Dear Gunnar and friends,

Gunnar, I can't answer your question directly, but I can tell you
that Vesak Day (full moon day of May) will be on May 22 in 2005, and
May 12 in 2025! :-) I didn't work this out myself, these dates are
based on the Chinese lunar calendar.

If you like more information, please check out this site:
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/chinese.html

Although we do not follow superstitions in Buddhism, we do not need
to be scientifically accurate when there is really no need for it.
The occasion was to celebrate the birth of a great teacher by men and
gods, the significance is more important than the exact timing.

However, it'd be nice if WFB would consider putting Vesak on the
actual full moon day of May.

metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gunnar Gällmo wrote:
How comes the Buddhist calenders do not coincide with
the astronomical ones?

According to the latter, the correct dates for the two
next full-moon days are May 4th and June 3rd,
respectively.

Now, the astronomical date is going from midnight to
midnight, while the Buddhist one is going from dawn to
dawn; but on the other hand, European calenders follow
either Greenwhich Mean Time or Central European Time,
which should more or less balance that.

So what is the reason for the difference?