Parinirvana Day, or Nirvana Day

In assembly on Monday we learned of the Buddhist festival of Parinirvana Day ( 15th February). On this day Buddhists celebrate the physical death of the Buddha, when he transcended want and suffering and achieved nirvana- breaking out of the cycle of birth and rebirth. On this day we are asked to reflect on the meaning of life and the place of death. I told the children a version of this Buddhist teaching story.

“There was once a young woman called Kisa Gotami and more than anything she longed for a son. When her boy was born she was overjoyed. Sad to tell, her son became ill and though she cared for him as best she could, her baby died. Distraught with grief she carried the body of her child to all her neighbours pleading with them for medicine for her boy. People said: "She has lost her senses. The boy is dead!” At length Kisa Gotami met an old man. His heart filled with compassion for her "I cannot give you medicine for your child, but I know a man who will help you.” The girl pleaded with him: "Please tell me?" And the man replied

"Go to Sakyamuni, the living Buddha."

Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha and cried: "Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy." The Buddha looked at the tear stained face of the young woman, her disheveled hair and the beautiful baby in her arms. “I will help you " he said “ Let me take your boy.” And he gathered the small bundle into his lap. “Bring me a handful of mustard-seed." And when the girl in her joy promised to procure it, the Buddha added: "The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent, or friend. Kisa Gotami ran urgently to get the mustard seed.

Kisa Gotami now went from house to house, and the people pitied her and said: "Here is mustard-seed; take it!" But when she asked “Did a son or daughter, a father or mother, die in your family?" They answered her: "Alas the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief." And each told her a story of loss and pain. There was no house but some beloved one had died in it.

Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless, and sat down at the wayside, watching the city as darkness fell. She saw the lamps being lit, one by one, and as the hours passed watched them be extinguished, one by one. At last the darkness of the night reigned everywhere. And she considered our fate, how for each of our lives flicker into being and in time are extinguished.

Quietly she returned to where Buddha still sat, her baby cradled in his lap. “ My baby is dead.” she said, “ let me prepare him for his burial.” As she gathered up her boy, Sakyanumi gently touched her on her forehead with the tips of the fingers of his right hand.

Kisa Gotami returned to the Buddha, she took refuge and found comfort in the Dharma, which is a balm that will soothe all the pains of our troubled hearts”