Vesak Day will be celebrated on Saturday, honoring the life and teachings of Buddha.
Students and members of the UCLA community are invited to gather for a series of talks, cultural entertainment, food and discussion.
“Vesak” is a Sinhalese word that is derived from Pali meaning “May,” said Eric Ku, staff member of the University Buddhist Association at UCLA and a third-year English student.
Sinhalese is a Sri Lankan dialect, and Pali is the official language of ancient Buddhism.
The first Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists met to officially declare Vesak Day a holiday on the Buddhist calendar in Sri Lanka in 1950 said Ku.
This event, also called Buddha Day, is hosted by the University Buddhist Association at UCLA in collaboration with the Southern California University Buddhist Association.
It is scheduled for Saturday in Kerckhoff Grand Salon for the first time since 2003.
It is believed that Buddha was born, enlightened and died on the same day in the month of Vesak in different years, said the Venerable Kusala Bhikshu, a Buddhist monk who has been spiritual director of the University Buddhist Association at UCLA for the past five years.
“Vesak Day is based on the lunar calendar and is usually celebrated on the full moon day of May,” he added.
However, the event goes beyond celebrating the founder of the Buddhist religion.
Presenting a face of Buddhism to the larger community and allowing all denominations of Buddhists, as well as non-believers, to share in the discussion of Buddhist ideals are just a few of the goals the organizers of the event are hoping to achieve, Vhikshu said.
The event will begin with an introduction to Buddhism and the significance of Vesak Day.
Featured speakers will include Don Farber, the famed photographer of the Dalai Lama, several Buddhist monks and a Buddhist nun.
Entertainment for the event is scheduled to include Tibetan dance performances by the Chinese Cultural Dance Club at UCLA.
There will also be a musical performance featuring a zither, an East Asian stringed instrument, Ku said.
A brief ceremony called the “Bathing of the Buddha” will then follow, demonstrating a traditional ritual performed on Vesak Day.
This practice honors the legend in which the newly-born baby Buddha was bathed with water to purify his mind and body, said the Venerable Pannaloka Bhante, one of the guest Buddhist monks who is scheduled to speak at the Vesak event.
“A statue of the baby Buddha will be put in a basin and anyone can come up and pour water over the Buddha as a sign of respect,” Ku said. “It is symbolic of the cleansing of bad karma.”
A free vegan-Thai lunch will then be provided for everyone.
“Many of the monks have strict diets and can’t eat meat for various reasons,” Ku said. “Buddhism has so many different denominations, (that’s why there) are many different rules concerning diet, so vegan food kind of covers all bases,” Ku added.
A question and answer session is scheduled to occur during lunch and will include two discussion groups.
One group will be led by one of the monks, and the second will be led by one of the former members of the University Buddhist Association.
“(Attendants) will have the opportunity to migrate from one group to another and listen, learn and ask questions about Buddhism in a personal and comfortable setting,” Ku said.
Vesak Day is an annual event held at various venues throughout the surrounding areas in Southern California each year, said Meghan Zero, a staff member of the University Buddhist Association at UCLA and a fourth-year English student.
The association is made up of different Buddhist groups from the University of California campuses in Los Angeles, Riverside and Irvine.
This is the second time UCLA has had the opportunity to host the event because the University Buddhist Association has been inactive at UCLA for a number of years, she added.
Many of the organizers are excited to create this open and friendly environment.
“What I am most looking forward to is coming together with the other schools and the newcomers for a moment of appreciating each other and recognizing friendship,” said Zero.