Dear Friends,
As most of you probably know, Vesak is the most important holiday of the Buddhist calendar, the day that celebrates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passing into nirvana. On this day, through worship, ritual, meditation, song, and shared meals, we pay homage to the supreme spiritual teacher who opened for us the “doors to the Deathless.”
But Vesak is also an occasion when we can follow the Buddha’s example of compassion, his heartfelt concern to allay the suffering of others. According to tradition, the Buddha planted the seed of compassion in the far distant past when, in an earlier life, he made the vow to find the path to liberation for beings in the distant future. And we ourselves, who today embrace the Buddha’s teachings, are among the beneficiaries of that vow.
To pave the way to Buddhahood, in life after life the future Buddha cultivated the supreme virtues called pāramitās, the first of which is dāna, generosity or giving. Giving was both a cause for attaining Buddhahood and the expression of enlightenment in action. For 45 years the Buddha traveled the land, giving all who came to him the gift of the Dharma, revealing the path to peace, freedom, and ultimate happiness.
If we wish to pay homage to the Buddha in the month of Vesak—the month of May on the Western calendar—we should continue his compassionate mission of helping others. One way we can do that is through giving. The Buddha praised the gift of food as foremost among all material gifts, as a gift that conduces to life, health, beauty, happiness, and mental clarity.
Today, for many around the world, the gift of food is an urgent need. Close to a billion people suffer from chronic hunger and food insecurity. Several hundred million live at crisis levels of hunger, close to the edge of survival. And with accelerating climate change, high fuel prices, and war, the extent of hunger is increasing.
We can all do something, however slight, to help those afflicted with hunger and malnutrition. For almost fourteen years, Buddhist Global Relief has been dedicated to this task. We currently sponsor fifty projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Haiti and the U.S. These projects provide direct food assistance, education for poor children, right livelihood opportunities, and other forms of aid. We see this work less as a form of “charity” than as an expression of solidarity, a way of affirming the humanity of those we serve, of helping them realize their own potentials for a meaningful, dignified, and fulfilling life. With the gift of food, we enable them to stand up proud and confident about their future.
If you would like to share in our work, please consider making a generous donation to BGR during the month of Vesak. This will be your way of honoring the Buddha and thereby a way to unfold your own potential for generosity, kindness, and compassion. Such a gift will be a source of deep inner joy that will last long into the future.
To learn more about the work of Buddhist Global Relief, please explore our website. To make a donation to support our work, go here.
I thank you deeply for responding to this message.
With blessings,
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
