Buddhist Culture (Festivals) THE KASON FESTIVAL

1. Buddhist Culture (Festivals) THE KASON FESTIVAL • The Festival of pouring water on the sacred Bo Tree in Kason is a cultural festival of Buddhist people. • It is a special tradition of Myanmar Buddhists to pour water on the sacred Bo tree on the full-moon day of Kason. • It concerns four of Buddha’s incarnations. • The full-moon day of Kason is the day when the BodhisattaSumedhā Sage received from Dipaṅkarā Buddha the niyatabyākaraṇa: that he will surely become a Buddha.

2. It is also the day when the Bodhisatta Prince Siddhattha was born, when he attained Buddha hood at the foot of the sacred Bo tree, when the sacred Bo tree sprouted, and when Gotama Buddha attained Nibbāna. • Therefore, Buddhists regard the full-moon day of Kason as a day of special significance and on that day do meritorious deeds such as acts of donation, keeping precepts and pouring water on the sacred Bo tree. • According to the stone inscriptions of Bagan period, the month of Kason has been spelt and written as “ukqkef”? “ulqkef”? “ckqkef” and “clqkef”.

3. Among these, “ukqkef” is the original spelling and “uqkef” and other variations are derived from it. The “uk” and “u” in “ukqkef” and “uqkef” means “water” just as in “ukwdkY? ulcef;? upGef;? undKU? uawmuf”. • “qkef”, which is derived from “pkef” means pouring, spraying or sprinkling. • The month of Kason means month when water is poured, sprayed or sprinkled. • So, of all the 12 seasonal festivals, the ceremony of pouring water on the sacred Bo tree is held every year. • Kason has longer days and shorter nights. It is a month of extreme temperatures. • As the saying “Dagu yay kon, kason yay khan” goes, it is a time when water dries up and is scarce. • It is said to be “kaṃudakaṃchindatī’tikachinaṃ”, meaning a month when water runs out. • In it, “son” is defined directly as “pouring or sprinkling” and Kason = month of pouring water. It is also known as the month of pouring water on the sacred Bo tree. • Thus, ancient Myanmar Buddhists poured water on sacred Bo trees with the true good intention of keeping them fresh and making so that they could survive the dry hot weather.

4. Gotama Buddha, in his last 25 years, resided in Jetavana monastery of Sāvatthi, occasionally visited other places and enlightened beings eligible for Nibbāna. • People of Sāvatthi came to Jetavana everyday with fragrant flowers in hands as offerings to Buddha. • If their visit coincided with Buddha’s journeys, they could not pay obeisance and placed the flowers they had brought at the gate of gandhakuṭi and had to leave. • Thus their generosity decreased. Anāthapiṇḍika knew this and asked Venerable Ānandā to report this to Buddha. • Thus Buddha told about three cetiyas thatcould be worshipped on behalf of Buddha. They are (1) Sārīrikacetiya (dhātucetiya), (2)Paribhogacetiya(3) Udissacetiya.

5. Venerable Ānandā said to Buddha and Buddha allowed this. • Venerable Ānandā informed King Kosala, Anāthapiṇḍika and Visākhā about this and prepared a place for planting the Bo tree. • He requested Venerable Mahāmoggalānathera to fetch the seed of the Bo tree. • Venerable Ānandā gave the seed of the sacred Bo tree to King Kosala. And the king asked Anāthapiṇḍika to sow it. • This Bo tree was called Ānandā Bo tree as it had been sowed under the instruction of Venerable Ānandā. It still exists in the compound of Jetavana today. • Before the original Bo tree died, King Sīridhammāsoka, in his task of propagating Buddhism, had the dakkhiṇasākhā (southern branch) of the original Bo tree taken by his son MahindaThera and grew it in Sri Lanka. • Bo trees in Sri Lanka can be said to be offspring of the said dakkhiṇasākhā.

6. Bo trees in Myanmar are also offspring of the original tree, though they may have originated from the Indian Bo tree or the Sri Lanka one. • It was said that there was an account of a Bo seed having been brought from Sri Lanka during the reign of King Narapatisithu of Bagan. • King Dhammacetī sowed a Bo tree on the hill northwest of the Shwedagon using a seed brought from Sri Lanka. Succeeding kings also grew Bo trees. • Later heads of the State also grew Bo trees during their periods. Ordinary Buddhists also grew them near religious places and now there are a lot of Bo trees in Myanmar.

7. THE THADINGYUT FESTIVAL THE PAVĀRAṆĀ CEREMONY • “Thadingyut” means the same as Wagyut. In Myanmar Language, “thadin” means “residing”. • The term is similar in concept to monks residing and keeping precepts. • So Wagyut means the time when monks are free from keeping precepts and other disciplines. • Wagyut Festival is held in the month of Thadingyut. • So it is called Thadingyut Festival, too. • People hold this festival at Thadingyut, when monks are free from vassa. • Thadingyut is the seventh month of Myanmar Calendar. • Monks who has performed purimavassa according to Buddha’s prescription has become free from vassa and can go anywhere and spend the night freely.

