Uposatha Calendar 2011/2555

This is the calendar for 2011, for the calendar in 2012 please see here.

About a decade ago, while I was still in Sri Lanka, I started making an Uposatha calendar setting out the dates for the recitation of the Pātimokkha. I did this because year after year the Sinhala calendar that we all relied on was wrong, sometimes drastically wrong¹ and I needed something more reliable.

At first I made it just for myself, then others I knew asked for copies, and then it started being circulated. At that time I began I was living in Sri Lanka and so I started having it checked by the Vinaya experts of the strict Galduwa Forest Monastery tradition who are very careful and accurate in their calculations.

Here I need to point out that the timings differ according to the calculations made in the different countries or even in different traditions in the same country, and I have never seen a year when the three main Theravāda countries had an agreement on the uposatha.

This may seem unfortunate, but in fact the calculations can be agreed upon by the local Sangha, and according to the tradition they follow it will therefore differ.

This is particularly apparent in Malaysia, where I am now living, as we have monasteries from all three traditions, and they adhere to different timings according to affiliation.

However, because of this situation this year I have had to produce two calendars, one according to the timings that have been worked out by the Galduwa sect, and the other according to the Myanmar tradition (which as far as I can tell accords with the Thai calendar). The timings for the Galduwa calendar are exactly one day before the Myanmar timings all year.

There is another difference in the calendar this year as I used to include the times monks are allowed to eat. This year it is simplified in regard to this for two reasons: Malaysia spans a one and half hour time zone, and my time to start eating may not be another’s and may be a long way out, and be a cause of doubt.

But also in Muslim countries it is fairly easy to calculate: eating starts one hour after the muezzin calls to first morning prayer, and ends when he calls the lunch time prayers. The timing of the call is adjusted to location and season so this simple rule works anywhere the muslim call to prayer can be heard.

update, 8th September, 2011

Ven. Noah Yuttodhammo has now prepared a very useful Buddhist Monastic Mealtime Calculator which can find monastic dawn and midday from any spot on the globe. It takes into consideration latitude and longitude, UTC offset and Daylight Savings Time (but not altitude).

Wonderful work Venerable!

The calculations for the calendar are like this: every year there are three seasons: Hemanta (Snowy), Gimhāna (Hot) and Vassāna (Rainy). They are normally of equal length: there are 8 uposathas in each, and they fall 14 or 15 days after the last. The 3rd and 7th uposathas are 14 days long, the others are 15 days long.

However, the Moon is out of sync with the Sun (god bless it), and so we occasionally have to adjust the season to keep up with the solar cycle.

This means adding in an extra (adhika) month every 3 or 4 years at the end of the Gimhāna season making it 10 uposathas long (the two extra ones are 15 days apart); and we add in 5 extra days (one at a time) within every 17 year period.

Here is the Uposatha calendar for the recitation of the Pātimokkha from the beginning of Hemanta 2010 up and till the end of Hemanta in 2012. It is also available in pdf format, which is printable.

NOTE THAT THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS
ACCORDING TO THE TRADITION BEING FOLLOWED:

Galduwa (Sri Lanka) Tradition — Myanmar and Thai Tradition

Note that the Āsāḷhā uposatha marks 2,600 years since Lord Buddha preached the Dhamma­cakka­ppavattanasutta.

Reciting Kammavaca
from Upāli Thein, Bagan, Myanmar

 

The Calendar according to the Myanmar Tradition²

Hemanta (2010 – 2011; 2554 – 2555)
Dec 6	Mon	Paṇṇarasī	1st
Dec 21	Tue	Paṇṇarasī	2nd Māgasira
Jan 4	Tue	Cātuddasī	3rd
Jan 19	Wed	Paṇṇarasī	4th Phussa
Feb 3	Thu	Paṇṇarasī	5th
Feb 18	Fri	Paṇṇarasī	6th Māgha
Mar 4	Fri	Cātuddasī	7th
Mar 19	Sat	Paṇṇarasī	8th Phagguṇa
Gimhāna
Apr 3	Sun	Paṇṇarasī	1st
Apr 18	Mon	Paṇṇarasī	2nd Citta
May 2	Mon	Cātuddasī	3rd
May 17	Tue	Paṇṇarasī	4th Visākhā
Jun 1	Wed	Paṇṇarasī	5th
Jun 16	Thu	Paṇṇarasī	6th Jeṭṭhā
Jun 30	Thu	Cātuddasī	7th
Jul 15	Fri	Paṇṇarasī	8th Āsāḷhā
Vassāna
Purimaka Vassa: Jul 16th
Jul 30	Sat	Paṇṇarasī	1st
Aug 14	Sun	Paṇṇarasī	2nd Sāvana
Pacchimaka Vassa: Aug 15th
Aug 28	Sun	Cātuddasī	3rd
Sep 12	Mon	Paṇṇarasī	4th Poṭṭhapāda
Sep 27	Tue	Paṇṇarasī	5th
Oct 12	Wed	Paṇṇarasī	6th Assayuja
Purimaka Pavāraṇā: Oct 12th
Oct 26	Wed	Cātuddasī	7th
Nov 10	Thu	Paṇṇarasī	8th Kattikā (2nd Pavāraṇā)
Pacchimaka Pavāraṇā: Nov 10th
Hemanta (2011 – 2012; 2555 – 2556)
Nov 25	Fri	Paṇṇarasī	1st
Dec 10	Sat	Paṇṇarasī	2nd Māgasira
Dec 24	Sat	Cātuddasī	3rd
Jan 8	Sun	Paṇṇarasī	4th Phussa
Jan 23	Mon	Paṇṇarasī	5th
Feb 7	Tue	Paṇṇarasī	6th Māgha
Feb 21	Tue	Cātuddasī	7th
Mar 7	Wed	Paṇṇarasī	8th Phagguṇa

1. I remember one time when one of the uposathas was listed as being 5-days long (see below for the length of the uposathas)
2. As stated above the Galduwa timings occur one day before the timings given here