Volume 75. May 18, 2026
In a few weeks, the United States of America celebrates her semiquincentennial (meaning “half of five hundred”). 250 years!
Happy Birthday, America! You’ve come a long way, baby.
A war of independence, the creation of a democratic government, a Civil War, a Gilded Age, two world wars, status as a world power, a civil rights movement, and a second Gilded Age today.
Friends, at this historic juncture of American history we have good news and bad news.
First, the bad news. America is currently suffering under the torment of the worst president in American history. Recent polls indicate that nearly two out of three American citizens disapprove of Donald Trump’s atrocious conduct in office.
The good news is we’ve hit bottom. We can’t get worst than Trump. The only direction to go is up. The future looks bright. America’s best days lie ahead.
Two and a half centuries is a long period of time. For Buddhism, however, it’s an afternoon nap.
Buddhism is more than ten times older (and wiser) than its fresh American upstart. In fact, on Sunday, May 24, 2026, the historical Buddha (b. 563 BCE) celebrates his 2,589th birthday.
We missed his “semi-quin-millennial” eighty-nine years ago!
The ancient chronicles record the mythical legend of his birth.
“When the World-Honored One was born, he pointed one hand at the sky and one hand down to the earth. He made seven circumambulations, contemplated the four directions, surveyed the whole world, then announced, ‘In heavens above and on earth below, there is no one in the world like me.’ ”
A pretty good speech for a newborn, but a declaration symbolic of one whose destiny it is to save humanity from suffering and death.
Japanese Zen master Hakuin (1686 – 1769) composed a verse in celebration of the Buddha’s birthday:
Casting all obligations aside, abandoning his filial duties,
He left home to master the Way and help gods and men.
At his birth in Kapilavatsu, he blurted out bits of hogwash.
No one but Yunmen could ever grasp what he was saying.
Yunmen (864 – 949) was a Chinese Zen master of the Tang dynasty. He was known for his forceful teaching style. What did he grasp?
Well, let me put it this way. Upon hearing the Buddha’s birth story, he commented, “If I had been there and seen that, I would have beaten him to death with my staff and fed his carcass to the dogs.”
The point: Whenever rites, dogmas and saviors are taken as merely external factors and not experienced as inner events, they fall short of transforming our spirit. Only when we make the Buddha and his teachings are own do we attain enlightenment.
The Buddha wasn’t born 2,589 years ago. He is born today in each one of us.
So, let’s celebrate! Every day is a good day for a birthday.
And that’s very good news indeed.
The Buddha Times 