8. On the evening of the full-moon day of Wazo of the Sakkarāza year 109, at the foot of the Kaṇḍamba tree, in Sāvatthi, Buddha performed the fire-and-water miracle in order to defeat heretics (tittiyas). • After the miracle, Buddha went on to the deva-world to preach the Abhidhamma to Santusita deva, who had been Māyā, Buddha’s mother, and to keep vassa there. • People, who do not know that Buddha has gone to devas’ World, asked Venerable Ānandā. • Then they heard from Venerable Mahāmoggallāna that, on his return from devas’ world, Buddha would go to Saṅkassanagara where Venerable Sāriputtarā was spending the vassa on the full-moon day of Thadingyut (pavāraṇā day). • So they went to Saṅkassanagara in crowds.

9. King Sakka knew that Buddha would return to the earth on the full-moon day of Thadingyut. • He created three stairways made of gold, silver and rubies respectively. • The stairways were laid from Mount Meru to the gateway of Saṅkassa. • The gold stairway was for devas, the silver stairway was for Brahmas, and the one made of rubies was for Buddha. • Buddha stood at the top of Mount Meru, showed yamakapāṭihāriya and looked up at the sky. • Buddha made descent by the ruby stairway, rays of six colors coming out from his body.

10. There were devas and Brāhmas who escorted Buddha to Tāvatiṃsā: Pañcasiṅkha, the heavenly musician escorted Buddha playing his instrument Beluva, Mātali holing fragrant flowers, SuyāmaDevaputta holding a yak tail fly-whisk, King Sakka blowing a conch shell, the Brahmā holding a white umbrella over Buddha and other devas bringing offerings. • On arriving the earth, at the end of the stairway, Buddha put down his right foot on the ground. That place where Buddha put his right foot down is known as acalacetiyaṭṭhāna.

11. THE INITIATION (NOVITIATION) CEREMONY • Initiation derived from Rāhula, Buddha’s son. • A year after attaining sabbaññuta as Bodhisat, Buddha visited Kapilavatthu, where his relatives were, and sojourned at Nigrodha monastery. • One day, while Buddha was at King Suddhodana’s palace, Yasodharā told the seven-year-old Rāhula that Gotama Buddha was his father, and sent him to Buddha to demand for his rightful inheritance.

12. Buddha did not reply, but had the alms food and left the palace for Nigrodha monastery. • Then Rāhula followed him insisted that Buddha should give him his rightful inheritance. • When at Nigrodha, Buddha told Venerable Sāriputtarā to novitiate Rāhula. Sāriputtarā asked him how he should novitiate Rāhula. • Buddha ordered Saṃgha to assemble and said, O! bhikkhus, I allow you to do novitiation with “tisaraṇagamana,” and also told how to novitiate a person. • First, the would-be novice’s hair is shaven clean, his body is dressed in a saffron robe, and an ekasī is put over the left shoulder. • Then the would-be novice is made to squat, put the palms together and genuflect in front of bhikkhus’ feet, and recite tisaraṇagamana three times.

13. Buddhaṃsaraṇaṃgacchāmi. (I take refuge in Buddha) • Dhammaṃsaraṇaṃgacchāmi. (I take refuge in Dhamma) • Saṃghaṃsaraṇaṃgacchāmi. (I take refuge in Saṃgha) • In this way, the would-be novice must announce three times that he observes ‘tisaraṇagamana’. • Rāhulawas initiated in this way and he became the first novice ever in the history of Buddhism. • At the beginning, a bhikkhu was allowed to novitiate one would-be novice at a time. • So when Venerable Sāriputtarā was requested by a lay devotee to novitiate a would-be, he asked Buddha what to do, and Buddha said an efficient bhikkhu could novitiate as many would-be novices as he could manage to teach.

14. Since then, number of novices began to increase. However, novices did not know what rules to follow. • When Buddha was asked for advice, he told them to observe the following ten precepts. • Ten precepts • (1) Abstaining from destroying living creatures.   • (2) Abstaining from taking that which is not given.   • (3) Abstaining from sexual misconduct.   • (4) Abstaining from faulty speech.   • (5) Abstaining from intoxicating drinks and drugs which impairs the function of my body and mind. • (6) Abstaining from eating at the inappropriate time. • (7) Abstaining from looking at or listening to dancing, singing, music, which are like obstacles to religious practice.

