tradition ascribes to the Buddha himself instruction on how to pay him homage. Just before he died, he saw his faithful attendant Ananda, weeping. The Buddha advised him not to weep, but to understand the universal law that all compounded things (including even his own body) must disintegrate. He advised everyone not to cry over the disintegration of the physical body but to regard his teachings (The Dhamma) as their teacher from then on, because only the Dhamma truth is eternal and not subject to the law of change. He also stressed that the way to pay homage to him was not merely by offering flowers, incense, and lights, but by truly and sincerely striving to follow his teachings. This is how devotees are expected to celebrate Wesak: to use the opportunity to reiterate their determination to lead noble lives, to develop their minds, to practise loving-kindness and to bring peace and harmony to humanity. [Source: Wikipedia]

Unfortunately there is no event at Wat Sungai Siput to celebrate Wesak Day but I guess it will be lot of devotees visit the temple to pay homage to Buddah. I want to take this opportunity to wish all my Buddhist friends and Arjan Tia’s devotees great mindfulness and peace on this Wesak Day and days to come. Lets celebrate this Wesak Day by helping people around us that need for help and also try our best to help with the development of Ubosot. I once asked Arjan Tia why not make the Ubosot bigger and more fancy, he says he don’t need a big Ubosot, just a small and formal hall will do to let the ordinations take place and ordain new monks. The construction work of Ubosot was officially started on 24/04/2009 but it was stopped several times due to the insufficient of fund. Unlike in Thailand, Arjan Tia said here in Malaysia we have to raise funds by ourselves because there is no support from the government, also the Buddhist in Thailand is outnumbered than here in Malaysia, therefore its 3x harder for any of the development that required lot of money. With the dedication and determination of Arjan Tia himself together with the help of his devotees, this day is soon to come and when it does it will be the most glorious day for all of us.

卫塞节是佛陀出生、成道觉悟、逝世的一天。 佛陀出生于公元前624年四月十五月圆日，出生地是今尼泊尔兰毗尼。 公元前589年四月十五月圆日，36岁的悉达多在菩提伽耶的菩提树下发现了无常、无我的真理，放下执着，达到究竟解脱，得到阿罗汉果，完成了人生的目的。 中夜时分，佛陀最后告诫众比丘说：“比丘们！我告诉你们，不要自负，观察一切法都是无常变化的。大家应该各自精勤观察，以彻底证取（解脱）道果。”是佛陀在人世的最后教导。然后佛陀次第进入四禅八定，返回第四禅时结束于了轮回的生活，证达永恒的大涅盘界。这时在库西那拉附近地区发生地震及天空无雨响雷等现象。正是公元前544年二月十五日月圆时分。（现在为方便也作四月十五日）。这一天，有能力的法友可以选择静修，或者也作一件帮助别人的好事。[摘自：百度]

对我来说不必执着自己是不是一个所谓的 “正宗“ 佛教徒，没有所谓的正不正宗，只有紧记佛陀的教诲，把它带入生活里，心存好念，心思成熟，多做好事，多讲好话，舍己为人，无私无我，不为目的以及利益的着想甚至是私我的目的而去帮助别人或做某种事，这就是最好的佛教徒以及最好的改运/开运方法了。佛教其实就是一个教育，而法门才是今天我们看到的形形色色，但两者息息相关传承至今，两者不能缺一。市面上有很多跟佛陀相关的书籍，想要多了解佛陀的多多参考学习，但无论你读了多少相关的书或念了多少经，领悟其中的道理才是最重要，而坐禅可以升华内在佛性，是悟道的一种最佳修炼方式。（此言论为个人见解，与阿占爹师傅的立场无关）

最后我要借此机会祝所有的佛教徒卫塞节快乐。让我们一起帮助在我们身边需要帮助的人以及一起努力的把空怀泰佛寺的讲经堂建好。此经堂建为24/04/2009开建但由于经费不足导致工程一直间断。讲经堂主要目的是让跟佛教有关的仪式可以在一个庄严的地方进行，阿占爹师傅说他并不需要一个很大很堂皇的讲经堂，只需要有个地方可以让新出家的和尚进行仪式就足够了。由于我国并非佛教国而且政府方面是没有提供补助的，因此所有的一分一毫皆得靠善信们的慷慨捐助。希望大家同心协力为一个大方向共同迈进，让讲经堂的完成不只是在空怀泰佛寺的土地上，也是在你我的心坑上。