Volume 53. July 4, 2024
Happy birthday, America! It’s time to celebrate.
Founding Father John Adams thought Independence Day should be celebrated “with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”
He didn’t mention music, but that hasn’t stopped songwriters.
Even classic rock ’n rollers sing patriotic anthems.
Bruce Springsteen belts out, “Born in the USA!”
John Mellencamp wails, “Ain’t that America for you and me.”
John Fogerty hollers, “Some folks are born made to wave the flag. Hoo, they’re red, white and blue.”
Birthdays are important. They mark milestones of time and progress.
How does one celebrate the historical Buddha’s birthday?
Japanese Zen Master Hakuin (d. 1769) lit some incense.
Bowing, he offered it to the Buddha statue in his temple shrine, then he turned to the assembly and gave these instructions:
There’s a young fellow in my house. He’s got no face at all.
A dark little boy from India. We’re celebrating his birthday.
He’s a strapping lad. He’s noble and very strong.
But if you start thinking about him, he’s gone in a flash.
In art, the historical Buddha is depicted as the perfect man, with 32 characteristic marks, like blue-black hair, and 80 minor marks of physical excellence.
He’s superior to people, possessed of great strength and ability.
In truth, this depiction is misleading.
Buddhist wisdom teaches that whatever has form, whatever our senses can apprehend, resembles an illusion.
The 32 signs and 80 excellencies belong to the sphere of matter. Material forms are illusions. The Buddha has no face.
Because the Buddha has no face, if you try to approach him through forms or concepts, he slips beyond your reach and is gone.
Rather, we behold the Buddha in meditation.
When we let things be, when we rest in tranquility, when we set aside conceptual thinking, the Buddha is there.
Once you reach the age of 248, like America does today, you begin to consider estate planning. What should I leave my descendants?
Money? They will only squander it.
Books? They will never read them.
A far better legacy is a model of virtuous behavior.
Secretly increase your practice of morality, meditation and wisdom.
That’s a gift that will last forever.
That’s also something your loved ones will celebrate with Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.
The Buddha Times 