15. (8) Abstaining from adorning my body with earthly possession.   • (9) Abstaining from lying on a high or luxurious sleeping place.   • (10)Abstaining from accepting gold and silver (money). These are the ten precepts that sāmaṇeras have to observe. As for rules of conduct, sāmaṇeras have to follow sekhiya training, rules of conduct for students, rules concerning monasteries and senāsana rules occasionally. •  A noviation ceremony was originally simple, but later it became more elaborate. • The would-be-novice was shaven by a bhikkhu or someone else. • Whoever it was that removed the hair, he should recite Tacapañcakakammaṭṭhāna. • Tacapañcakakammaṭṭhāna was a contemplation of impermanent (anicca) nature of “kesā, lomā, nakhā, dantā, taco”, the first five elements of the 32 koṭṭhāsa in human aggregate.

16. Then the would-be novice paid obeisance to the presiding monk or the monk to whom the task of novitiation was assigned and handed the robe to him, saying in Myanmar or in Pāḷi or in both the languages. • If the novice could not say the words himself, he should repeat after the monk. • When the robe was in the monk’s hands, the novice should request the monk to give it back to him, saying, “Venerable Sir, I respectfully ask you to give this set of robes to me and out of compassion ordain me as a novice in order that I may be free from the cycle of existence.,” as when giving it to him. • Receiving the robe, the would-be novice took off the layman’s clothes and a bhikkhu dressed him up in the robe.

17. Then he approached the upajjhāya (preceptor), made obeisance and request to give him tisaraṇagamana and ten precepts to observe. • Only then did he become a novice proper. • Next, the would-be novice requested a bhikkhu to be his upajjhāya (preceptor). • After this, the preceptor chose a name suitable to the would-be novice’s day of birth. • The preceptor also told him what to contemplate upon when he received the four dependences (Cattāronissaya) such as food and robe. • These are the main procedure of novitiation from shaving as the beginning. Before shaving, there may be unnecessary shows of honour.

18. THE ORDINATION CEREMONY • The history and procedure of an ordination ceremony is as follows: • GotamaBuddha attained Buddha hood on the full-moon day of Kason and delivered the first sermon, Dhammacakkapavattanasutta, to pañcavaggiya in Migadāya on the full-moon day of Wazo. • On that same day, Venerable Koṇḍañña realized the truth of Buddha’s teaching and became an ehibhikkhu. On the first waning-moon day, Venerable Vappa became an ehibhikkhu, on the second Venerable Bhaddiya, on the third Venerable Mahanāma and on the fourth Venerable VenerableAssaji respectively.

19. Following them, Yasa, a rich man’s son, and four of his friends and another fifty of their friends became “ehibhikkhus”, too. • “ehibhikkhu” means that, when a person liked Buddha’s sermon, he requested that he wanted to have the life as a bhikkhu, Buddha said, “ehibhikkhu, svakkhātodhammocarabrahmacariyaṃsammādukkhassaantakiriyāya” (Come, monk. Well taught is the dhamma. Come and practice the holy life for the sake of the complete ending of suffering.) • When Buddha said the words beginning with “ehibhikkhu”, request makers became bhikkhus. Those who became bhikkhus at these words of Buddha are “ehibhukkhus”. These “ehibhikkhus” were to become arahats in the same life.

20. As Buddha himself uttered “ehibhikkhu” and ordained people as “ehibhikkhus”, saṃgha brought to Buddha others who wanted to be ordained. • So, to save them the trouble of bringing would-be bhikhus to him, Buddha allowed bhikhus to ordain recruits with tisaraṇa. • The procedure of ordination was similar to that of Rāhula mentioned earlier. • Bhikkhusordained in this way were called those who became bhikkhus by receiving tisaraṇa. • At this point, the expression “ñatticatutthakammavācā” needs a little clarification. • “ñatti” means “let it be known” or “announce”. “Kammavācā” means “stating that a deed is done”. • In brief, the group of saṃgha say, “We will ordain this would-be bhikkhu so-and-so under the upajjhāya so-and-so. • If everyone agrees to that, please keep silent. And if anyone disagrees, please speak out.”

21. In an ordination ceremony, the question as to whether the audiences agrees or disagree is asked three times. • If nobody objects when asked three times, the ceremony is successful. • Therefore, after asking the question three times, the announcement that ‘the would-be sāmaṇera has become a real sāmaṇera under the upajjhāyo so-and-so’ is uttered. • If the utterances in an act of ordination are counted backwards, the “ñatti” is the fourth statement. This is why it is called “ñatticatuttha-kammavācā”. • A would-be bhikkhu who had already turned twenty must have the following qualities. (1) Being free from five types of kuṭṭha: leprosy, boils, dry leprosy, consumption, and fits, (2) Being human, (3) Being a man, (4) Not being a slave, (5) Being free from debt, (6) Not being a service personnel, (7) Having approval from parents, (8) Having three sets of robes and one begging bowl of his own, (9) Having an upajjhāya.