It's full moon today (9-June-2017). In the evening I went to Boudhanath for circumambulation and to light some butter-lamps. Every full moon day is a crowded day for this holy place. However, it's not the usual full moon day today. This full moon comes once a year. The day of Buddha's birth has already been marked and observed in many parts of the world a month ago. Yet the sacred day is observed today too.
According to Tibetan buddhist calendar, Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (death in ordinary sense) fall in the fourth month i.e. Saga Dawa (also written Saka Dawa depending on the way it is pronounced in Tibetan language, in absence of an exact quivalent in English). And today is the day, the fifteenth day of the month (tsepa chonga / tshes pa bco lnga) or the full moon day. Many devotees come to Boudhanath today to mark the holy day by doing Kora (circumambulation) and reciting prayers. Many people complete 108 Koras today. Most of them start the night before and finish by morning or day time. Others make 13 Koras around the relatively bigger area of Swoyambhunath. The shrine itself is smaller than Boudhanath but circumambulation is done around the whole area of the hill at the top of which the stupa is situated. I have had the experience of completing both 108 at Boudhanath and 13 at Swoyambhunath. However, it's been a few years that I have not been able to make it for some reason. Today I just went to Boudha and did 3 rounds and lit some butter-lamps. Well, the prevalent belief is that if we perform any positive or negative deeds on this very day, they are multiplied hundreds or thousands of time. So, I should not be regretting for having done just 3 of them. As I mentioned, today is the 15th day and Saga Dawa is there till the 30th day.
I hadn't written for so long. So, this post is just a kind of "knock-knock! hey there" for me to remind myself to write again. And I can feel that it's taking me a little time to go into the flow. Let me hope that this post is not just a surprise visit. I am definitely looking forward to seeing myself posting more. It's already going to be midnight and I must post it before 12:00. Otherwise I will have to replace every 'today' with 'yesterday'.
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