Friday the 13th

Whoo Hoo, it's Friday the 13th!! There are so many stories around this date. This year, I'd like to give you a new story: The Festival of Wesak begins today.

Wesak is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May - which is May 17. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday, and, for some Buddhists, also marks his enlightenment and death.

When the Buddha start to wander around India shortly after his enlightenment, he encountered several men who recognized him to be a very extraordinary being.
They asked him, "Are you a god?"
"No," he replied.
"Are you a reincarnation of god?"
"No," he replied.
"Are you a wizard, then?"
"No."
"Well, are you a man?"
"No."
"So what are you?" they asked, being very perplexed.
"I am awake."

Buddha means "The Awakened One". How to awaken is all he taught.

In the early '40's, Alice Baily, a renowned Theosophist, initiated a Western celebration of Wesak -- a week long celebration of the enlightened ones who came before us - such as the Buddha, the Christ, and Kuan Yin. According to Baily, there is a sacred valley in Tibet where thousands of pilgrims gather yearly to watch the Buddha return and experience his interaction with The Christ and other great masters as he blesses the world.

The more modern Wesak festivals, for instance, the one held at Mount Shasta, in California, are for the purpose of helping our planet move into Light and Love.

Instead of falling into the fear of Friday the 13th, this can be a time of recognizing our own potential for enlightenment. For Buddhists enlightenment is a blessed state in which the individual attains Nirvana - the transcendence of desire and suffering. I see this as a release from 'needs' and fear. What would your life be like if you didn't have any needs? Or if you were fear free? What would it be like and how would it feel to be able to say "I am awake."?

The Truth of us is that we are already awake, we just don't think we are. There is That Within Us that has never been asleep or mesmerized by the worlds ideas of needs. This week let's honor Wesak by recognizing the Truth taught by the Great Masters that have gone before us and open up to our own Divinity.

SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

Today I acknowledge the powerful Presence within me that is infinitely intelligent and unconditionally loving. It is Source Energy and not only fills the universe with Itself, but IS the universe and everything in it. How grateful I am to be able to recognize It.

I now liberate my mind from lack and suffering with Truth Consciousness. No longer do I sleep through my life. I am awake in each moment.

Every area of my life is blessed beyond measure by my awakening. How grateful I am to be able to know that as I do this, I create a ripple of Truth that spreads throughout my circle of influence and far beyond. The whole world is waking up, and this is good, very good.

I release these words of Truth into the Law of Mind, enjoying their manifestation. We are so blessed. And so it is.