In Celebration of the Enlightened Teacher

It had been a long time since John Tran heard people singing in Vietnamese and Buddhist monks chanting traditional prayers.

But Tran was joined Sunday by nearly 10,000 fellow Buddhists--Vietnamese and others--to celebrate the 2,540th birthday of Buddha with prayers, musical performances and speeches at the second annual daylong festival at Rancho Santiago College.

Tran, who moved to Orange County after living in New Jersey for 10 years, said he had a difficult time finding Vietnamese food, culture and community on the East Coast. The Santa Ana ceremony honoring Buddha reinforced his and wife Nguyet Nguyen’s deep connection to their homeland.

“This is like Christmas for Buddhists,” said Tran, 39, of Fountain Valley. “It’s a lot better [in California]. When I lived in New Jersey, you [didn’t] have a chance to see Vietnamese music and singing. That’s the part we like” about California.

The occasion marks the birth of Siddhartha Gotama, a prince born in northeast India, near the Nepalese border, whose philosophy and teachings are as influential to Buddhists as Jesus Christ is to Christians.

Buddha, a title that means “enlightened one” or “awakened one,” did not consider himself a god, but rather a teacher whose beliefs are now followed by more than 300 million people worldwide.

Although this year’s festival was significantly smaller than last year’s, which attracted 20,000, Buddha’s message of love, tolerance and self-reliance was honored by those who attended.

“This is a chance for us to gather together and celebrate,” said Van Tran, 25, and a member of the Buddhist Student Assn. at Golden West College. “Each of us are responsible for ourselves. [This is an opportunity] to apply his teachings to the present in order to live peacefully.”

Several speakers addressed the crowd, including two monks who talked about religious oppression in Vietnam. About 150 monks from the United States and Canada attended.

“At this time, monks in Vietnam are still being imprisoned,” said the Most Venerable Thich Duc Niem from a brightly colored podium decorated with flowers, banners and a statue of the baby Buddha. “Sadly, the situation in our native land has yet to show any good light. On this joyous Vesak [the birth of Buddha] season, let us pray that freedom of religion will be the thread that mends mankind together.”

The festival also included the symbolic carrying of the baby Buddha to his birthplace in the Lambini Garden set up on the college campus as a makeshift pond surrounded by lilies, Indian maidens and dragon-figured fountains.

Those traditions attracted Santa Ana native Daniel Cook, 26, who has visited Vietnam twice and learned the language.

“I’m really interested in the culture,” said Cook, who works at a private vocational school and is a volunteer with the Vietnamese refugee community. “I’ve seen [Little Saigon] grow from its infancy to what it is now. It’s pretty awesome.”

Cook unexpectedly met some friends at the festival who recently arrived from Vietnam.

An Tuyet Mai, who arrived seven months ago, could only laugh and smile under the bright umbrella shading her as she watched the celebration.

“I am very happy to be at this,” said Mai, wearing a traditional bright-yellow silk outfit. “In Vietnam, [the ceremony] is very serious. Here, it is a little more relaxed. Here, we have freedom.”