Celebrating the Full Moon in Taiwan and Sri Lanka
As summer wanes and the leaves begin to turn, I am thinking about full moon festivals. In September, the full moon is observed during poya in Sri Lanka and the Mid-autumn festival in Taiwan and other Asian countries.
Many Sinhalese in Sri Lanka practice Theravada Buddhism, and they observe poya, the full moon day, each month. The word 'poya' is derived from the Pali and Sanskrit word uposatha, meaning 'entering to stay.' On poya days, Buddhists refrain from consuming meat and alcohol. Furthermore, they head to a temple or a monastery to meditate, listen to the Dharma (the law of nature, as taught by Buddha's life and teachings), and reaffirm their commitment to the Five Precepts. The Five Precepts are guidelines for living to achieve positive karma, which include: 1) abstaining from killing living things; 2) stealing; 3) sexual misconduct; 4) lying; 5) intoxication.
In September, the poya day is called Binara Poya, which commemorates the Bhikkhani Sangha, the female Buddhist monastic order. Mahapajapathi Gothami, Buddha's stepmother and maternal aunt, was the first woman to seek ordination from the Buddha, becoming the first Bhikkhani (Buddhist nun).
Mahapajapathi Gothami was the younger sister of Queen Maha Maya, who died a week after giving birth to Prince Siddhārtha Gautama, who eventually became the Buddha. After her sister's death, Mahapajapathi Gothami raised the young prince and eventually married King Suddodhana.
Mahaprajapati Gotami and Prince Siddhārtha Gautama. From Wikipedia.
Mahapajapathi Gothami is known as the Principle Mother of Buddhist Traditions. After her ordination, she and several women of the Bhikkhani Sangha compose poetry and songs praising Buddha's teaching. The lyrical praises were grouped into a collection and became known as the Therigatha, the Verses of the Elder Nuns.
As Sri Lankans celebrate Binara Poya, People in Taiwan will be celebrating the Mid-autumn festival. As a child growing up in Taiwan, my family ate mooncakes during the festival and admired the perfectly round moon in the sky. "Do you see Chang'e in the moon?" My father asked.
The painting The Moon Goddess Chang’e, dated to around 1500 (Ming dynasty). From Wikipedia
Chang'e (嫦娥) was the wife of Hou Yi (后羿), who was an exceptional archer. In ancient times, there were ten suns in the sky. Each morning, they would rise, one by one, and made the world unbearably hot. As a result, all the crops failed, and people were miserable and hungry. Hou Yi saved the day by shooting down nine suns, leaving one behind so people wouldn't live in the cold and in complete darkness. The Queen Mother of the West (西王母) awarded Hou Yi with an elixir of immorality to reward him for his heroic deed. Hou Yi, however, didn't want to be immortal without his wife by his side, so he hid the elixir. One night, Chang'e found the gift. Worried that he would become immortal and leave her behind, Chang'e took the potion. Hou Yi woke to find his wife flying away into the moon. Hou Yi was heartbroken, and he looked up to the moon often and thought of her. Thinking that she must be lonely by herself, he often left her favourite snack of fruit and dessert for her every night. His tradition continued today in the form of marvelling at the brilliant moon and eating mooncakes during the Mid-autumn Festival.
Chang'e 4 landing on the far side of the moon. From Wikipedia.
Chang'e has lived in the imagination of the Chinese-speaking world (along with Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand). Most recently, Chang'e has been the namesake of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.
Mid-autumn Festival is often a time of the year family and friends gather. This year, however, Derek and I are apart. He is in the US getting ready to join me in Taiwan as I am in quarantine in a hotel in Taichung. So I will admire the moon from my hotel window and eat a mooncake by myself, pondering about Chang'e and Mahapajapathi Gothami. But mostly, I will gaze up at the full moon, like Hou Yi did, longing for his displaced love.