Buddha's Birthday

00:00
00:00
Audio loading...

Welcome! You can log in or create an account to save favorites, edit keywords, transcripts, and more.

Serial: 
BZ-02669
Auto-Generated Transcript

good morning
it's a misty
morning hidden under a from early april
thank you for all coming out to celebrate buddha's birthday
does anyone know how many candles there are on the buddha's birthday cake
nobody knows
you're very close but no cigar city would want to make another guess
two thousand five hundred sixty two but who's counting
you know that
you know that's presuming we actually know when the when the buddha was born ah which is not clear
some going to tell this of the a shortish lecture of i'm gonna tell you something about the buddha's birth and then we're going to have a
a ceremony beating the baby buddha fair it's it's a beautifully decorated in that bauer back there ah will move it up front and everybody i have a chance to poor sweet tea
over the buddha
the buddha was born into a ruling family in one of the northern ah republic's the shockey of people were his tribe despise known as shock money sage of the shaggy drive
and
he was born like all of us are born with a body in a mind and a heart
and when he was born he took his first breath just like we did
ha and so we see him as a human not as a that is a god but as a human who was born with great potentiality snow sale the more about that
but the
the story leading up to his vs is very interesting ah
so on a full moon night his mother queen maya who was are in the the royal family married to a to king ciudadano in this shocking ah
area really can like city state ah she had a very vivid dreams
she dreamed that she was carried away by kind spirits to a very cool clear lake high in the mountains
and
she bathed in that lake
and after her bathing she put on beautiful clothing and perfume and adorned herself with flowers
and ah
as she was sitting there maybe she was drifting off to sleep within the dream where she was already sleeping
you can think about that ah she had a vision of a white elephant
that was holding a white lotus flower in its in its trunk so wrapped around the flour and that elephant walked around her three times
kneeling a little you know as elephants can do as a as the often passed in front of her his times
and she awoke from their dreams and she knew she had received an important message
is that the elephant is a very auspicious symbol a symbol of greatness
and she told the king about her dream ah next morning and he sent for his our sages you know the wise men who were good at interpreting dreams the with a psycho analysts have their day ah
and they explain your majesty the dream says that our queen will give birth to a child who will become a great being and they were very happy because they had no children at that point
so
weekend flashforward about nine ten months and from the dream of the white elephant and have the child was about to be born
and she went to the king and said ah
my dear i have to go back to my parents in the colyer lands kalia is one of the adjoining a city states kingdoms and it was the custom in no time in those tires for a woman to go back to her parents' home give birth there ah and she
wanted to go because the baby was almost do
and he said i won't make the arrangements for you
and so the king sent out his soldiers to clear the road ah and the queen was ah carried on her a very highly decorated and painted platform ah on the road between per capital couple of us do in the capital of the call
ah there's a long procession they were headed for her parents kingdom
in on the way to the colyer country
they passed beautiful garden which is called lumbini park
the garden is it is near what is now known as nepal that was the area so you can picture that it was very there were foothills and beautiful ah lush meadows screens ah this park had trees and scented flowers and
birds and they
they've attracted the queen ah
and so she thought she would take a rest there
and she ordered to procession and all the bearers to stop and she
got down and she rested under one of the trees and realize that the birth was beginning then that she was her time and become due and she stood up and she reached for an overhanging branch
and ah has she reached up ah this baby was born out of her side
which
hello
maybe she had velcro who knows
what is born out of her side and this was a good sign
now it gets interesting
authority interesting that it was born out of her side but according to the legends right after his birth
this baby began to walk
do you believe that
baby began to walk and he took seven steps in a circle
and at each step a lotus flower appeared
ah and he pointed with one hand to the heavens and the other to the earth and you'll see if you be look at the baby judith it's it's his and posture ah and he looked in the four directions he turned in each of the directions and he said of
above the earth and under the heavens
i alone am the honored once
so ah
not only did he walk but he talked
and not only did he talk but he made rather major pronouncement
which was carried on cnn that night
ah
but it was fake news
that's not true it was real news
ha
now is there's an interesting
gov
to the question reddit users surgeon
r zen tradition is very iconic classic and it was a commentary by the great ah tang dynasty zen master young men
ha regarding is first and master human said
had i witnessed this i would have knocked him dead with one stroke and fed into the dogs in order to bring about peace on earth
just
then you can think about that one too i've just tried to kind of
if you thought to spur you on so queen maya return to couple of us to and the king was thrilled to meet his son and the news spread throughout the kingdom
heard was so king sudan as old teacher after who was a wise man in a spiritual being and he lived in the jungle but the news got everywhere ah and he went immediately to see the king and queens
the king was really so happy to see his old teacher had to show him his son his born son he brought the prince before after and said
ah teacher my son was born only yesterday can you tell me what you see in his future
nostrils looked at the child and said the prince will be a king of kings if he wants to rule
if he chooses religious life then he will become the wisest
the awakened one the buddha
and
he was given the name
the prince was given the name siddhartha which means of
wish fulfilled or one who has accomplished the goal

but his life was marked by loss immediately with seven days after his verse
siddharth his mother died
and he was raised by queen myers are younger sister who we chant who was one of the who was the first among ah the women disciples were mohapatra party ha and she raised him
she had also given birth to a son on the same day and so she fed him and she raised him as her own son
and the stories says a sagada could not remember his mother
so his life was marked by loss from from the beginning
so that's the story
that's the outlines of the story of the buddha's birth ah
i think it's suggests that
a couple of things fritz that all of us have the potential to be a buddha within this life
and even though buddha said i alone believe the heavens and above the earth and the world honored one
that was his potential that wasn't
the fact that that moment he had he had the remarkable capacity to see what is potential was even as a as a newborn but he still had to cultivate it and practice and development over or over the next several days
decades before he actually became awakened and so we need to activate this potential within ourselves just as he did
the buddha did not wait and see ah he didn't expect someone else to to do this for him or two
you know hand him what but he already in intuitively knew which his birthright he had to realize that he had to bring it forth through his efforts into his practice
ah and so he practiced by diligently ah when the time it comes
we have this potential this birthday can remind us of our potential and we can be born as well
and arm
the other question that the other point that comes up for me is ah for those of us who are appearance
what can we do
to bring forth the buddha nature of our children
because they are also born
with all the potentials of a buddha
and we need to help them
when you need to help them navigate the losses and the difficulties of the world so that they can actually benefit the world this is our responsibility as parents or as or as adults as people who are around children have children are just
this vital growing aspect of our lives
and to help them be born
as who they truly are
i think that's the message of buddha's birthdays
tell all of us till for children to help ourselves
be born as buddha's on that path to bring harmony in peace in the world
so that's my talk from today and job in a few moments will ah will set up for the buddha's birthday celebration in here and i thinking hopefully everyone will find it enjoyable and then there's ah of
excellent buddha's birthday cake which probably will not have two thousand and five hundred sixty two candles ah that would be too large a conflagration i'm afraid but the cake will be very good and will and also we will have a
gathering of
this room full of buddhists who can mix and mingle and talk and celebrate our birthday together so thank you