Happy Bodhi Day!

Today is Bodhi Day, the day Siddhartha Gautama woke up. Born a prince, a sage visited the palace shortly after his birth and told his father, the king, that the boy would become a great leader, either political or spiritual.

In an attempt to tip the scales towards political, the king arranged a ‘perfect’ life for the prince. Inside the walls of the castle, there were: no old people; no sick people; no mention of death. Only beatiful people, the finest foods.But Siddhartha was curious. He became aware of the walls as he grew older and wanted to explore beyond them. Eventually the king acquiesced. And despite his best attempts, Siddhartha met the unsatisfactoriness of life, dukkha -- often translated as ‘suffering’ -- old age, sickness, death.

Eventually, the prince renounced his life as future king, left his wife and young child, and set out, determined to find an ending to this dukkha.He became a devout ascetic for 6 years, a common practice of the time. He achieved wonderful states of consciousness. His master asked him to teach alongside him. But Siddhartha noticed that every time after he opened his eyes, he came down, back to this realm, to meet dukkha head-on.

Emaciated, on the brink of death, one day a maiden offered Siddhartha some sweet rice milk. Again, he was curious. He knew to accept it would mean to be written off by his 5 friends with whom he practiced. And he also knew the path he was on wasn’t providing a permanent end to dukkha. He asked himself, “might there be another way?” And he accepted the milk.

Nursed back to life, Siddhartha vowed to sit under a tree until he was free from suffering. And that he did. 2,613 years ago, today, in the year 588 BC (modern scholars believe the year may have actually been 445 BC). That fig tree in Bodh Gaya, India became known as the Bodhi tree. Bodhi means awakening.

After enlightenment, Buddha contemplated if anyone could understand the profound freedom he’d realized. He rested in the peace of liberation he’d realized. Until he was urged to teach. Seeing this truth for himself, Buddha set out to share the Dharma, the way things are, the truth, the laws of nature.

All 5 of the Buddha’s former ascetic friends awakened, and they became the first 5 arahants, fully liberated disciples.

In ~288 BC, Sanghamitta Theri, daughter of an ancient Indian emperor, started the order of Budhist nuns in Sri Lanka and there planted a piece of the original Bodhi tree. Still alive today (pictured), it is the world’s oldest-known planted tree.

I give thanks today today to Buddha for deciding to teach and laying out this path with such precision, one that I don’t just believe, one that I know brings a permanent end to suffering.

I don’t know what will happen in the world over the coming decade. I have many fears. And I have many hopes. For this path. And what it can bring me, humanity, all sentient beings, this entire world. May we all remember who we truly are. Why we came here. Let’s wake up, together.