HARU-NO HIGAN ( 春の彼岸 )

The Higan-e Ceremony ( 彼岸会 ) is practiced in all schools of Japanese Buddhism and is usually conducted on the days of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes (春分の日 shunbun no hi and shūbun 秋分の日). The word higan is a translation of the Sanskrit word “paramita” (波羅蜜, J. haramitsu, Cn. bōluómì), and means “arriving at the other shore" or in other terms, it signifies "crossing over".

Buddhism teaches that the world we live in is sahā realm 娑婆世界, (J. shaba-sekai , Cn. suōpó), full of suffering, in which all beings are exposed to suffering and are subject to the cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra). It is the place where both good and evil manifests and where beings must exercise patience and endurance (kṣānti), therefore also "realm of endurance“. 

Symbolically, the sahā world represents a shore that is separated from the shore of enlightenment (nirvana) by a great river into which…