Happy Bodhi Day

Bodhi Day has been observed on December 8th in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1862-1869). It is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautauma, experienced enlightenment. According to tradition, Siddhartha had recently forsaken years of extreme ascetic practices and resolved to sit under a tree and simply meditate until he found the root of suffering, and how to liberate one's self from it.

I was hoping I could find a good Buddhist video for today, but either the video quality was terrible or the music was awful or they just kinda sucked. The best I could get for you was the above, featuring Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, revered by Buddhists as the bodhisattva of compassion. Guan Yin is a compassionate being who watches for, and responds to, the people in the world who cry out for help.

By the way, those dancers in the video above? They're deaf.