Re: Happy Vesak Day

Dear Gunnar and friends,

this is a valuable exchange of cultural practise. In chinese
communities, ordinary calendars usually have the lunar dates printed
side by side. In Singapore, we even have the Arabic (for Muslims) and
the Indian dates printed all together! So, there isn't really a need
to check out what the astronomers say. But, you do have a point
there. Since, it is a lunar calendar, it should follow correct moon
phases. However, is it possible that the Chinese lunar calendar is
based on the position of the moon observed from Beijing, while the
astronomers' one is based on the position of the moon observed at the
Greenwich, and that explains the difference of a day. If that is so,
shouldn't we base our observations of the moon at Nepal or India to
be technically correct?

metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gunnar Gällmo wrote:
> In several countries (at least in the West), the days
> of the moon phases (as calculated by scientists) can
> be seen in any ordinary calender; so when we tell
> people we are celebrating the full moon days, that's
> where they will look (quite correctly) to see the
> dates; and when it turns out that Asian Buddhists have
> other full moon days than professional astronomers,
> there is confusion.
>
> And quite unnecessarily. Bhikkhus are professional
> about the Dhamma; astronomers are professional about
> astronomy. So why is some Buddhist committee wasting
> its time doubling work that professionals are already
> doing, and doing more accurately?