When is the Buddha's birthday?

Buddha's birthday is the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, which is the birthday of Buddha Sakyamuni.

Born in 565 BC, Sakyamuni Buddha was the prince of Kapilowei (present-day Nepal), an ancient Indian kingdom. It is an important ceremony in ancient Indian Buddhism, and its source lies in the historical record of the birth of Sakyamuni.

Buddha's Birthday, also known as Buddha Bathing Festival, Buddha's Birthday Festival and Dragon Flower Festival, is a religious festival that rose after Buddhism was introduced into China, but it also has the characteristics of traditional culture in China, among which bathing Buddha, fasting, becoming attached, releasing people and begging children were widely popular in the past.

For example, 20 19 1 13, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, is the Daoism Day of Sakyamuni Buddha, also known as Daoism Society and Daoism Festival, and it is also called Laba Festival among the people.

Extended data:

On the day of Sakyamuni's enlightenment, various ministries held different views on this. Long Agama and Causal Sutra were written on February 8th, Buddhist Sutra was written on April 8th, and The Story of the Western Regions of Datang was written on March 8th or15th. The theory of "228" has been adopted in all theories that abandon the theory of "Shu" and "Buddhist history".

Zanning, a monk in the Song Dynasty, wrote A Brief History of the Monks in the Great Song Dynasty, also called February 8, saying that the twelfth lunar month is February of a week, because the weekly calendar stands at attention and the February is December in the summer calendar.

Things to do on Buddha's birthday:

1. Bathing Buddha: On April 8 of the lunar calendar, Buddhist temples around the country hold Buddha birthdays to offer incense. In the north, it is said that April 18 of the lunar calendar is the birthday of Bi Xia Yuan Jun, the queen of Mount Tai, which is to hold the Miao Feng Temple Fair. In the south, Longhua, Jiuhua and Gusu also have grand temple fairs.

During the temple fair, there are also activities of piling stupas. It can be seen that there are various temple fairs in China, including Buddhist temple fairs, Taoist temple fairs, and temple fairs combining Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The Miaofengshan Temple Fair in Beijing has both Taoist contents and many Buddhist elements, but its flower show is a variety of temple fairs.

2. Lenten Meeting: also known as Lenten Meeting and Charity Meeting, convened by monks, and good men and women were invited to attend the meeting on April 8 of the lunar calendar to recite Buddhist scriptures and fast. Since participants want to eat, they have to pay "money will be printed". Meals include noodles, vegetables and wine. During the Buddha washing festival, people will ask for Buddha washing water.

The holiday diet includes eating "no falling clip", which is Mongolian and the name of zongzi. There is also a kind of black rice, which is made by soaking rice in black vegetables and steaming it out. This kind of food was originally dedicated to the Buddha, and later evolved into the diet of the Buddha Bath Festival. There was a custom of putting porridge on boats at that time.

3. Affinity: There is also an affinity activity at the Bath Buddha Festival. It prayed for the afterlife in the form of charity. Folk houses are attached to beans, and temples and palaces are no exception. Green beans should be cooked in the palace for ladies-in-waiting and imperial court ministers to eat, which is called "eating beans"

Baidu Encyclopedia-Bath Buddha Festival