Buddha Purnima or 석가탄신일 or Seokga tansinil

The Image of Lord Buddha at the Sokkuram

Buddha Purnima or 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil)



The festival of celebrates the birth of Gautam Buddha in 563 BC. The most important of all the Buddhist festivals, Buddha Purnima is considered the most auspicious of all the days in the year. Although there are minor regional variations in the way Buddha Purnima is observed, the festival is generally observed by lighting oil lamps before the image of the Buddha, by reciting prayers or reading from the scriptures. Meditation and offerings of flowers, silk scarves, incense and fruit are also part of the worship rituals.



In Korea the birthday of Buddha is celebrated according to the Lunisolar calendar. This day is called 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), meaning "the day of Buddha's birthday" or 부처님 오신 날 (Bucheonim osin nal) meaning "the day when Buddha arrived". Lotus lanterns cover the entire temple throughout the month which are often flooded down the street. On the day of Buddha's birth, many temples provide free meals and tea to all visitors. The breakfast and lunch provided are often sanchae bibimbap.




In the night time...decorated with lights and lights only.



In most of the countries the Buddha Purnima or the Birthday of Buddha is celebrated. Here in South korea also celebrating well starting from one or two weeks before people start arranging and start performing rituals. Not only these but in the street and the corners they lift the paper balls and lit the light in the night time.The birthday of Lord Buddha is national holiday in South Korea.There was a time where Buddhism was the state religion before Confucianism spread in the entire nation . But after rising confucianism Buddhism start diminishing from the state and went up to the mountains due to the threat from the state intervention.

Although, Buddhism has been one of the popular religion among the Koreans. And still there are numbers people who still follow the religion strongly. Today I have been to one of the Lord Buddha's temple near the Ukraine Embassy where I spend some of my time experiencing the calm and spiritual holistic experience with my frens.
This is a good experience I have ever had because I never get a chance to visit the Buddhist temple when I was in India although India known for the Lord Buddha's enlightenment place.