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One of the nicest festivals in the Buddhist calendar is April 8, when the Buddha’s birthday is celebrated. The official name is Kanbutsu-e (”the bathing of Buddha”), and popularly its is called Hana Matsuri or Flower Festival. It takes place just as the sakura and other flowers are in full spring bloom. Many Buddhist temples set up a small altar with a statue of Tanjo Shaka, the “Buddha at Birth,” placed on a basin. The shrine (Hanamido) is lavisly decorated with flowers. Visitors are invited to poor fragrant, sweet tea made from the hydrangea (ama-cha) on the statue.

Thinking about the Buddha’s birth, I took a look at his biography, which is unfortunately vague and dressed in legends. We do not even know exactly when the Buddha lived: the Encyclopedia Britannica places his life between the 6^th and 4^th centuries BCE, indeed keeping a lot of leeway. There are no external sources documenting his life or even existence. The first external reference to Buddhism and Buddhists occurs in the reign of King Asoka (3^rd c. BCE). It may therefore not be surprising that some scholars in the 19^th c. doubted the very existence of a historical figure called the Buddha. Although this opinion finds no adherents anymore, as the Buddhist tradition does indeed contain references to circumstances in the period the Buddha lived that could not have been known to later falsifiers, hard facts are very scant indeed. Modern scholarship places the dates the historical Buddha lived somewhere between 530 and 450 or even 480 and 400 BCE. His father’s name is usually given as Sudhodana, king of the Sakya clan with the capital in Kapilavastu, Nepal, his mother was called Mahamaya.

Legendary life can not do without a supernatural birth. In the case of the Buddha, it already started with his miraculous conception (also a well-known motif in other religions). His mother Maya dreamt that a beautiful white elephant entered her womb through her side. In an Indian representation of this scene (there are no Japanese ones known to me) we see Maya lying down in an expectant attitude while a rather lascivious looking elephant comes flying through the air, ready to bounce down upon the reclining lady. Brahman priests explained the dream as meaning that her son would either become a great king or a buddha.

When the time of birth drew near, the queen and her retinue traveled from Kapilavastu, the capital of the Sakya kingdom, to the neighboring town Lumbini where her parents lived. It may have been customary in ancient India to give birth in the house of the wife’s parents, as it was in ancient Japan. Queen Maya, however, was not able to travel the whole way. When she passed through the beautiful park of Lumbini in the outskirts of the town, the baby already announced itself. A curtained enclosure was set up and there she gave birth, taking hold of the branch of a giant sala tree. (The site lies now in Nepal and still contains a stone pillar set up here in commemoration of the event by King Asoka in the 3^rd c. BCE). The child was named Siddharta, ‘one whose aim is accomplished.’ His clan name was Gautama.

According to legend, not only the conception, but also the birth of Buddha were of virgin nature. He came into this world from the side of his mother, from under her right armpit to be exact. Four Brahma angels received the baby - perfect like the rising sun - in a golden net. Although rare, there happens to be a single, famous miniature statue in Japan showing this miraculous birth. It shows the queen with her arm uplifted, baby popping out from under her armpit, and is one of the set of small bronze statues in the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures of the Tokyo National Museum. Two dragon kings appeared to wash the infant by sprinkling him with perfumed water - the origin of our ama-cha ceremony.

In the legend, the Buddha after birth immediately could stand on his feet. He took seven steps in each of the four directions, looked up and down and then, pointing his right arm at the sky, and his left hand down at the earth, said in a noble voice, like the roar of a lion: “In Heaven and on Earth, only I am the Venerable One.” Happily, this is only legend, because it would have been a shock for the mother: what to do with such a dangerously precocious child?

The Buddha addressing the heavens after his birth, is the common form of the Tanjo Shaka statues in Japanese temples. The most famous of these, a national treasure, is Shaka at Birth with an Ablution Basin dating from the Nara-period (8^th c.). It belongs to the Todaiji in Nara, but is in the care of the Nara National Museum, although it is not always exhibited (if it is not on view, the museum may have other examples of the ‘Shaka at Birth’ in its exhibition. Another equally large Tanjo Shaka can be found in the Reihokan Museum of Daihoonji Temple in Kyoto).

But you don’t need these art works to enjoy the Buddha’s birthday. It is not a national holiday in Japan, but happily this year it will fall on a Sunday, so set out that day for a temple area - somewhere in Kyoto, Nara or Kamakura, and wander around all day under the blossoms - somewhere you are bound to come upon a temple that has placed the Buddha at Birth statue in a flower shrine where you can douse it with scented tea!