On Wednesday, Buddhists worldwide celebrated Wesak Day, a celebration to commemorate the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.
Although the past two year’s ceremonies in Malaysia have taken place via online streaming, here are some of the practices followed in a typical year.
The day begins at dawn with ‘pujas,’ devotional worship rituals that include meditation at the temples to follow the eight precepts, a general rule used to regulate behavior or thought to help Buddhists live a morally good life and achieve enlightenment.
This will then be followed by the celebration’s highlight, a candle procession, symbolic and straightforward offerings of flowers, candles, and joss-sticks to remind devotees that life is subject to decay and destruction. Also, donations and food for the needy are given.
Following this, a bathing Buddha ceremony will be held, and devotees will bathe the Buddha statue, a symbolic gesture to wash away bad karma and start new. At the end of the prayers, well-wishers and devotees dine on simple vegetarian food and drinks offerings.
Many Buddhist temples around Malaysia will organize processions to share the joy of celebrations. One of them is the Buddhist Maha Vihara temple in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, where floats are presented featuring Buddha statues, and monks offer their blessings to the crowds gathered, and participants carry lighted lotus flowers.
To see how Wesak Day has been celebrated in past years, check this video taken during a procession in Penang here
We hope you enjoyed learning about one of the many festive celebrations which make Malaysia so unique. Here’s wishing our Buddhist families had a blessed and peaceful Wesak Day!
