Vesak is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar.

We remember, commemorate, celebrate and rejoice in three main events in the Buddha's life, which all occurred on the Full Moon in May ('Visākhā'):

1. Birth of the Bodhisatta in beautiful Lumbini grove

2. Supreme Awakening ('Sammāsambodhi') under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya, at the banks of River Neranjana.

3. Final Nibbāna ('Mahā-Parinibbāna') between the twin Sāla trees in the park of the Mallas'.

In this talk, Ajahn Dhammasiha describes the events leading up to the Buddha's final victory against greed, hatred and delusion, while meditating all night under the Bodhi Tree.

He relates the crucial insight that occurred to the Bodhisatta while he was practising austerities until he almost died: When the Bodhisatta collapsed from the extreme fasting he had done, he remembered how he had spontaneously attained the first jhāna (full samādhi) as a young child when left alone under a Rose-apple tree.

He realized that the happiness and bliss from samādhi is utterly free from sensuality and unwholesome phenomena.

He ralized that the happiness and bliss from samādhi is actually the path to full awakening, a crucial condition for liberating insight to arise.

The Bodhisatta abandoned the extreme of ascetic self-mortification, started eating suitable amounts of food, and regained sufficient strength.

Then he sat down under the Bodhi Tree and resolved:

"I will not break this posture, even if my blood and flesh dries out and only bones and skin remain, until I have experienced total release from suffering ...

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