One, the non-covered meeting

means that the sage and saint of the road up and down the nobility and inferiority of the non-covered, equal to the practice of financial and legal assistance of the Dharma meeting. The seventh century, the precepts of the day to invite Xuanzang to participate in the city of Qu female held in the Wujiahui, India, held every five years, pouring the treasury to the benefit of the group. The conference was held for 75 days, respectively, to the Buddhists, Brahmins, Jains and other believers, as well as beggars to give alms.

China's no-shame assembly began in the first year of datong (529), emperor wudi Liang in the heavy cloud hall for the people set up to save the suffering of fasting, in order to pray for the body. Resumption of honor Tongtai Temple, set up four parts (four congregations) of the ground cover General Assembly, wearing vestments line purity General Assembly, vegetarian beds and tiles on a small car, personally ascended to the Dharma seat for the crowd open Nirvana sutra questions, the emperor set up Taoist and secular Lent 50,000 people.

Second, the Tibetan festival

1, pass the big call

Tibetan Buddhism is a ritual, meaning "big prayers" will. Dharma from the Tibetan first month of the third to twenty-four days, Lhasa three monks and monks and Weizang, Amdo and Kham area believers (as many as tens of thousands of people) gathered in the Dazhao Temple for a variety of religious activities. The night of the 15th day and night of the first month Lhasa Barkhor Street display ghee lamps, ghee flowers, singing and dancing to celebrate, known as the Festival of Lights.

The puja will be held on the debate, the examination of the highest degree of Tibetan Buddhism - Geshe. The puja ends with a ceremony to send off the ghosts.

2, pass the small call

The Tibetan calendar every year in late February, a period of ten days, to carry out the relevant religious activities. During the puja three major monks in the dazhao temple to participate in the defense of the scriptures, selection of the second-class geshe, due to the scale is smaller than the passing of the big call for the puja, so the name.

Three, Bathing Buddha Festival

Bathing Buddha Festival, the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar for each year, is an important festival to commemorate the birth of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha, also known as the Buddha's Birthday. According to legend, more than 2,600 years ago, when Siddhartha Gautama descended from the rib of Mrs. Moye, he pointed to the sky and the earth and said, "I am the only one in heaven and on earth."

Then the earth shook and the nine dragons spat out water to bathe it. This is why Buddhists of all nationalities usually commemorate the birth of the Buddha by bathing in the Buddha's bath.

Buddhists clean up their monasteries and temples long before the festival, and the halls and statues are wiped clean. Generally on the seventh day of the fourth month, many good men and women have gathered at the temple to prepare for the commemorative ceremony held in the early morning of the following day. The temple buildings are decorated with streamers, incense and candles and all kinds of offerings.

Scented flowers in a few cases placed on a copper basin, basin filled with sandalwood, rosewood, tulip, lobster, incense, musk, cloves, etc., prepared into the incense soup, soup in the middle of a copper child statue, a finger in the sky, a finger on the ground, that is, Prince Sakya statue.

Bath before the start, the abbot of the temple led the whole temple monks chanting sutras, followed by incense kneeling, singing the bathing gatha or read Namo Benji Shakyamuni Buddha, monks and priests read while taking the soup in order to scoop up the bathing Buddha. After bathing the statue of Buddha and then bathe yourself with a little bit of incense soup, indicating that it is a clean slate, eliminating disasters and difficulties.

If too many people attend, it is taken by the monks holding a Yangzhi Jiao bath Buddha's water for the believers in the way of point bath. The whole ceremony is solemn and solemn, overflowing with an auspicious and festive atmosphere.

On this day, the monks in the morning fast or lunch fast before the Buddha rituals. Good men and women are willing to come to the temple on this day to burn incense and wishes, or rituals and chanting, or giving money, or playing fasting for the crowd, or burning auspicious sparse, recommending the death of sparse, or to listen to the priests preaching, or monks to do the rituals, and so on; in the outside of the temple, a variety of trade and cultural and recreational activities are also rich and colorful.

Because of such activities around the Bathing Buddha Festival often lasts for many days, the participation of many people, so that year after year, in many monasteries formed a traditional temple fair.

Four, Bon Festival

The Bon Festival on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is one of the two largest festivals in Buddhism, also known as the Monk Self-expression Day, Buddha rejoicing day, is the Buddhist held to worship the monks and the ceremony of the first death of the festival.

According to the requirements of the precepts, monks and nuns are required to live in peace from April 15 to July 15 of the lunar calendar, i.e., to settle down in a place during the period when plants and animals are growing and reproducing so as to be free from insects and ants and to be able to concentrate on reciting sutras or meditating.

To the 15th of July, each person must make a self-criticism or introduce the experience of cultivation, known as the "monastic self-criticism". After three months of dedicated practice, the monks' accomplishments are bound to improve greatly, to the delight of the Buddhas, and so this day is called the "Day of the Buddha's Delight".

Five, Lapa Festival

Long ago, the people of our country, that is, on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar to eat "Lapa congee" over the "Lapa Festival" custom, which is formed by the Chinese Buddhists to commemorate the completion of Shakyamuni Buddha's path and the formation of a custom. Legend has it that when Shakyamuni for the search for the true meaning of life and death and liberation, resolutely give up the throne, monasticism, in the snowy mountains six years of austerity, often eating a wheat a hemp.

Later he found that austerity is not the way to liberation, so he gave up austerity down the mountain. At this time, a shepherdess saw that he was weak, so she boiled milk to feed him. Shakyamuni's strength was restored, and he then meditated under the Bodhi tree for seven days, and on the eighth day of the first month of the Lunar New Year, he was enlightened by seeing a star at night.

According to this legend, every year on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, Buddhist temples in the Chinese tradition would commemorate it in various ways. For example, the "hundred abbot clear rules" volume 2 said "the eighth day of the waxing moon, respectfully meet the master shakya rulai great monks into the world, rate of bhikkhu congregation, strict preparation of incense, flowers, candles and candles, tea and fruits and delicacies, in order to apply for the offerings." Among them, boiling porridge for the Buddha has become a common ritual.

Buddhism believes that porridge has many benefits, so monasteries generally have the habit of eating porridge in the morning. As for the first eight days of Lunar New Year to cook Lunar New Year porridge is more elaborate, usually with lotus seeds, jujubes, Job's tears, cloud beans, white fruit, corn, sugar peanuts and other eight things to cook together, known as the "eight treasures porridge".

Not only is the porridge cooked well, and cooked especially much to meet the needs of good men and women who come to the temple to participate in the memorial service. Some believers specifically run "congee" to come, that the congee for the Buddha on the 8th day of the particularly auspicious, not only for their own consumption, and sometimes also brought home for family members to enjoy. In this way, year after year, the temple to do Laha porridge tradition has been widely spread to the people.

It is worth mentioning that the southern Buddhist countries generally believe that Sakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment, nirvana are in the full moon in May and held on this day, such as bathing in the Buddha and other grand commemorative activities. Therefore, Lapa congee on Lapa Festival can be said to be a holiday custom formed in China.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Buddhist Festivals