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Vesak 2026

:)

Hi, readers. This post will be about my Buddhist practice; this serves as a content notification.

Here at Blessington Correctional, we have no outside contact with a local sangha to further our Buddhism practices. It strikes me as a little sad, but it is not for a lack of trying. We collectively wrote many letters and asked our people outside for addresses to nearby Buddhist centers and temples, of which there is a general lack in this area, but to this very day, none have seemingly replied.

Undeterred, we continue to do our own practice here behind the fences without any real guidance beyond what we can gather from books. There are small bites of information that we have about Visakha Puja, or Vesak, but nothing comprehensive that gets into great details. The best we can gather is that we can at least have some kind of a meal together as we celebrate the birth, enlightenment, and the parinirvana of the Buddha.

The best we can do for a meal, amusingly, is a handful of ramen noodle soups from our canteen that we'll enjoy together on the 31st, along with a few sunflower kernels, and any other things we were able to scrape together and save over the last several weeks. Having been on lockdown typically depletes canteen food items in individual lockers, and when canteen does not restock or operate post-lockdown, this has a net effect of zeroing out our own contribution power.

It is, perhaps, interesting to know that faith groups that have an outside sponsor can generally work with or through their sponsor to have food brought in for religious holiday feasts. This is most notable with our Muslim group here, as they are a large group with an outside sponsor. After their month of fasting for Ramadan, their following feast is catered in. I asked how does this work? and learned about the outside sponsor requirement as result.

It's a little disappointing, especially for people who are in faith groups that are poorly represented in a given area, but I do see it as the following:

  • I am still afforded opportunity after opportunity to practice the Dharma, especially in a place as difficult as a prison in Florida.
  • The opportunity to celebrate with food and good company, if it comes, will come when it does; don't worry about it if it does not. Only having soups and a pack of sunflower seeds does not prevent me from practicing generosity if I have it to give: that is the Second Precept's positive aspect in play.
  • It is acceptable to show a hunger or a thirst for this wonderful Dharma.

Now, to look forward to our time to celebrate tomorrow. :)