A thousand candles can only be lit by one candle, and the life of that candle will not be shortened.
Happiness is never diminished by sharing.
Buddha
Every year, Buddhists around the world celebrate the day of Buddha’s birth. Depending on the calendar used, in different countries, this day is celebrated on different dates, with different names and customs. In Japan, it is called Hana Matsuri or the Festival of Flowers, and since 1873, when Japan officially adopted the Gregorian calendar, most Buddhist sanctuaries celebrate Buddha’s birth on April 8th. In some places, it is celebrated on the 8th day of the 4th month according to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, which can fall anywhere between the end of April and the end of May according to the Gregorian calendar.
According to Buddhist tradition, Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya, was born on April 8th, 563 BC in Nepal, in the gardens of Lumbini.
He was conceived on the night when his mother dreamt of a white elephant with its trunks up, symbolizing prosperity and good fortune. St. Kljova, holding a lotus flower with his trunk, touched his right side. Immediately after birth, the little Buddha firmly stood on the ground and took seven steps in all four directions, pointing his right hand to the sky and his left hand to the earth, and uttered the words: “Tenjou tenga yuiga dokuson.” (“I am praised both in heaven and on earth.”) Where Buddha first touched the ground, lotuses sprouted, birds sang, and sweet, fragrant nectar rained down from the sky.
On the day of Buddha’s birth, a ceremony called kan-butsu-e (Bathing Buddha) is held in temples throughout Japan to symbolically reenact the legend of his birth. Inside the temple, a small altar is set up and decorated with flowers. On the altar, which represents the gardens of Lumbini, a wide shallow metal bowl is placed, containing a figurine of the Buddha as a newborn child, with his right hand raised towards the sky and his left hand pointing towards the earth. Visitors pour fragrant water or sweet tea made from the leaves of a plant over the figurine using a large wooden spoon. The hydrangea (Hydrangea serrata) grows, symbolizing amrita, the rain of nectar that bathed the little Buddha when he was born. In addition to this ceremony, the Hana Matsuri festival is also celebrated with processions in which children, dressed in traditional clothes with cherry blossoms in their hands, parade through the streets carrying a statue of the Buddha as a child on a white elephant.
The kan-butsu-e ceremony in Japan originated from China, and the first recorded celebration was in 606 AD at the Gangō-ji temple, which was then located in the imperial capital of Asuka. When Nara was declared the capital in 718, the entire temple was relocated there. The ceremony quickly became popular and an integral part of Buddhist tradition in temples, at the royal court, and among ordinary people.
The path of one whose cravings have been calmed, who is not bound by the pleasures of this world, and who has realized empty and unconditioned freedom, is difficult to discern, like the path of birds in flight. Even the gods envy those whose senses are restrained like horses under the firm hand of a charioteer; A person who lacks pride, hunger, or desire for anything; such a person who fulfills their duty is patient like the earth or like a doorstep; they are like a lake free from mud; they no longer await new births. Their thoughts are serene, their words and actions are serene; they have attained freedom through true knowledge and have become a calm person.
Quote from the book: Vesna Krmpotić, Thousand Water Lilies.