[05 April 1999] is a Buddhist festival. In Mahayana Buddhist school, it is the Avalokitesvara's Birthday (or Guan Yin's Birthday). Avalokitesvara is the Bodhisattva representing the perfection of compassion. This Bodhisattva is first mentioned in the Lotus Sutra (approx. 1st century AD) which together with the Karandavyuha Sutra describe him as rescuing from all kinds of distress and danger anyone who calls out his mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum (Om the Jewel in the Lotus Hum). This desire and ability to help all without distinction is due to Avalokitesvara's great compassion, indeed he is seen as the very embodiment of the Buddha's compassion.
Reference: http://www.buddhanet.net/fdd27.htm
Try hard my dear friend, try hard,
E'en in this life you may never find
What was meant for brighter eyes to see,
Still try hard.
Try hard for it's worth your lot of work,
A better life and lives to come.
Yea, all this your toil can bring,
So try hard.
Try hard for we do not know for sure
Of seeds that were planted in the past,
Or if clouds may clear to let the lights shine in.
When it finally does,
It may do so only in the next life,
Or the next,
Or the next,
And that can be so only if you try hard now!
Walking Iris and other poems
Sujiva
sutta (Skt. sutra): Literally, "thread"; a discourse or sermon by the Buddha or his contemporary disciples. After the Buddha's death the suttas were passed down in the Pali language according to a well-established oral tradition, and were finally committed to written form in Sri Lanka around 100 BCE. Over 10,000 suttas are collected in the Sutta Pitaka, one of the principal bodies of scriptural literature in Theravada Buddhism. The Pali Suttas are widely regarded as the earliest record of the Buddha's teachings.