Universal Compassion for World Peace
以普世慈悲心促进世界和平
VESAK CELEBRATION 2024 卫塞节庆典 2024年
@Aljunied MRT Open Ground 阿裕尼地铁站前空地
19 - 22 May 2024
5月19日 – 22日
Come celebrate and share the love, compassion and peace embodied and taught by the Buddha, on the day commemorating His birth, enlightenment and parinirvana!!
Why Celebrate Vesak Day?
Vesak Day honours Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and parinirvana.
Motivated by great compassion, Buddha dedicated his life to searching for the way to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings. Hence, Vesak Day is especially important for Buddhists to remember the Buddha’s great kindness, and practice his teachings to work towards enlightenment just as he did.
Due to Buddha’s power, the virtue created by offering prayers and making offerings such as incense, flowers, and lights on this day is many times greater than if done on a normal day.
CELEBRATION HIGHLIGHTS
Pujas for Your Participation and Sponsorship
Pujas of six buddha deities will be available for your participation, sponsorship and dedication:
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Tara Puja
Mother Tara is the manifestation of the holy minds of all the Buddhas. Tara Puja is a practice that makes offerings and gives praises to the 21 Taras to create merits and reinforce our connection with our own enlightened potential. Single-pointedly relying on and praising the 21 Taras can liberate you from untimely death, help you recover from diseases, and bring you success in business. Tara Puja protects you from fear and dangers, and swiftly fulfils your wishes.
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Yamantaka Fire Puja
The Yamantaka Fire Puja encompasses offering various substances through burning to the deity. Each item offered is beneficial for specific purposes. Offering grains pacifies sickness and gives strength. Offering crepe grass brings long life. Offering kusha grass purifies pollutions, and offering butter brings wealth. All the substances offered help to actualise different potentials and types of success.
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Namgyalma Puja with 1000 offerings
Namgyalma is a deity for long life and purification. Namgyalma Puja has the power to liberate one from diseases such as cancer. Moreover, if you recite the mantra for anyone who has been born in the lower realms, it has the power to liberate them into a pure land. If you recite the mantra in the ears of animals, it will ensure that they will never be born as an animal again.
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Medicine Buddha Puja and Healing Ceremony
The Medicine Buddha Puja is extremely beneficial for people who are sick, dying, or have already passed away. Medicine Buddha Puja can also be done to clear one’s obstacles, and for individual success in all kinds of activities. It is imperative that the elaborate Medicine Buddha Puja is done regularly in order to purify the negative karma of all sentient beings that cause suffering. The Medicine Buddha mantra also leaves the imprints of the whole path to enlightenment in your mind.
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Manjushri Puja
Manjushri, the Buddha of wisdom, wields a flaming sword to sever sentient beings’ delusions, uncertainties, and obstacles. Manjushri Puja is beneficial for students to expand their knowledge, especially with regards to the Dharma.
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White Dzambhala Wealth Deity Puja
White Dzambhala is the deity granting wealth to eliminate sentient beings’ poverty and suffering, so that they can whole-heartedly practice the Dharma. The purpose of performing Dzambhala Puja is for one to receive everything required to practice Dharma and use that wealth to benefit all other sentient beings. With wealth, one can help preserve the Buddha-Dharma, and support the Sangha who spread the teachings. When done with single-pointed concentration and pure faith to benefit others, the Dzambhala puja can help increase one’s financial prosperity.
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Sponsor and Offer Lights and Flowers
Pay homage to the Buddha with offering of butter lamps (LED), hanging lotus lamps (electric), lotus candles and an array of beautiful floral arrangements.
From 19-22 May, you can order and make payment at the Vesak Celebration site.
As said in the Sutra Distinguishing the Aspects of Karma, the benefits of offering flowers include one becoming beautiful and attractive, having great wealth and becoming a leader of the world. According to the Tune of Brahma Sutra Clarifying Karma, the benefits of offering lights include becoming like a light in the world, being able to eliminate the darkness of ignorance and receiving the wisdom of knowing what is virtue and non-virtue.
New Activities and Other Familiar Favourites
Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche Memorial Altar *NEW!
A special memorial altar will be set up to commemorate our precious Spiritual Director Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, one year after he showed the aspect of passing away. We invite students of ABC and the public alike to pay respects to Rinpoche, and remember his extraordinary compassion not only towards humans, but also animals and insects and all beings in the six realms.
Rice Offering *NEW!
By making an offering of even one grain of rice to a statue of the Buddha, one creates the merit to enter the path and achieve total enlightenment. At this Vesak, 1-kg packs of rice are available for sponsorship and offering to the Buddha. The rice will be distributed after the Celebration to needy families. Do not miss this opportunity to practise generosity and accumulate extensive merit.
Tracing Sutras
This year, an extract from the incredibly beneficial Sutra of Great Liberation will be made available for tracing. Join us in tracing sutras with gold pens at our stall to purify mountains of negative karma and accumulate great merits. By offering gold massive merit is accumulated. Through offering writing in gold to precious Dharma texts, one can achieve success in their wishes, and it can purify heavy sickness such as cancer, creating causes for long life to practice the Dharma.
Colouring Contest at Bodhicitta Art Booth
A family-friendly activity for budding artists to showcase their talent! Head down to our colouring booth to colour a specially designed sketch related to the theme of karmic formations in the Wheel of Life and win prizes in the Junior (Under 13) and Open (13 and above) categories. Colouring materials will be provided.
Circumambulate Holy Objects
Join us in offering lights and circumambulating the beautiful, magnificent Amitabha Buddha Thangka surrounded with prayer wheels. Circumambulating Stupas and holy objects in a clockwise manner is a powerful practice to purify negative karma and accumulate the imprints for enlightenment. Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche specifically recommends it for anybody who has difficulties in life, for those who need to purify negativities, for those who need to create the cause for success, for those who are sick, and as a way of benefiting animals. When one circumambulates Stupas and holy objects, they accumulate all three virtuous actions of body, speech, and mind!
Offering Bath to the Infant Buddha
Offer a bath to the Infant Buddha to purify your negative karma and accumulate merit! It is a Vesak Day tradition for believers to offer fragrant water to bathe the infant Buddha. The scented water is scooped with a ladle and poured over the Buddha’s shoulder. The ritual symbolises cleansing one’s ignorance, anger and attachment, and replacing them with virtue. According to the Sutra on the Merit of Bathing The Buddha, one will receive wealth, happiness, and long life without sickness, and their wishes will be fulfilled when they bathe the Buddha. It also creates the causes for one to never take rebirth as a woman, and for one to swiftly gain enlightenment.
Offering Gold Leaf to Buddha and Offering Gold Coins to 21 Taras and Dzambhala Wealth Deities
Create huge merit by offering gold leaves to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue, and by offering gold coins to the 21 Taras and Dzambhala wealth deities! By offering a small flower or rice to holy objects, one achieves liberation from the causes of delusion and karma and ultimately, full enlightenment. It helps you liberate numberless hell beings, pretas, animals, humans, suras and asuras from the ocean of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. From only a tiny offering (of a flower or rice) so much benefit is received due to the wish-fulfilling quality of holy objects – so unbelievably precious. So by offering gold, immense merit is amassed!
PROGRAMME DETAILS
Please click here to see or download the detailed Programme (in English and Chinese).
SPONSORSHIP
We invite you to sponsor pujas and order lamps and flowers for offering in advance via our online booking system or at the ABC office during the Centre’s operation hours.
Sponsor online or at the ABC office by 12pm, 18 May 2024. From 19-22 May, you can order and make payment at the Vesak Celebration site.
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