Bathing the Buddha

In Singapore and Malaysia, Vesak is celebrated with bathing the Buddha, or rather a statue of baby prince Siddharta.

There are many people, especially those from the Theravadan tradition, who are quite puzzle with this practice and wonders where this comes from.

This practice is actually adopted from the Chinese Buddhist festival "Bathing Buddha" day, which celebrates the birth of the Buddha.

Vesak is the official public holiday that is celebrated throughout the Buddhist community. So much so that even many of the Chinese Mahayanist Buddhist are not aware that Vesak is not the tradition Chinese Buddhist holiday that marks the birth of the Buddha.

The tradition Buddhist calendar marks the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese calendar (四月初八)as the birthday of the Buddha. This is known as the Bathing Buddha day (浴佛节) which is a public holiday in Hong Kong.

This day is normally in May, and is usually one week before Vesak day. Most Chinese temples still celebrate this quietly, reserving the public celebration with devotees for Vesak day.

There is an interesting legend associated to this. According to an ancient Chinese historical record Book of Zhou -- Records of the Extraordinary （《周书异记》），on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese calendar in the 26th year of the reign of king Zhou Zhuang (周昭王二十六年，1027BC), the king saw auspicious colorful radiant light descending on the palace. When the king asked his court about it, the court historian explained that this means that a holy person had come into the world in the west. He predicted that the teachings of this holy person would eventually come to China after a thousand years.

When Buddhism came to China, many people believed that the record found in the Book of Zhou refers to the birth of the Buddha. Nonetheless, the Chinese always celebrated the birthday of the Buddha on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese calendar.

There are doubts on the authenticity of this "history record". Some believed it was fabricated by the early Chinese Buddhists who tried to use historical basis to promote Buddhism. However, it had been celebrated up to this day.

According to the legends, after the Buddha walked seven steps immediately after his birth and declared himself to be the greatest among the humans and the devas. The Chinese version had the additional detail of dragons appearing and showered the prince with water. Supposedly, that's why people celebrated the birthday of the Buddha by bathing the baby statue of prince Siddharta.

Almost every Vesak day, I hear people asked what is the significance of bathing the Buddha. The consistent answer I hear is "it an act of purification."

I am not sure if people interpreted it literally or symbolically. We must bear in mind that the Buddha himself never believed in ritualistic purification. He objected to it in many occasions. In the Udana, he said, "Not by water is one made pure though many people may here bathe, but one in whom there is truth and Dhamma, he is pure, he is a brahmin." It is clear that the Buddha did not believe that the act of washing (whether yourself or a statue) would purify yourself, but rather, the mind is pure through the thorough understanding and practice of the Dhamma.

We can take this a symbolic gesture of wishing to be pure, but should not believe that it would actually purify us in anyway. In Chinese Buddhism, when bathing the Buddha, there is a verse to be recited that goes like this:

《赞佛偈》
我今灌沐诸如来， I now come to bathe the Tathagata
净智庄严功德海， May the pure wisdom adorn the sea of merits
五浊众生令离垢， May all beings be free from defilements
同证如来净法身. And thus attain the pure form of the Tathagata.

It is clear from the verse that the act is really just a symbol of an aspiration for enlightenment.

Yesterday, I attend a talk by Ajahn Bram at the Buddhist Fellowship. Someone asked the same question again and Ajahn Bram gave a very interesting answer.

According to Ajahn Bram, in ancient India, pouring of water in represents an exchange or a transfer. Hence pouring water on the Buddha represents giving up oneself into the practice of the Dhamma.

I thought that was an interesting explanation.