Buddhist holidays - Donchod Khural: Birthday, enlightenment and passing into Nirvana of Buddha

Buddhism is a religion or teaching whose adherents number many millions of people on our planet Like any other religion, it has its own founder - a leading figure, whose teaching or pattern of behavior is embedded in the canons of the teaching itself For Buddhism, the main thing is the Buddha This man was born around 623 BC and lived to be about 80 years old It is believed that during his life he gained enlightenment - for which he began to be called that, because the word “Buddha” is literally translated as “enlightened one” Then he reached Nirvana - this is the highest degree of withdrawal into oneself and the acquisition of calm and tranquility Since then, there have been quite a few Buddhas - after all, those of the great monks who achieved enlightenment during their lives began to be called such Since the main Buddha, that is, Gautama Siddhartha in the world or Buddha-Shakyamuni in Buddhism, was the first person to achieve enlightenment, his image is revered most of all Gautama was born, gained enlightenment and went into Nirvana at approximately the same period of the year - this happened in the spring, so they decided to combine the main Buddhist holidays into one - Donchod Khural, which symbolizes the day of birth, enlightenment and departure to Nirvana of Buddha The celebration takes place every year on a different day, in each country on its own It all depends on the astronomical state of the moon and sun, relative to our planet, time zones and other natural factors that affect time The Donchod Khural holiday is considered to be the most important holiday in Buddhism, and its duration is seven days At this time, prayer services are held in Buddhist temples, in which the founder of the religion is chanted, and various kinds of traditional processions and marches take place The streets along which religious representatives pass are traditionally decorated with paper flowers or lanterns All these are symbols of enlightenment, finding oneself; these days on the streets you can hear stories from the life of Buddha It is interesting that in the history of Buddhism, 24 Buddhas are known, a list, deeds and life stories of which can be found in one of the collections of Buddhist chronicles