{"id":1314,"date":"2011-05-17T22:40:19","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T02:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=1314"},"modified":"2011-05-17T22:40:35","modified_gmt":"2011-05-18T02:40:35","slug":"happy-buddha-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/05\/happy-buddha-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Happy Buddha Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I wonder what the Buddha would think about all this fuss about his birthday or celebrating his enlightenment. He might just say — work on your own enlightenment!<\/p>\n

Of course, rituals can be a beneficial part of practice, but I doubt the Buddha would have been comfortable with this sort of attention. Still, people all around the world are celebrating this day.<\/p>\n

And, after all, why not? Everyone loves a good party and I’m sure the Buddha attended his fair share back in the day. “Really?” you are thinking. The Buddha and his monastic followers did not own property and were not gainfully employed. The relied on the generosity of common people and kings for food and shelter.<\/p>\n

They accepted and ate whatever was given to them, as long as it was not killed for them. So, I imagine when the Buddha hung out with his childhood friend King Pasenadi, a good party was thrown. I imagine that the Awakened One was enjoying the party from a different perspective — bemused, entertained, and not clinging to any of it. So, perhaps he wouldn’t cling to the celebrations occurring today around the world; a celebration that has been taking place for a long time.<\/p>\n

Still and again, I doubt he would find this sort of pageantry to his liking. Remember, the Buddha was “Buddha” (awake) not a Buddhist. To learn more about\"\"<\/a> the difference between Buddha and Buddhism and the all the different forms of Buddhism including their holidays, celebrations, and influence on the world at large, check out my book, The Everything Buddhism Book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Check out the Vesak Day gala in Vietnam (not without controversy, of course)<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=q6kK2MKHTXo&feature=fvsr<\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wonder what the Buddha would think about all this fuss about his birthday or celebrating his enlightenment. He might just say — work on your own enlightenment! Of course, rituals can be a beneficial part of practice, but I doubt the Buddha would have been comfortable with this sort of attention. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}