The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

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So good morning.

Welcome and can you hear me okay?

Great.

So welcome to IMC and also to the Buddha's birthday

celebration that we're having today.

It's the, this that a Taravada Buddhist tradition we're in tends to do things simply and so they just roll all the special days of the Buddha's life into the same day.

So it's celebrating the Buddha's birth, the Buddha's enlightenment, and then Buddhas passing away.

Each of them that are classically,

or traditionally depicted as peaceful events.

His birth was depicted very peacefully, the mother standing under a tree holding a

branch and the Buddha was born peacefully and immediately took seven steps.

He began his walking meditation right away.

And his Enlightenment, of course, was, he was presented with lots of challenges.

And we're all presented with challenges as we kind of reach the greatest potential all of us have to be really discover a non-conflictive peace.

And he found that peace in his awakening.

And then his death is depicted as being very peaceful that he knew he was dying, he knew his time was near, he laid himself down between two salt trees, beautiful trees in India.

And they say that out of season the salt trees burst into

flowers and they fell around him and all that and just, he gave his last teachings to his people who were there.

And he did a very respectful thing. He said, I'm about to die.

And do you have any last questions you really want to ask this is your chance?

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