On Buddha¡¯s Birthday, the 8th day of the 4th lunar month (usually in May), Buddhists light lanterns as an offering to the Buddha.

   All Buddhists wish to spread Buddha¡¯s compassion and wisdom throughout the world and live like the Buddha.

   As candles burn to give a bright light, lanterns do the same. Bright light symbolizes wisdom in Buddha. Since long ago, incense and lanterns have been regarded highly as valuable offerings to the Buddha.

   There are various shapes of lanterns. The most popular shape is the lotus flower.

   Lotus flowers bloom in the mud just as Shakyamuni cultivated his Buddha nature after being born and raised in a world of delusion and ignorance. Through cultivation, all sentient being will find their own Buddha nature. Therefore, the lotus flower is a symbol of Buddhism.

   On one occasion, the Buddha was returning home after having been invited to lecture about Dharma by a ruler. When it was evening, the ruler offered 180 liters of lamp oil for tens of thousands of lanterns to light the road from the palace to Jatavana Park near Sravasti for the Buddha and his disciples.

   A woman named Nanda heard the news and bewailed that she was so poor she could not make any offering. Therefore, she begged on the streets for enough oil to light at least one small lantern for the Buddha, eventually collecting enough for a little sesame oil to light a lantern.

   She pledged to burn her little lantern brightly through the night in honor of the Buddha, so she might be reborn a Buddha in a future life.

   All lanterns lit by the ruler were blown out by the wind or ran out of oil, but her lantern alone grew brighter.

   At dawn the Buddha asked his disciple Mogdaliana to blow out all the remaining lanterns. Almost every lantern was extinguished, but no matter how hard Mogdaliana blew, Nanda¡¯s would not go out.

   The Buddha told him that the lantern was a sign of the poor woman¡¯s great sincerity and instructed him to let it burn.