Bodhi Day 2020
There was a brief period in my life when I thought I wanted to pursue Buddhism. The "middle way" and thoughts of not being "too bad" or "too good" were appealing to that sinner which was me. However, these gentle thoughts could not withstand that savage I remained at that time in my life.To know me in those days was to realize that I was totally incomprehensible from a standpoint of civilization. When you live a life of ridicule you grow up with an attitude and once I reached a critical juncture the ridicule all stopped when others who thought it all was funny became cognizant of the fact that I might beat them to a bloody pulp and had the wherewithal to do so.
However, this type of comportment is totally incongruent with any thoughts of buddhism and indeed, I let it go when I came to realize just how surly I could become in real time.
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Today is Bodhi Day. It is a Buddhist holiday that commemorating the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni), obtained enlightenment. The day was originally held on the eight day of the twelveth month ... but with the advent of observance of the Gregorian calendar in Japan the day has rather evolved to literally the 12th month which is different from our so-called "more modern" calendars.
This is referred to as bodhi in Sanskrit and Pali. It is a day of quiet celebration, meditation, and Budhist religious services.
According to tradition, Siddhartha had recently stopped years of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence and had resolved to sit under a peepal tree, also known as a Bodhi tree (Ficus Religiosa), and simply meditate until he found the root of suffering, and how to liberate oneself from it.
Now I'm all for the enlightened spirit. I don't claim to be there but I'm closer than I was in my youth. However, the present political landscape having thrust me into the knowledge that I live among a political party called "the democrats" who are without honor and will attempt to steal public office through ballot fixing while the rest of the world watches and says it's okay makes me not to warm and fuzzy for the leftist libtards nor their agenda.
Suffice it to say that Bodhi Day as observed in many mainstream Mahayana traditions including the traditional Zen and Pureland Buddhist schools of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam is lost on me because I am one to strike out against injustice and criminal behavior even if it has become the status quo for a democracy which has lost it's bloody mind in the presence of a criminal element known as the democratic party of the United States.
Bodhi Day is but one of many festivals celebrating the enlightenment of The Budda. I see no reason to celebrate a condition that does not appear in the citizens of the United States anymore.