BUDDHIST CALENDAR
उपोषध दिवस — Sacred Observance Days
The Buddhist calendar is lunar-based, with observance days falling on the new moon, full moon, and quarter moons of each month. These Uposatha days are times for intensified practice — meditation, ethical observance, chanting, and temple visits.
🌙 The Lunar Rhythm
New Moon
First Quarter
Full Moon
Last Quarter
On Uposatha days, lay Buddhists observe the Eight Precepts (extending the usual Five to include fasting after noon, abstaining from entertainment, and sleeping on a simple mat). Monks gather to recite the Pātimokkha — the 227 monastic rules. Many Buddhists visit temples, offer food to monastics, meditate, and listen to Dharma talks.
SACRED OBSERVANCES
Throughout the Buddhist Year
THE EIGHT PRECEPTS
अट्ठसील — Aṭṭhasīla (Observed on Uposatha)
Observed by laity on Uposatha days
- I undertake to abstain from taking life
- I undertake to abstain from taking what is not given
- I undertake to abstain from all sexual activity
- I undertake to abstain from false speech
- I undertake to abstain from intoxicants
- I undertake to abstain from eating after noon
- I undertake to abstain from dancing, singing, music, and cosmetics
- I undertake to abstain from high or luxurious beds and seats
"Just as the ocean has one taste — the taste of salt — so too this Dharma has one taste — the taste of liberation."