Wesak, the 2,600th Anniversary of the Buddha's Awakening!

Today, on the full moon of May two thousand six hundred years ago, Siddhartha Gautama awoke to the reality of existence and became the Buddha, the fully awakened one. This is celebrated by the festival of Wesak which in many schools of Buddhism also marks the Buddha's birth and death all traditionally having occurred on the first full moon of May.

A single day lived
with conscious intention and wisdom
is of greater value than a hundred years lived devoid of discipline and manifest wisdom.

Dhammapada verse 111

The best gift we can offer the Buddha on his birthday is to live this day wisely. We all know the consequences of living according with
preferences: we feel divided, not whole. When conditions conspire to be agreeable we lose ourselves in the happiness we have gained; when conditions become disagreeable we despair over what we have lost.
Wisdom ‘sees’ both gain and loss - wisdom sustains the awareness which makes us free.

With Metta,

Bhikkhu Munindo

(this is the Buddha's enlightenment as portrayed in the film "Little Buddha")


West Wight Sangha will be celebrating Wesak with fellow Buddhists from the Island wide Sangha this coming Sunday, the 22nd, from mid-day.