Buddha Purnima 2027
20 May 2027

Buddha Purnima, kept on Vaishakh Purnima, remembers three events tradition holds to have fallen on the same tithi, in different years: Siddhartha Gautama’s birth at Lumbini, his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, and his mahaparinirvana, his passing, at Kushinagar. Because of this threefold meeting on one date, the day is also called Vesak, and in some tellings, the thrice-blessed day, since no other day in the year is held to carry so much of his life.

Buddhist families keep the day with visits to a vihara or stupa, lamps lit at dusk, flowers offered at a Bodhi tree, and readings from the Dhammapada, along with alms for monks and the poor. Many Hindu households honour the Buddha too, since later tradition counts him among Vishnu’s ten avatars, taken, in that telling, to turn beings towards compassion and away from needless harm.

• Image or statue of the Buddha
• White or light-coloured flowers
• A lamp, lit at dusk
• Incense
• Items for alms: food, cloth or money
• A copy of the Dhammapada

Source: Buddhist tradition, as told in the Jataka Nidanakatha and later lives of the Buddha

Queen Mayadevi of Kapilavastu, on her way to her parents’ home for the birth, stopped to rest in the garden of Lumbini, where, holding the branch of a sal tree, she gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama, who tradition says took his first steps at once and spoke of the end he had come to reach for all beings.

Years later, having left his palace and his family to seek an end to suffering, Siddhartha sat beneath a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya and resolved not to rise until he understood it. Through a long night, tradition says, he saw the chain of causes behind birth and death, and at dawn attained bodhi, awakening, and became the Buddha, the awakened one.

In old age, at Kushinagar, the Buddha lay down between two sal trees and, after his last teaching to his disciples, passed into mahaparinirvana. Tradition holds his birth, his awakening and this passing to have fallen on the same full moon of Vaishakh, which is why the day carries all three.

What to do

• Light the lamp at dusk, the hour tradition gives to his awakening and his passing.
• Keep ahimsa through the day, avoiding harm to any creature, since compassion is at the centre of how this day is kept.
• Give something, however small, to someone in need, since dana is as much a part of the day as the puja itself.

What to avoid

• Avoid non-vegetarian food and alcohol through the day, as most who keep it do.
• Avoid hunting, fishing or any harm to animals today; many release captive birds or fish as an act of compassion instead.

Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar in India, along with Lumbini across the border in Nepal, see the largest gatherings, drawing Buddhists from across Asia. In India the day is also kept by Ambedkarite Buddhist communities with processions and readings, and is a public holiday in many states.

A Purnima falls in the bright half, which has the same month name in the Amanta and Purnimanta calendars (in Purnimanta it closes the month, in Amanta it falls mid-month), so both call this Vaishakh Purnima; there is no month-name difference.