Hello Jim, interesting question about the Full Moon in May. If I remember
correctly it is a common European Pagan holiday, as well as a Hindu holy-day, so
it may be like Christmas is to the Christians, a holdover from earlier times
that was simply embraced by the new religious institution.

Best regards,

Jeff Brooks

In a message dated 3/14/04 1:42:38 AM, Pali@yahoogroups.com writes:

<< Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 15:54:07 -0000
From: "jimv747" <jimv747@...>
Subject: Buddha's Enlightenment on the full-moon day of May

Greetings Everyone

I am a new memeber and I want to say hello. I've actually been aware
of you since your inception, but I haven't had enough reason to post
anything until this point. I have been watching, though, and I've
come to admire the intelligence and dedication with which the members
interact in this group.

During my time with the Buddha-dhamma, I have had occasion to learn
Pali. My study has consisted mostly of working my way through
Warder's "Introduction to Pali", then systematicaly working my way
through a series of suttas in Majjhima to work on vocabulary. I
still need a dictionary (and a fair amount of tme), but nowadays I
usually can make sense out of most canonical passages. I do a bit of
Pali translation for a local Buddhist College, here in Toronto
(www.nalandacollege.ca).

I did have one little question, if anyone can help. There is a
tradition, at least in Theravada Buddhism, that the Buddha was
enlightened on the full-moon day of May. Does anyone know if there
is a source for this in the Canon? Failing this, does anyone know
where this tradition got started? I would be most grateful for any
light you can shed on this question.

Best Wishes

Jim Vuylsteke >>