Mettavalokanaya_Buddhist_Magazine_December_2018.

Most Venerable Master Jing Yin
The Abbot - Po Lin Monastery, Ngong
Ping, Lantau Island, Hong Kong
Ethical and Moral Carrier….
establish virtuous connections
and happy to be virtuous by
enjoying being generous” will
direct people towards virtue and
morally progress upward to uplift
the spiritual levels of humanity.
These are the important forces
for the establishment of a
harmonious society. At the same
time these agglomerate the
strong life-forces and vitalities of
a nation.
Besides being the carrier
of ethical and moral, Buddha’s
Day also shoulders the burden
of spiritual awakening and
purification. More than two
thousand and five hundred years
ago, Buddha has clearly illustrated
that all the sufferings in life can be
traced to the misunderstanding
“The best
Carrier of
Ethical and
moral”….
the bathing Buddha ceremony
to remind us to utilize Buddha’s
wisdom to cleanse our mind
of unhealthy thinking, such as
greed, hatred and ignorance,
through the purification of
our mind. And developing our
inherent potentials, our life
becomes healthier, more fulfilled
and has more freedom. People
used to say that “Confucianism
is good for governing our world,
Taoism is good for governing our
bodies, and Buddhism is good for
The celebration of
Buddha’s Day is a festival that
has withstood the tests of time
and space and has experienced
many adversities, and yet still
prevalent. This resilience is
greatly attributed to the content
of Buddha’s Day. First of all,
Buddha’s Day is the best carrier
of ethical and moral. The most
important content of Buddha’s
Day is through the practice of
bathing Buddha, people are
encouraged to practice ethics and
doing virtuous deeds. The best
example is Venerable Fa Xian from
Jin Dynasty who traveled to India
and observed how the Indians
celebrated Buddha’s Day: “Kings
and elders have free clinics built
with the intent to accumulate
virtuous qualities and merits. The
poor and sick flocked to these
places for free treatments.”
The Records of the Three
Kingdoms kept records the
celebrations of Buddha’s Day in
that era. “Every Bathing Buddha
ceremony was comprised of
many tables of free drinks and
meals that spread for several
ten of miles. People came to
observe the celebrations and
thousands enjoyed the feast,
costing the organizers millions.”
These practices convey the
message that generosity creates
virtuous connection is a virtue
and good ethics. Since the Ming
and Qing Dynasties, eating
virtuous connection beans has
become the main way people
celebrate Buddha’s Day, and it
conveys the message that it is
important to be virtuous toward
others and widely create virtuous
connections. The important
content of Qing Dynasty
Buddha’s Day was the gatherings
of virtue. These gatherings were
to encourage people to enjoy
doing virtuous deeds and to be
generous. At these gatherings,
there were displays of paintings
that spread the message of
planting the seeds of virtue, one
will get the virtuous fruits. The
most attractive decorations of Sri
Lanka Buddha’s Day were the big
towering painting of stories from
Buddhist texts, flower decorated
vehicles and colorful lanterns.
All these decorations are tools
to teach people the principles of
cause and effects.
By the rapid technological
advancements and great
accumulation of modern
societies, people should be living
according to Guan Zi “when safes
and storages are filled, people
should be well mannered, when
clothing and food are satisfactory,
people should know honor and
shame.”But in reality, people are
not living that way. The happiness
of humanity has not progressed
in sync with the advancements
of technologies, nor increased
with the development of the
economy. People are buried in
the mountain of works, busying
to earn more money.
Our material wealth may
have increased but we are bit
by bit losing the close intimacy
of family and friendship. People
are cold hearted and the ethics
and morals lines are getting
blurred. These social problems
cannot be solved by economical
means. Buddha’s Day conveys
the messages of “Understood the
working of causes and effects, one
practices virtue to accumulate
virtuous qualities, widely
of I. Mistakenly think that I is
truly existed, and also wrongly
recognize matters outside one’s
body are indisputably real. Thus,
all of our thinking are centralized
on I, will be accompanied by
the raising of greed, hatred,
ignorance, pride and doubt,
thus, sufferings become the
unescapable consequence. How
to remove unhealthy thinking,
such as greed, hatred, ignorance,
from our minds?
Just like bathing cleanses the
dust from one’s body, cleaning
clear the rubbish from one’s
room, washing clear the dirt
from one’s clothing….. Likewise,
during the Celebration of
Buddha’s Day, we skillfully utilize
governing our hearts and minds”.
Buddha’s Day has symbolically
illustrated the unique social
functions of “purify one’s mind”
and skillfully governs the hearts
and minds of people.
In conclusion, Buddha’s
Day not only has the functions
of a traditional Chinese festival,
it is the carrier of ethical and
moral. Furthermore, it is the
carrier of spiritual awakening
and purification. Benefiting the
health of our bodies and minds
is the carrier of Buddha’s spirit.
Buddha’s Day should be promoted
as the holiday for every people
living in this globe as everyone
needs spiritual awakening and
purification.
16 l Mettavalokanaya l December l 2018 l www.mettavalokanaya.com www.mettavalokanaya.com l 2018 l December l Mettavalokanaya l 17