Finals overshadow the Buddhist holiday, Visakha Puja, which celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of Siddhartha Gautama, more commonly known as the Buddha.
Visakha Puja will be on May 6 but, according to university chaplain Jan Fuller, because it is coming at such a busy time of the year, she said she would be surprised if there is much happening on campus to celebrate. While there is nothing planned in terms of ceremony for the day, Fuller said it is still good to observe holidays such as this one.
“When you look at a mosaic, when you look at it from far away, you see a picture,” Fuller said. “And when you get really close, you see each little stone that makes up the big picture, and I think that if you look at the little stone of this holiday that millions of people around the world will celebrate, you’re looking at a small stone that adds to the big picture of the world we live in.”
Visakha Puja is a new holiday, officially recognized in 1999, and its celebration varies, but it usually consists of meditation and reflection on the life of Buddha and his teachings, Fuller said. She said it might be helpful for students to have a little time to meditate with some bells or chimes simply because it comes so close to finals.
Junior Chali Temple said she thinks the holiday relates well to her current experiences during finals.
“Buddhists believe that you can end suffering by demolishing desire,” Temple said. “This holiday really does fall nicely around finals because I think all the stress has been making me feel like me, me, me, like ‘I have to stay up all night. I have to do this and that.’ It’s a good reminder that you need to step back and realize what’s truly important, like I can’t get too caught up in wanting things, essentially."
Temple said that while she understands there are not many Buddhists on campus at Elon, she wishes Elon would place equal importance on all religious holidays. Temple said she hopes the new Numen Lumen Pavilion opening up next year will encourage more celebration of different religions on campus and greater religious diversity.
“I just think Elon is really lacking in diversity, and I think a part of that isn’t just racial diversity,” Temple said. “And I think Elon just sees the diversity issue here as racial, but I think they really need to kind of bring in people from different walks of life, including different religions."
She said she hopes Elon acknowledges the holiday in the future.
Although there is no celebration for this particular holiday at Elon, Fuller said it is on the school calendar to educate students and faculty about the holiday and encourage people to ask about it.
“I think it’s always important to be respectful of other people’s traditions or of traditions that might or might not be our own,” Fuller said. “I also think that we get another view on the world we live in when we look at or experience or learn about other people’s holy days.”