Calendar

[Ytrog]

I would like to see a calendar function with events, such as Uposatha days, retreats, other important Buddhist days and maybe birthdays of members too. I believe phpBB has functionality for this.

[Ben]

Hi Ytrog
Sounds like a good idea - if its feasible/
However...retreats?
What sort of retreats would we put in the calendar? Within my own tradition, we hold retreats back-to-back throughout the year and year to year and have in excess of 100 meditation centres around the world. I think it could get very conjested very quickly if you also factor in retreats for other sub-traditions.
kind regards

Ben

[Ytrog]

However...retreats?
What sort of retreats would we put in the calendar? Within my own tradition, we hold retreats back-to-back throughout the year and year to year and have in excess of 100 meditation centres around the world. I think it could get very conjested very quickly if you also factor in retreats for other sub-traditions.

Was just an idea. Didn't know it was this much. Maybe people could notify the moderator/admin about a retreat they are going to, so it can be put on the calendar. People might like to know if they are on the same retreat as another member. Retreats could be posted in a thread of course.

My main aim is Uposatha days however.

if its feasible

I believe it's a standard phpBB module.

[texastheravadin]

My main aim is Uposatha days however.

Ytrog

I've only observed about seven Uposatha days so far, so I am no expert, but I can tell you that the dates vary depending on the Theravadin sect you follow. If you're like me, however, and you don't follow any particular sect, I have found the following calendar useful:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sila/uposatha2010.html

I hope this helps. Again, as it states on the website, "Here are this year's dates of Uposatha days as observed Thai Buddhism (Dhammayutika and Mahānikāya sects)." However, from my own experience, these dates coincide pretty closely if not precisely with the various phases of the moon.

I have also attached a printer friendly calendar that someone on this forum posted a link to. It's in sync with the calendar on ATS.



Josh

[Ytrog]

I use that version myself.
How much do the days differ between sects? It would seem that the phases of the moon wouldn't be very open to interpretation. Maybe we (the members on this forum) can agree on using the one provided by accestoinsight and use it in the calender here.

The calender can also be used for other things, such as member birthdays.

[texastheravadin]

An excellent question my friend. According to ATS,

The calendar of Uposatha days is calculated using a complex traditional formula that is loosely based on the lunar calendar, with the result that the dates do not always coincide with the actual astronomical dates. To further complicate matters, each sect within Theravada Buddhism tends to follow a slightly different calendar

I don't have the slightest idea how these various calendars are formulated. All I can tell you is from my personal experience, these variations can lead to some confusion. Back in my Zen days (way back in May ) my wife and I thought it would be neat to check out what the local Buddhist vihāra was doing for Vesak. According to the ATS calendar, Vesak was to fall on May 28 of this year (2553 BE). So I called the vihāra, and guess what? According to them, Vesak had already been celebrated on May 21st! Also, if you've ever checked out Bhikku Samahita's site http://www.what-buddha-said.net, he's got a calendar up of Uposatha days that are also somewhat different (Vesak fell on May 27th).

Like I said, the ATS calendar seems to be a good all purpose one. There's only been a few days when the Uposatha date was a day later than the actual moon phase. I may be wrong, but I don't think it really matters that much. What matters is that for those of us who choose to observe it, it can be a time to buckle down and study, meditate, and really work on our precepts. So according to my calendar, the next Uposatha day is this Friday, the 1st of October. Good enough for me!



Josh

[nyanasuci]

I recoment that:

http://ratanagiri.org.uk/moondays/

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

An alternative to a calendar is a Dhamma Events forum.

To see an example in practise, here is a link to the one at Dharma Wheel.

http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewforum.php?f=82

Metta,
Retro.

[Ytrog]

Hmm, that would be a good idea