* Buddha's Birthday – Traditional Date – April 8

* Buddha's Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, " Flower Festival " ( Japan )

* May 2 – Buddha's Birthday

Sometimes informally called " Buddha's Birthday ", it actually encompasses the birth, enlightenment ( nirvāna ), and passing away ( Parinirvāna ) of Gautama Buddha.

The lunar calendar is used for the observation of traditional festivals, such as Seollal, Chuseok, and Buddha's Birthday.

Every year, on the second Sunday of May, Tzu Chi treats this as a 3-in-1 celebration day because on this day, Buddha's Birthday, Mother's Day and Tzu Chi day is being celebrated.

Usually on Buddha's Birthday, Buddhists bathe the Buddha but Tzu Chi believes that it is the people that needs cleansing to be able to be good individuals.

* Bathing Buddha Ceremony ( 浴佛法會 ): Celebration of the Buddha's Birthday held in and outside Hsi Lai, and is hosted by other temples in Southern California.

Pao Fa Temple is the host of many Buddhist activities, including celebration of the Buddha's Birthday, various offerings, and many other ceremonies including chanting and meditation.

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It coincides with the local celebration of Buddha's Birthday.

Buddha's Birthday, the birthday of the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, is a holiday traditionally celebrated in Mahayana Buddhism.

Lotus Lantern Festival celebrating Buddha's Birthday, in South Korea

* The Folkloric Study of Chopail ( Buddha's Birthday ), written by Prof. M. Y. Pyeon.

In 1997 the SAR government designated one public holiday in May or June to mark Buddha's Birthday, which replaced the Queen's birthday.

Apart from the above traditional festivals, quite a number of important religious festivals, including Good Friday, Easter, Buddha's Birthday and Christmas, have been listed as public holidays.

# REDIRECT Buddha's Birthday

Rissho Kosei-kai observes various Buddhist holidays, including Nirvana Day, Buddha's Birthday and Bodhi Day.

He is the subject of a special panegyric delivered by the Buddha just before the Buddha's Parinibbana ( the Mahaparinibbana Sutta ( DN 16 )); it is a panegyric for a man who is kindly, unselfish, popular, and thoughtful toward others.

The Buddha's teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy.

The first noble truth is presented within the Buddha's first discourse, Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma ( Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra ), as follows:

As a counter to any form of " blind faith ", the Buddha's teachings included those included in the Kalama Sutra, exhorting his disciples to investigate any teaching and to live by what is learnt and accepted, rather than believing in something simply because it is taught.

The Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths ; the first element of the Noble Eightfold Path is, in turn, an understanding of the Four Noble Truths.

In Theravada suttas, it is clearly recorded that the Buddha's uncle — who was a lay follower — reached enlightenment by hearing the Buddha's discourse.

* An account of Buddha's life is translated into Greek by Saint John of Damascus, and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat.

But, it is explicitly stated in Buddhist sutras that the worship of an Ishvara ( an ancient South Asian term for a creator god, most likely not referring to the Abrahamic God who may not have been known in South Asia during the Buddha's lifetime, but given the context meaning either Shiva, Kali or Brahma ) is unnecessary to the attainment of Nirvana, as the Buddha believed worshipers are still trapped in an endless cycle of rebirth ( Samsara ).

Some temples also display a small image of the baby Buddha in front of the altar in a small basin filled with water and decorated with flowers, allowing devotees to pour water over the statue ; it is symbolic of the cleansing of a practitioner's bad karma, and to reenact the events following the Buddha's birth, when devas and spirits made heavenly offerings to him.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it is claimed that the historical Shakyamuni Buddha taught tantra, but that since these are ' secret ' teachings, confined to the guru / disciple relationship, they were generally written down long after the Buddha's other teachings, the Pali Canon and the Mahayana sutras.

In his book The Silence of God: the Answer of the Buddha, Raimundo Panikkar analyzes the fourteen unanswerable questions in the context of Buddhist-Christian dialogue, and comes to the conclusion that the Buddha's position can best be described as " transcendental apophaticism ," i. e., a position in which the transcendent ( in this case, nirvana ), is defined through negation.

Ama-cha is mainly used for kan-butsu-e ( the Buddha bathing ceremony ) on April 8 every year — the day thought to be Buddha's birthday in Japan.

According to Buddha's teaching the soul ( as that structure of sankharas that gives rise to incarnation and animates the body during ' life ') is not a fixed entity but in a state of constant flux-being modified over time by actions of body, speech and mind.

The mandala in Nichiren Buddhism is called a moji-mandala ( 文字曼陀羅 ) and is a paper hanging scroll or wooden tablet whose inscription consists of Chinese characters and medieval-Sanskrit script representing elements of the Buddha's enlightenment, protective Buddhist deities, and certain Buddhist concepts.

One of Buddha's ten titles is " Sasta deva manusanam ", or the teacher of gods and men.

Nichiren Shōshū teaches that Nichiren Daishonin is the True Buddha and that his Dharma, or Mystic Law ( Myōhō: mystic in the sense of profound, sublime, or unfathomable ), is the True Buddha's ultimate teaching.

Therefore Buddha's Birth is celebrated on April 8 or May 8 in most temples.

In many Japanese temples, Buddha's birth is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar dates, and rarely on the orthodox Chinese calendar dates.

In Japan, Buddha's birth is also celebrated according to the Buddhist calendar but is not a national holiday.

Vaishali, which was the capital of one of the states in northern India during Buddha's lifetime, to Nalanda, which was the seat of a celebrated Buddhist monastic university in the 5th – 12th century.

* Buddha's Enlightenment Day ( April 15 )

Also located here is the Puskarini or Holy Pond where the Buddha's mother took the ritual dip prior to his birth and where he, too, had his first bath, as well as the remains of Kapilvastu palace.

If a Chinese monk wished to travel to India and seeks the ( Buddha's ) teachings, it will be better for them to stay here first for a year or two, to deepening their knowledge before continued their study to India.

Many of the forms and practices are maintained, however, the aim is redirected-rather than practicing in the hope ( or vow ) of rebirth in Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land, the practitioner seeks to better themselves and society, to create a Pure Land here on earth.