Last night I saw the beautiful full moon. We are at the full moon time in this season; and this particular full moon is significant in Buddhism. It’s called the Honey Moon. Honey Moon has a different significance in Buddhism, though also, in a sense, a time of joy and coming together.
It celebrates a particular time in the life of the Buddha when his sangha was divided, was split. There had been a big dispute over the interpretation of the vinaya, of the rules; and some monks who were stricter than other monks had accused the lax monks of misconduct and a big argument had blown up. This was at a place called Kosambi in India; and the sangha split into two factions, and this was a difficult time.
The Buddha urged these two groups to make friends and to make peace and to restore harmony, but they didn’t listen to him. And so, after trying three times, the Buddha said: “Well, then I must leave you to it.” And he retreated into the forest and nobody knew where he had gone.
According to tradition, during this time that he was away in the forest, he was fed by an elephant and a monkey, and the elephant brought fruit and the monkey brought honeycomb for him to eat.
These two animals were very dedicated to the Buddha. In fact, there is a story, that when they had to leave him, they were both broken-hearted and died from their grief, and they were reborn in one of the heavens.
Anyway, this is a time, when the Buddha was in retreat in the forest and the animals brought him offerings. Clearly, there was a very special relationship between the Buddha and the animals, a bit like we think about St. Frances in European history.
Eventually, of course, the monks found that the life in disunity was not very successful, the lay people lost faith and stopped feeding them and everything was disastrous for a time. So, in the end, they saw their folly and came back together again.
By this time, the Buddha had journeyed to another center where there were Buddhist followers, and the monks from Kosambi all walked to where the Buddha was, to ask for his forgiveness and to renew his blessing, which, of course, was successful. The Buddha welcomed them back into the Sangha and harmony was restored.
So, this time of the Honey Moon is a time of coming back together after difficulties. We all have difficulties in our lives. Sometimes we have quarrels with our friends and our lovers, but after a bit, we have to make it up, we have to come together; and in the interim, the Buddha is waiting for us. The Buddha has gone into the forest and he is talking to his animal friends, and they are bringing him offerings.
Eventually, the Buddha goes back to what we call civilization, and the animals have to leave him behind. The Buddha says to them: “Here is the boundary. You cannot cross it. You cannot come into the land of humans.” So, it’s obvious, that at that time there was a sense of “this much land belongs to nature and the wild” and “this much to humans”, and the boundary is important for the protection of both.
So, this is a time for peace and of restoration of harmony: the Honey Moon.
Namo Amida Bu
Thank you very much
Dharmavidya
David
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