Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages. So, today we are celebrating. It's on. I hear it. Yeah, can you hear me back in the back? Yes, okay. So today, we are celebrating Buddha's birthday, and I'm gonna talk for a little while, but then the kids are going to share a song with you, which I've been listening to the rehearsals for, and it's quite inspiring, and it's given me something to think about. So, do you know how many Handles are on the Buddha's birthday cake. Do any of you know? Do any of you know? What?

[01:00]

29. No, that's Jack Benny. No, that's 39. Yeah. No, there are 2,562 candles on the Buddha's birthday cake, which means, according to legend, how old is he then? Oh, now you're really... No, 2,561. But who's counting? Can you imagine putting 2,562 candles on a birthday cake? We have a really big cake out there. We do, we do. You'll have some after, but... Big enough. Not big enough, no. Not big enough. So I was thinking about how many candles and how many years, and that got me thinking about numbers, which makes me think about, which is related to the song that you're going to sing.

[02:35]

The words to the song are quite beautiful. It's little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. Thus the little minutes, humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity. So, thinking about numbers, thinking about all those years, and every year we celebrate the Buddha's birthday. And also thinking, then it got me thinking about all the steps he took in his life. And he started when he was born. This is very unusual. Have you ever seen a newborn baby? How many of you? Yes. Could they walk? No. But the story is that the Buddha could walk.

[03:37]

He had very good motor skill coordination. So when he was born, from his mother, Queen Maya, the story is that two streams of sparkling water, that's like Galistoga, right? Came pouring down out of the heavens. on the baby and his mother, and blossoms rained down on him. And this is what you're going to be doing when you go outside, actually. We come from both sides in the ceremony. And people, you're going to offer blossoms, which are like the blossoms coming down from the heavens. And then you're going to bathe from two sides, two streams, bathing the baby Buddha.

[04:39]

So we're reenacting this scene that is so old. But then an interesting thing happened. The baby Buddha stood up and he took seven steps. And then he did something else that was very unusual. What do you think it was? What is it that a newborn baby can't do? That's right. So he took seven steps, and then he said, I alone am the world honored one. Maybe he said this, maybe he didn't, but he was saying, he was sort of proclaiming his future. And a little later, a few days later, a holy man came to his father's palace because the Buddha was born a prince in a kingdom in the area that is now the country of Nepal, which is sort of north of India, right up against the mountains.

[05:57]

You can see the great Himalaya mountains. You can see that from his bedroom window. And this king, his father asked, The holy man, what will my son be? And the holy man said, he will either be a great king ruling many nations or he will be a spiritual teacher who will liberate millions of beings. And what do you think his father wanted him to be? Yes, again. Now, if my father was the king, what do you think he'd want me to be? A prince. That's right. So he said, wait, spiritual teacher, that's not a good job.

[06:58]

That's not where the money is. So he said, no, I would like him to be a king. And he protected his son from all of the outside world. He kept them within the palace gates. But this prince, Siddhartha was his name, he was very smart and very curious. And he wanted to see beyond the palace walls. And so, but he waited a long time, actually, you know, it's like if you wanted to see the beyond the palace walls, you know, probably by the time you were 10, you would have figured out a way to get out there and see what was happening in the street. Don't you think? But he waited until he was 29 because he was a very good boy. You know, and then he went out and he walked, he had, he was driven around in his chariot and he saw four things.

[08:05]

He saw, for the first time, an old person. And then he saw a sick person. Someone lying by the side of the road. And then he saw a person who was dead. who was also left by the side of the road. Nobody was taking care of the body. And finally he saw a monk, a spiritual person going around in robes and this moved him very deeply and he realized that's what he wanted to be. He wanted to let go of all the worldly treasures he had because his fate, like the fate of all people was, oh, he would get old, he would get sick, he would die, and he thought there has to be another way to live.

[09:11]

And so he gave up his princely kingdom and that future And he went out into the woods and he cut off his hair and he put on robes. And this is the age of 29 or 30. And he walked for 50 years until he was 80 years old. Every day he went around and he begged for his food. And after having his meal, he would sit down and people would come to him and ask him questions. And he taught them how to meditate. He taught them how to live a meaningful life, how to do good work. And every day he walked. So I was thinking about this walking. I was thinking about every little drop of water, every grain of sand, every step.

[10:14]

And for some reason last night, I tried to figure out how many steps do you think the Buddha took in his life? A lot. I don't think you can guess. So here's how I tried to figure it out. I figured out if he had to walk on alms round every day, He probably, and he had to go every day because they didn't have refrigerators in those times. So they had to get their food fresh every day. So I figured maybe he walked, a conservative estimate, maybe four miles a day. Does that seem reasonable? So four miles a day. That comes out to, on the average, of about 1,400 or 1,500 miles a year. And he did this from the age of 29 to 80. So figure he did this for 50 years, right?

[11:19]

So over 50 years, you might conservatively estimate that he walked 70,000 miles. which is about three times around the circumference of the world. It's a lot of walking. What? I'm glad you asked that question. For that, I went to Google. And I said, how many steps in a mile? And it averages. Some people walk a step that's two feet. Some people walk a step that's three feet. He was a pretty determined, strong walker. So they figured that he walked. I figured, OK, let's estimate he walked 2,200 steps per mile, OK? So, do you know how many steps that works out to be?

[12:27]

A lot, yes. 154 million steps. Wow. That's how many steps the Buddha walked. And every step that he took, he was walking with the Dharma. He wasn't walking to get anywhere. He was walking just to express the fact that he was awake and to express the fact that we could be awake too, whether we're walking or sitting or sleeping. And this all began with the seven steps, the seven really unusual steps that he took when he was just born. So that's what I've been thinking about and thinking of every step as a drop of water.

[13:28]

Every step as a grain of sand. Every step that he made is also a step that we can make. And so that's really what I wanted to share with you today. So please keep walking and please keep the Buddha in mind and keep in mind that you are the Buddha. The Buddha is not different from you. So I would say happy birthday. You are 2,561 years old today. And you can see if we have that many candles on the cake out there. So I think Rick and the kids are gonna teach you this song, right? Humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity.

[14:48]

Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the muddy ocean and the frozen land. Lift the mighty winds, tumble the days deep, make the muddy oceans of eternity. Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the fossil land. Just a little goldfish, humble though they be, make the mighty oceans of eternity. No! Not too fast. What the hell, do you want to join them?

[16:25]

Drop some water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. Little, little, little moonbeams, humble though they be, make the mighty regions of eternity. Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty oceans and the peasant land. Thus the will of man and of all that be May accompany the ages of eternity.

[17:59]

Drops of water, little grains of sand, at the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. Thus the widowed hands, humble though they be, pray to the mighty ages of eternity. water, little grains of sand, they're good for the oceans and the pleasant land. Just a little in its life-full glory, they've been the agents of eternity.

[19:12]

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