EVENT JUNE 8

The 'full moon of the fifth month' by the lunar calendar is most commonly cited as the Buddha's birthday as well as the day of his enlightenment. His six-year search leading up to that day is well worth knowing since many people are engaged in that same search and can benefit from studying both the successes and failures of his efforts. It is important to remember that his point of focus for those six years was 'Nirvana'; that after his night of enlightenment which led to the realization of Nirvana, he was "inclined to inaction" because of the the difficulty of explaining it to people and the likelihood that they would not understand, thus bringing benefit to no one; and that after two weeks of such contemplation he changed his mind and set out on the path to do everything he could to show people the way to end all suffering. It was at this point that he became the Buddha.

Healing Work

Uehara Gyosho-sama, after finishing the 1000-day walking meditation, begins his healing work, stopping first in a formal visit to pay homage to the founder's healing of the Emperor circa 900AD. 'Healing' in Buddhism is used in the broad sense of leading people to see and abandon the causes of their suffering, teaching them to loosen the bonds to this ephemeral world.