{"id":3319,"date":"2013-12-08T22:58:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-08T22:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=3319"},"modified":"2013-12-08T22:58:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-08T22:58:24","slug":"rohatsu-bodhienlightenment-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/12\/rohatsu-bodhienlightenment-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Rohatsu, Bodhi\/Enlightenment Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Today is the day that Japanese Zen schools celebrate Rohatsu, also known as the Buddha\u2019s\u00a0enlightenment day (Japanese: J\u014dd\u014d-e, \u6210\u9053\u4f1a). Many Zen Buddhists mark this day often the week leading up to it with diligent practice, as James Ford (from Monkey Mind) did<\/a>; and here\u2019s his post-Rohatsu sesshin post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Western Buddhist world, it is probably the second best known Buddhist holiday after Vesak<\/a> (Pali: Ves\u0101kha<\/a>), which is still celebrated according to the lunar calendar<\/a>, taking place on the full moon usually occurring in the Gregorian months of April, May, or June.<\/p>\n

Borrowing from a post in 2011<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This week we celebrated Rohatsu<\/a>, the Japanese Buddhist celebration of the Buddha\u2019s enlightenment. For Theravadins, he was born, enlightened, and died on Vesak<\/a>, which falls in May or June in many places, or April in\u00a0China, Japan, Korea according to wikipedia \u2013 which seems to mean that Japanese Buddhists celebrate the Buddha\u2019s enlightenment twice. In any case, along with very nice messages from Shako Yuinen at the Buddhist Military Blog<\/a>, James at the Buddhist Blog<\/a>, and Uku at Zen \u2013 the Possible Way<\/a>, came a very poignant story of redemption and acceptance through practice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marking the occasion this year, I\u2019ll re-share some of my photos from Bodhgaya from 2010:<\/p>\n

\"Mahabodhi<\/a>
The Mahabodhi stupa at night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"East<\/a>
East Asian Nuns chanting at the Mahabodhi Stupa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Young<\/a>
Young Tibetan monks waiting for the Karmapa in Bodh Gaya.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Theravadin<\/a>
Theravadin monks at the Mahabodhi Stupa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of the many Buddha images around the base of the Mahabodhi Temple.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Gotama Buddha image inside the Mahabodhi Temple.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the day that Japanese Zen schools celebrate Rohatsu, also known as the Buddha\u2019s\u00a0enlightenment day (Japanese: J\u014dd\u014d-e, \u6210\u9053\u4f1a). Many Zen Buddhists mark this day often the week leading up to it with diligent practice, as James Ford (from Monkey Mind) did; and here\u2019s his post-Rohatsu sesshin post. In the Western Buddhist world, it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15,40,73],"tags":[520,53,48],"class_list":["post-3319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-buddhism","category-buddhism","category-japanese-buddhism","category-zen","tag-buddhism","tag-western-buddhism","tag-zen-in-america"],"yoast_head":"\nRohatsu, Bodhi\/Enlightenment Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today is the day that Japanese Zen schools celebrate Rohatsu, also known as the Buddha\u2019s\u00a0enlightenment day (Japanese: J\u014dd\u014d-e, \u6210\u9053\u4f1a). Many Zen Buddhists\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/12\/rohatsu-bodhienlightenment-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rohatsu, Bodhi\/Enlightenment Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is the day that Japanese Zen schools celebrate Rohatsu, also known as the Buddha\u2019s\u00a0enlightenment day (Japanese: J\u014dd\u014d-e, \u6210\u9053\u4f1a). 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