Sejak jaman sebelum Buddha, para petapa dan para bijaksana di India memanfaatkan saat bulan baru dan bulan purnama untuk membabarkan ajaran mereka. Raja Bimbisara mengetahui kebiasaan ini, dan karena itu beliau menghadap Buddha dan berkata :
"Para paribajaka dari aliran Titthiya, berkembang dan semakin banyak umatnya karena mereka memelihara setiap hari ke 8 dan juga hari ke 14 atau ke 15 setiap setengah bulan. Bukankah akan lebih baik jika Sangha juga berkumpul pada hari-hari tertentu untuk tujuan tersebut?"
Mengabulkan permohonan Raja Bimbisara inilah, maka Bhagava menentukan agar para bhikkhu berkumpul setiap hari ke 8 dan juga hari ke 14 atau ke 15 dari setiap paruh-bulan, dan untuk menggunakan waktu-waktu tersebut untuk menekuni ajaran. Beliau juga menganjurkan para bhikkhu untuk membabarkan Dhamma kepada khalayak ramai dna membacakan Patimokkha setiap uposatha ke dua (berarti hari ke 14 atau ke 15 dari setiap paruh-bulan).
Raja Bimbisara sendiri memberikan teladan dengan menjalankan uposatha sila selama enam hari dalam sebulan (demikian menurut Petavatthu Atthakatha).
Di negera-negara Mahayana yang menggunakan kalender Cina, uposatha memang dilaksanakan 6 kali sebulan, yaitu hari ke 8, 14, 15, 23, dan hari terakhir serta hari pertama dari setiap bulan. Dalam bahasa Jepang, keenam hari ini dikenal dengan istilah Roku Sainichi (enam hari puasa).
UPOSATHA berasal dari kata Sansekerta upavasattha.
Upavasatha memang berarti hari berpuasa bagi para petapa India.
Di Indonesia pun kata puasa juga berasal dari kata upavasatha ini.
Jadi, kepada umat Buddha di Indonesia :
SELAMAT BERPUASA setiap Uposatha!
VERSI BAHASA INGGRIS
It was at the request of Bimbisara that the Buddha established the custom of the monks assembling on the first, eighth, fourteenth and fifteenth days of each month (Vinaya I).
When Seniya Bimbisara, the king of Magadha, was advanced in years, he retired from the world and led a religious life. He observed that there were Brahmanical sects in Rajagaha keeping sacred certain days, and the people went to their meeting houses and listened to their sermons,
Concerning the need of keeping regular days for retirement from worldly labours and religious instruction, the king went to the Blessed One and said:
"The Parivrajaka, who belong to the Titthiya school, prosper and gain adherents because they keep the eighth day and also the fourteenth or fifteenth day of each half-month. Would it not be advisable for the reverend brethren of the Sangha also to assemble on days duly appointed for that purpose?"
And the Blessed One commanded the bhikkhus to assemble on the eighth day and also on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of each half-month, and to devote these days to religious exercises.
A bhikkhu duly appointed should address the congregation and espound the Dharma.
He should exhort the people to walk in the eightfold path of righteousness; he should comfort them in the vicissitudes of life and gladden them with the bliss of the fruit of good deeds.
Thus the brethren should keep the Uposatha.
Now the bhikkhus, in obedience to the rule laid down by the Blessed One, assembled in the vihara on the day appointed, and the people went to hear the Dharma, but they were greatly disappointed, for the bhikkhus remained silent and delivered no discourse.
When the Blessed One heard of it, he ordered the bhikkhus to recite the Patimokkha, which is a ceremony of disburdening the conscience; and he commanded them to make confession of their trespasses so as to receive the absolution of the order.
A fault, if there be one, should be confessed by the bhikkhu who remembers it and desires to be cleansed. For a fault, when confessed, shall be light on him.
Furher readings THE GOSPLE OF THE BUDDHA by Paul Carus, a classic book from 1894
"Para paribajaka dari aliran Titthiya, berkembang dan semakin banyak umatnya karena mereka memelihara setiap hari ke 8 dan juga hari ke 14 atau ke 15 setiap setengah bulan. Bukankah akan lebih baik jika Sangha juga berkumpul pada hari-hari tertentu untuk tujuan tersebut?"
Mengabulkan permohonan Raja Bimbisara inilah, maka Bhagava menentukan agar para bhikkhu berkumpul setiap hari ke 8 dan juga hari ke 14 atau ke 15 dari setiap paruh-bulan, dan untuk menggunakan waktu-waktu tersebut untuk menekuni ajaran. Beliau juga menganjurkan para bhikkhu untuk membabarkan Dhamma kepada khalayak ramai dna membacakan Patimokkha setiap uposatha ke dua (berarti hari ke 14 atau ke 15 dari setiap paruh-bulan).
Raja Bimbisara sendiri memberikan teladan dengan menjalankan uposatha sila selama enam hari dalam sebulan (demikian menurut Petavatthu Atthakatha).
Di negera-negara Mahayana yang menggunakan kalender Cina, uposatha memang dilaksanakan 6 kali sebulan, yaitu hari ke 8, 14, 15, 23, dan hari terakhir serta hari pertama dari setiap bulan. Dalam bahasa Jepang, keenam hari ini dikenal dengan istilah Roku Sainichi (enam hari puasa).
UPOSATHA berasal dari kata Sansekerta upavasattha.
Upavasatha memang berarti hari berpuasa bagi para petapa India.
Di Indonesia pun kata puasa juga berasal dari kata upavasatha ini.
Jadi, kepada umat Buddha di Indonesia :
SELAMAT BERPUASA setiap Uposatha!
VERSI BAHASA INGGRIS
It was at the request of Bimbisara that the Buddha established the custom of the monks assembling on the first, eighth, fourteenth and fifteenth days of each month (Vinaya I).
When Seniya Bimbisara, the king of Magadha, was advanced in years, he retired from the world and led a religious life. He observed that there were Brahmanical sects in Rajagaha keeping sacred certain days, and the people went to their meeting houses and listened to their sermons,
Concerning the need of keeping regular days for retirement from worldly labours and religious instruction, the king went to the Blessed One and said:
"The Parivrajaka, who belong to the Titthiya school, prosper and gain adherents because they keep the eighth day and also the fourteenth or fifteenth day of each half-month. Would it not be advisable for the reverend brethren of the Sangha also to assemble on days duly appointed for that purpose?"
And the Blessed One commanded the bhikkhus to assemble on the eighth day and also on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of each half-month, and to devote these days to religious exercises.
A bhikkhu duly appointed should address the congregation and espound the Dharma.
He should exhort the people to walk in the eightfold path of righteousness; he should comfort them in the vicissitudes of life and gladden them with the bliss of the fruit of good deeds.
Thus the brethren should keep the Uposatha.
Now the bhikkhus, in obedience to the rule laid down by the Blessed One, assembled in the vihara on the day appointed, and the people went to hear the Dharma, but they were greatly disappointed, for the bhikkhus remained silent and delivered no discourse.
When the Blessed One heard of it, he ordered the bhikkhus to recite the Patimokkha, which is a ceremony of disburdening the conscience; and he commanded them to make confession of their trespasses so as to receive the absolution of the order.
A fault, if there be one, should be confessed by the bhikkhu who remembers it and desires to be cleansed. For a fault, when confessed, shall be light on him.
Furher readings THE GOSPLE OF THE BUDDHA by Paul Carus, a classic book from 1894
0 comments:
Post a Comment