Buddha Purnima 2027बुद्ध पूर्णिमा

When is Buddha Purnima?

Observed on Purnima of Vaishakh. Dates follow the Panchang for New Delhi and can differ by a day in other places — check the Panchang for your city.

What Buddha Purnima means

Buddha Purnima — Vesak or Buddha Jayanti — is the full moon of Vaishakha. Buddhist tradition, especially Theravada, holds that three great events in the life of Gautama Buddha fell on this full moon: his birth at Lumbini, his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, and his parinirvana at Kushinagar. It is the holiest day of the Buddhist year.

For Hindus the day has meaning too. Many Puranic lists of the Dashavatara — and Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, sung across India — count the Buddha as the ninth avatar of Vishnu, who came to teach compassion and turn people away from violence. Vaishakha Purnima is also kept as Kurma Jayanti, the appearance of Vishnu as the tortoise, and as a day for Satyanarayan puja, holy bathing and charity that closes the sacred month of Vaishakha.

Across traditions the day is kept the same way: with lamps, quiet, meditation, kindness to all living beings, and giving — food to monks and the poor, water to the thirsty in the summer heat, and freedom to caged birds and animals.

The story of Buddha Purnima

Siddhartha Gautama was born a prince of the Shakya clan, to King Shuddhodana and Queen Mayadevi, in the Lumbini grove in what is now Nepal. Raised in luxury and shielded from suffering, he saw, on rides outside the palace, an old man, a sick man, a dead body and a wandering ascetic — the 'four sights' that turned his mind to the question of why beings suffer.

At twenty-nine he left the palace, his wife Yashodhara and his infant son Rahula, and spent six years in harsh austerities until he was close to death. Realising that self-torture led no further than indulgence, he accepted a bowl of milk-rice (kheer) from a village woman named Sujata, sat beneath a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya and resolved not to rise until he understood. On the full-moon night of Vaishakha he attained bodhi — awakening — and became the Buddha.

He gave his first teaching at Sarnath near Varanasi, on the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Way, and taught for forty-five years across the Gangetic plain. At eighty he lay down between two sal trees at Kushinagar and passed into parinirvana, telling his disciples: 'All conditioned things are subject to decay; strive on with diligence.'

Buddha Purnima puja vidhi, step by step

A simple way to keep Buddha Purnima at home, drawing on both Buddhist and Hindu practice. Buddhists visiting a vihara follow its own order of worship.

What you need

• An image of the Buddha, or of Vishnu if you keep the day as an avatar festival
• Clean water, white or yellow flowers and a garland
• Ghee or oil lamps and incense
• Kheer (milk-rice), fruit and simple vegetarian food
• Grain, water and fruit to give away; bird feed or water bowls for animals

When to do the puja

Vaishakha Purnima in 2027 falls on Thursday, 20 May; Purnima runs from the afternoon of 19 May to the afternoon of 20 May (New Delhi). Viharas hold their main observances through the day of 20 May. Check the Panchang for your city. See the Panchang for your city.

Steps

1. Morning. Bathe early — in a river if you can, as many Hindus do on Vaishakha Purnima — and keep the day free of meat, alcohol and harsh words.
2. Offerings. Light a lamp and incense before the Buddha's image and offer flowers, water and kheer, remembering Sujata's offering before the enlightenment.
3. Refuge and precepts. Buddhists recite the Three Refuges and take the Five Precepts: not to kill, steal, misuse the senses, lie or take intoxicants.
4. Meditation. Sit quietly for a while, following the breath, or practise metta — wishing happiness and freedom from suffering to yourself, your family, strangers and all beings.
5. Reading. Read a few verses of the Dhammapada, the story of the enlightenment, or the Buddha avatar verse of Jayadeva's Dashavatara stotra.
6. Giving. Feed monks, the poor or animals, set out water for birds in the heat, or support a hospital or school. Many free caged birds on this day.

Offerings & food: Simple vegetarian food, kheer (Sujata offered the Buddha milk-rice just before his enlightenment), fruits, white sweets

Mantras for Buddha Purnima

Buddha Purnima across India

Grand celebrations at Bodh Gaya (Mahabodhi temple), Sarnath, Lumbini (Nepal), Kushinagar. Sikkim, Ladakh, Himachal celebrate with Buddhist traditions.

Bodh Gaya (Bihar)

Pilgrims from across Asia gather at the Mahabodhi temple and the Bodhi tree, a descendant of the tree under which the Buddha was enlightened, for chanting, processions and lamps.

Sarnath and Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh)

Processions of relics and chanting at the Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath, where the Buddha first taught, and at the Mahaparinirvana temple in Kushinagar.

Sikkim, Ladakh, Arunachal and the Himalaya

Monasteries hold masked dances and processions of scriptures; in Sikkim the day is called Saga Dawa and falls by the Tibetan calendar, usually around the same full moon.

Maharashtra

Ambedkarite Buddhists mark the day at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur and in viharas across the state with readings, processions and community meals.

Nepal, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia

Lumbini in Nepal, the Buddha's birthplace, holds its own celebrations. In Sri Lanka, Vesak lanterns and free food stalls (dansal) fill the streets.

Hindu homes

Vaishakha Purnima is kept with river bathing, Satyanarayan katha, Kurma Jayanti worship of Vishnu, and charity of water pots, fans and grain at the end of the Vaishakha month.

Prayers to recite

Do’s and don’ts

Frequently asked questions