Buddha 's1) Birth day （Hana Matsuri）



Hana Matsuri，or “flower festival，”is observed on April８by the Japanese to celebrate the Buddha' s birthday．“Flower festival” alludes2) to the season and to the garden in which Buddha was born．

Unlike other big spiritual honchos3)，the Buddha was not a god．He was just a man，albeit4) a royal one，the princely son of an admittedly corrupt Brahman monarch5)．Some ２，５００years ago，in India，a white elephant intimated to the monarch's wife that she had conceived a child．She strode into the palace garden，where according to legend she painlessly birthed a son．As a young man，this Siddhartha Gautama bade farewell to all princely delights and sallied forth seeking －－and eventually finding －－enlightenment．

On April ８，every Japanese Buddhist temple sports a flower－festooned，peak－roofed portable shrine．Under the peaked roof stands a bronze statue of the infant Buddha，pointing up at the sky with his right hand and down to earth with his left．He stands in a basin filled with a dark，naturally sweet tea，brewed from hydrangea6) leaves．A ladle lies poised in the basin．After the temple service，the congregants7) line up at the shrine，taking turns using the ladle to pour tea over the statue's head．

佛陀诞辰纪念日（又名花节）

日本人把每年的４月８日定为花节来纪念佛陀的诞辰。花节指的是佛陀出生的季节和场所---花园。

和其他的宗教领袖不同的是，佛陀不是神。他只是个凡人，尽管是王室成员，是公认的腐败不堪的婆罗门王室的王子。在约２５００年前的印度，一头白象告诉王后说她怀上了一个孩子。据传说，她大步走进王宫的花园后便顺利生下一个儿子。该王子，即悉达多•乔答摩长大后，告别了所有王室的享乐去寻找并最终找到了大彻大悟。

在４月８日，日本的每一个佛教寺庙都会摆设一个用鲜花点缀的，尖顶的可以用手提动的神祠。在尖顶下立着初生佛陀的青铜雕像，右手指着天，左手指着地。他站立的盆里装满了用八仙花沏的、黑黑的有着自然甜味的茶水。盆中放置一把勺子。寺庙的仪式完毕后，参加仪式的人在神祠前排着队，依次用勺子将茶浇在佛陀的头上。



NOTE 注释：

1. Buddha n. 佛陀，菩萨

2. allude vi. （与 to连用）暗指；影射

3. honcho n. 领袖，上司

4. albeit conj. 虽然

5. monarch n. 君主

6. hydrangea n. [植] 八仙花属

7. congregant n. 聚会者