Buddha Birthday Festival Celebration 2008 - BLIA WA

COMING REAL SOON!

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Events for the day

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Offering Ceremony on Sunday Morning
Bathing the Buddha Ritual
Cultural Performances on Saturday night
Multi-faith prayer on Saturday night
The main stage for the event

Buddha's Birth Day Festival

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Buddha's Birth Day Festival

Sat 12^th April, 11 am to 9 pm & Sun 13^th April 2008, 9 am to 6 pm

Supreme Court Gardens

Fo Guang Shan Temple of WA (IBAWA) and the Buddha's Light International Association of WA (BLIAWA) welcome you to join in the celebration of the birth of Sakyamuni Buddha, who was born over 2,500 years ago in Northern India as Prince Siddhartha.

There is much for everyone to see and do throughout the 2-day event. Bathing of the Buddha ritual, making offerings, exhibition of the Buddha's birthplace, meditation sessions, multicultural vegetarian food & entertainment, art & craft and children's rides are just some of the many features of the event. Please see attached for event details and program.

Under the generous sponsorship of the City of Perth, this event aims to promote peace and harmony in our society and multi-faith interaction amongst people from diverse backgrounds. It also serves as an opportunity for the public to develop an understanding of Buddhism by "bringing the temple to the people". Through the varied activities, it is hoped that every visitor is able to develop a better understanding, learn about other cultures, gain new experiences, enjoy our warmth and friendliness or simply be entertained and have a fun day out

Special Highlights:

Bathing of the Buddha

Since ancient times, Buddhists all over the world mark this auspicious occasion by using fragrant water to bathe the image of Buddha, as it is believed that when the infant prince was born, purified water cascaded down to bathe him. The significance of the act as we pour the fragrant water over the statue of the infant Buddha is to cleanse our body, speech and thoughts to eradicate anger, greed and ignorance in order to purify our minds to cultivate merits and wisdom. Everyone is welcome to participate freely in this ritual at the Buddha's Pavilion open throughout the day.

Saturday 12^th April at 6 pm, Multi-faith Prayer for Peace Ceremony

Representatives from diverse faith groups take turns to say a prayer, while every person in the gathering has the opportunity to light a candle, to reflect and unite as one in wishing for peace and harmony in our society and the world at large. Enjoy an hour of music and songs celebrating love, hope and faith for all beings, concluding with the burst of fireworks at 7.30 pm.

Sunday 13^th April at 10 am, Official Ceremony

The Chinese lion dance display heralds the start of the ceremony, to be followed by BLIAWA members making offerings to the Buddha and a short blessing service, including the bathing of the Buddha ritual. Invited guests include government officials and representatives from various organizations. The public is also welcome to witness this grand ceremony to be held at the Buddha's Pavilion.

Entry is free, all are welcome

Ceremonies and Activities

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Candle Light Offering: Candle offerings are used to illuminate the “Light of Peace”, prayers (mantras) to “lighten one’s load”. It symbolize the respects and celebrates the “wisdom” we gain through his practice (ie. enlighten)

Chanting Ceremony: Sutras are used during the religious service, it is also a form of meditation and way to cultivate wisdom or respects.

Main Altar: Displays sutra, ceremony instruments and offering of respect (eg. Candle, fruits, flowers, incense & etc).

Blessing Bell: Buddhist blessing bell used to ring for peace and harmony, it resonates Dharma to all beings

What’s the Festival About?

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Since Buddha’s Birth Day Festival started in 2004 at Supreme Court Garden, its popularity has almost doubled every year. In the three years since his first began, the festival had grown from an original audience of 5,000 to almost 30,000 in 2006.

The festival was developed in response to the organizer’s interest in promoting peace and harmony, and promotes inter-religious interaction. It was also an opportunity to provide community access to Buddhist activities by “bringing the temple to the people”.

Origin of Buddha’s Birthday

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This Festival celebrates the birth of the Buddha who was born on the 8th day of the fourth lunar month (May) in 600 BC. He was originally known as Sidhhartha, a crown prince of a kingdom located in Northern India.

One of the Main activities of the festival is bathing the Buddha ritual. Legends records that when Prince Siddhartha was born, there were extraordinary and auspicious signs heralding his birth.

They describe the sky as being clear with brilliant sunshine, flowers blooming and birds singing. Dragon appears in the sky spurting two streams of purified water (one cool and one warm), that gently cascaded down to bathe Him.

At His birth, seven lotus flowers sprung up beneath His feet as he walked. Pointing one hand to the sky and ground, said “ In the heaven above and earth below, I vow to liberate all who suffer in these three realms”. Since that time Buddhist all over the world celebrate His birthday by using fragrant water to bathe the image of Buddha.

This ritual highlights a universal massage that “it’s easy to wash away physical dirt, but it’s much more difficult to cleanse one’s inner impurity of greed, anger and ignorance”. It is in hoping that through this action to remind ourselves, purifying our mindset and revealing the righteous mind, to co-insight with the Buddha’s teaching.