Next Wednesday is a special day, the locals also call it "auspicious day", open the calendar we can easily see, next Wednesday is just the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, this is a traditional sacrificial festival, also known as the Buddha bathing festival, also known as the Buddha's birthday, Buddha Irrigation Meeting, Longhua Society, Huayan Society, etc. As the name suggests, this date is also the day of the birth of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha.
There are a lot of records in the history of this day, there is a poem that says: "The light of the Buddha shines all over Chang'an, eat fasting and chant scriptures to build a temple." lay men and women are more generous; For the sake of good karma in the next life. This is the scene of the Buddha's birthday, and it is recorded in the "Tokyo Menghualu": "On the Buddha's birthday on April 8, the ten major Zen temples each have a bathing Buddha fasting party, decoction of fragrant medicine and sugar water, called bathing Buddha water." "The Old News Examination under the Sun" also has: "The monks of the Beijing Master recite the Buddha's name, and they often count the number with beans." On April 8, the birthday of the Buddha, boiled beans are sprinkled with salt, and people are invited to eat on the road, thinking that they are married. It is still the same as it used to be".
On the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, there are still many customs, such as frying fragrant medicinal syrup, boiling beans, etc., so what else is important? Next Wednesday is an "auspicious day", and the old man said, "Do 5 things on an auspicious day, and be happy if you are not rich", what do 5 things mean? Here are actually 5 things to do on the Buddha's birthday.
1. Eat vegetarian fasting
On this day, people will greet the temple in advance and ask them to prepare meals, of course, this also has to pay money, commonly known as "printing money". The meals are generally some vegetables, noodles and beans and the like, and the variety is quite rich, but basically they are mainly vegetarian, and there are seven or eight dishes on a table, such as cold dishes, bean soup, beans, etc.
2. Eat beans to get married
On the eighth day of the fourth month, it is also a day to connect with people, and it is in the form of almsgiving, praying for the marriage of the next life. This tradition has been popular since a long time, when the folk beans were married, and temples and courts were no exception. Green beans should be boiled in the palace and given to the palace maids and internal court ministers, which are called "eating beans". In the subsequent life, it will be smoother and smoother.
3. Pray for blessing and release
In Buddhism, it is advocated not to kill, and on the eighth day of the fourth month, there is a custom of praying for blessings and releasing life, which has a long history, and there is a precedent as early as the Song Dynasty. In ancient times, there were legends of Chengmei release, and folk tortoiseshell releases. Nowadays, people have also followed the example of their predecessors, and people believe that God has the virtue of a good life, and there are causes and effects.
4. Ask for children
On the eighth day of the first month of April, like Shandong, there is a saying about asking for children, especially in the Liaocheng area of Shandong, people will go to the local Guanyin Temple, there are many small mud babies in front of the gods, there are sitting, climbers, dancers, all men. On April 8, infertile women often go to worship Guanyin and give birth to Niangniang, ask for a clay doll, and wrap the neck with a red thread rope, known as a tethered doll. Some people also take it with water, thinking that they can get pregnant and give birth to children.
5. Bathing Buddha
Since this day is the Buddha bathing festival, of course, people will also carry out a custom of bathing the Buddha, it is said that when the Buddha spoke, suddenly the rain and flowers were fragrant, and the nine dragons spit water, so on this day, the monks of some temples will use licorice tea to make the Buddha bathing water, also known as "fragrant soup", imitating this scene for the Buddha statue bath. The way of bathing the Buddha is to put a small bathing pavilion in front of the temple, the pavilion is for the small statue of Shakya, the bathing Buddha water is stored next to it, the Buddha water is boiled and refined by medicinal herbs, there are licorice, herbs, etc., the believers pour the Buddha with each even water, that is, drink it.
Next Wednesday is the Buddha Bathing Festival, which is a traditional folk festival, and naturally it is also an auspicious day, so we must remember to do 5 things well, so that in the future life, we can also let the blessings always accompany us.