Tathālokā Therī
September 19, 2024
Dear Community, as a combination birthday and Bhikkhuni Sangha 2608th Anniversary gift , I would like to share with you this Bhikkhunī Sangha Calendar.
Long requested, the calendar was debuted live during Dhammadharini's International Bhikkhuni Day full moon programs on 17-18th September 2024.
Free high-resolution PDF download is available for download here (scroll down to the bottom), as well as a higher-resolution image file of the first page.
You are free to print, copy, or share this calendar - or to copy the information herein and republish or use it in a different format. This calendar which represents countless hours of research and effort is offered as a freely given gift of Sangha Dāna to our communities.
Please note, this is a lunar calendar, so while these dates will be consistent on the South & Southeast Asian Lunar Calendar widely used by Buddhists in these regions year after year, they will change on the western Gregorian calendar, just as with Vesak, Vassa, and other annual Buddhist holidays and commemorative dates which also follow the lunar calendar.
This calendar is designed to easily show you the correlation between our Theravāda Buddhist lunar calendar and western lunar calendar dates, and make that easy to transfer over to other calendars, for example, to transfer over to the Chinese (East Asian) or Tibetan (Himalayan) lunar calendars.
To make the concept easy -
Most of the time, it can be said that International Bhikkhuni Day will be often be commemorated on or around the full moon of September, and Sanghamitta Day on or around the full moon of December - just like Vesak is often celebrated on or around the full moon of May.
. . .
. . .
Words from the calendar artist and digital creator:
"Important dates for the Bhikkhus and Bhikkhu Sangha are known and regularly shared and commemorated in Theravāda Buddhism. It is nice to share these dates for Bhikkhunis and the Bhikkhunī Sangha too as we learn about them again. And to make it [the Bhikkhuni Calendar] pretty, as I've seen things like this, so that people can print it, and hang it on their wall, and it is nice to be able to share."
"The whole calendar has been made digital, so that anybody can take the content and use it this year or in future years however they like. And also for us at Dhammadharini, it will be very easy to take the content and use it to make similar calendars in future years going forward. While also liberating the information."
- calendar artist/digital creator Ven. Thāvirā Bhikkhunī (paraphrased)
My own concept has been quite similar. I have a lot of respect what has been passed down from early Buddhism. Parts of that are widely known and shared and commemorated in Theravada Buddhism by the Bhikkhu Sangha and in the greater Theravada Buddhist communities. And parts are there in the early texts and traditions.
But there has been a tendency among Theravada Bhikkhu teachers, I'm not sure for how long, to more focus on the stories of the great bhikkhus. And for Women in Buddhism, often to focus primarily on great leading upāsikā donor and patron Visākhā.
I've asked bhikkhu teachers about this tendency time by time, and they've replied sincerely that they do not want to tell these other stories, because they do not want to encourage women in that way - because the Bhikkhuni Sangha has lapsed, so they feel it would just cause grief, frustration and heartbreak, and be pointless, to be encouraging women--and the Sangha--with the inspiring stories of the ancient bhikkhunis. So encouraging women to be like great upāsikā donor Visākhā, to be excellent in supporting the Bhikkhu Sangha with ample and well-considered requisites, is most suitable and best.
I've experienced first-hand for myself, the encouragement that there is to hear the ancient great bhikkhunis' stories taught. On one retreat, led by a senior Thai Ajahn, not long before the founding of Dhammadharini, the Ajahn teaching repeatedly told stories of the great bhikkhuni arahants. The other male and female retreatants noticed and said: "wow! - we are hearing these stories because you are here and you are a bhikkhunī" and: "wow! - he is really encouraging you!" And other female retreatants said, "he is really encouraging us!"
I would like to comment that in general, these stories have been far more told in Theravada Buddhism in its home countries and home contexts in South & Southeast Asia, than in the international teaching contexts. This has made for a special--and surprising--dearth of knowledge about the ancient bhikkhunis and women in Buddhism in the Western Buddhist context, our context. Up until recently. We are really just beginning to redress it.
It is important to note:
All the dates on this Bhikkhuni Calendar have been known for a long time--there is nothing new or 'made up' here. They have all been passed down in ancient Buddhist texts, manuscripts, and the ancient and living Theravāda Buddhist traditions of South and Southeast Asia.
The only thing that is new is (1) to gather them together and (2) to offer them as Dāna in such an accessible way for English speakers -- this is great gift.
I very much appreciate Ven Bhikkhuni Thāvirā for her kind and caring efforts in doing so. I know she doesn't want to gain any fame for this, and that she shares with me at heart in simply wanting to liberate this information, due to how precious and valuable it is for us.
Ancient Buddhists--including the Buddha--*knew* the power of the word of the Buddha and the power of the vision and hearing of the arahants, including the arahantīs or arahatīs, the great female arahantas. This is the reason - this is what this is for.
Truly, rightly, it is said: "Nibbāna paccayo hotu!" - "May this be cause and condition for the realization of Nibbāna!"
Anumodanā!
Sādhu! Sādhu! Sādhu!
. . .
written by Tathālokā Therī at Dhammadharini's Aranya Bodhi forest hermitage on the Sonoma Coast, one day after the September full moon 2024, sharing the merits with all living beings, especially those with noble hearts dedicated to the way of awakening.
. . .
P.S. It's important to note that note that these dates have been preserved in various textual and living traditions from around the ancient Buddhist world. And, they are not all in yet! For example, while i've learned what Pāli, Chinese and some ancient Tibetan texts have preserved about these dates, the information in the Tibetan Buddhist canons has not all been reviewed yet, and new ancient Buddhist texts of importance are still being discovered and brought to light. There is much still to learn, to discuss...
Addendum:
Please feel free to ask questions. I am happy to share sources for the material, in fact, all of it has been published here previous, time by time, over the years, on this page.
Open for discussion. Some of the dates here might be reflected differently in different textual or living Buddhist traditions. I am interested to know what you, my reader, may know about this. What does the Buddhist tradition you are familiar with or have read or heard say? We are all in a great learning process together.
Although this calendar is based on nearly 20 years of research, it is still not finalized. What do i mean by that? I mean, as new information is learned, more may be added. More may be learned.
My experience has been that after publishing something, that is when the things i could not learn with all my past efforts will then come to light! I am happy to join you in the unveiling, the revealing and the learning and growing in knowledge and awareness together.
And, please note: this is a 'calendar supplement' - which means, it is not meant to replace any other Buddhist calendars, but just to supplement and contribute to them.
An example of how to use the calendar:
Next up -
> 🌗 Sep 24th-25th 2024 Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī Arahatship Day
Assayuja-māsaṁ Kaṇha Pakkha Aṭṭhamī Waning Half Moon Uposatha
Comments