Diversity Digest is a weekly reflection written by staff from different areas of our school

Bodhi Day

Have you noticed Bodhi Day in our calendar this month? It acknowledges something at the very heart of Buddhism: the moment Siddhartha Gautama finally found what he’d been searching for.

His search began when he was a super-rich prince who realised that despite all his riches and power, he was still suffering. When he looked around him, he saw that everyone else, every single person, was suffering too. So, he left the palace in what is now Nepal and spent years searching for true happiness. He eventually sat down under a fig tree and stayed there, meditating, until he finally understood. That moment of enlightenment turned him into the Buddha. The tree became known in English as the Bodhi tree, which is why many Buddhists around the world celebrate Bodhi Day.

If you’re in Japan, China, Korea or Vietnam, you’ll find Bodhi Day marked on December 8th, or sometimes on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Here in Thailand, though, Bodhi Day is not often celebrated, as the Buddhist tradition is slightly different. Most Thai Buddhists celebrate Visakha Bucha instead, which rolls the Buddha’s birth, his enlightenment and his death into one major observance. You’ll find the same approach in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Different traditions. Different calendars. Same intention.

The most important thing is this: whether it’s December or May, whether it’s called Bodhi Day or Visakha Bucha, the heart of it stays the same. It’s about taking time to reflect on what the Buddha taught, trying to bring more compassion and clarity into how we live, and recognising that it’s the search for happiness that connects us all.