Buddha Purnima is celebrated in most of East Asia to commemorate the birth of the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Gautama Buddha and founder of Buddhism. It is also celebrated in South and Southeast Asia as Vesak which also acknowledges the enlightenment and death of the Buddha.
आत्मदीपो भव।
स्वयं अपने दीपक बनो।
Be your own light.
न चैष धर्मो वनए एव सिद्धः पुरेऽपि सिद्धिर्नियता यतीनां ।
बुद्धिश्च यत्नश्च निमित्तं अत्र वनं च लिङ्गं च हि भीरुचिह्नं ॥
उद्धार केवल जंगलों में ही नहीं होता,
एक शहर में भी तपस्वियों के मोक्ष
को पूरा किया जा सकता है;
विचार और प्रयास ही सही साधन हैं।
जंगल और उपाधि केवल कायरता के संकेत हैं।
Attainment is not only achieved in forests,
the salvation of ascetics can be accomplished
even in a city; thought and effort are the true means.
The forest and the badge are only coward’s signs.
Source: Buddhacharita (“Acts of the Buddha”; Buddhacaritam, Devanagari बुद्धचरितम्) is an epic poem in the Sanskrit Mahakavya style on the life of Gautama Buddha by Aśvaghoṣa, composed in the early second century CE.
