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The Magha Puja Day
The Magha Puja or the “Makha Pournami
Puja Day” is the day of “worship on the full moon of the
th
Makha month,” which is on the 15 day of the waxing
rd
moon in the 3 month. In the leap year that has the 8 th
month twice, it can be postponed to celebrate on the full
th
moon of the 4 month instead. There are 4 miraculous
incidents of importance that occurred on that day. The first
is the spontaneous gathering 1,250 Sangha monks who
happened to come together from different paths, on the
same day, to the Veḷuvana monastery, near Rājagaha, the
capital of Magadha. They came to see the Lord Buddha
without being summoned. Moreover, all of these Sangha
were monks who had been ordained by the Lord Buddha
himself or the Ehibhikkhus. All of them were Arahants,
Enlightened Ones. It was the full-moon day of 15 days
th
rd
of the waxing moon in the 3 month. The Lord Buddha
taught them about the principles of Buddhism, called “The
Ovadapatimokha,” to cease from all evil; to do what
is good; to cleanse one’s mind. This is the heart of the
Buddhist doctrine. This day, therefore is also called
“Chaturongkhasannibat” Day or the Assembly Day with
the Four Elements.
King Rama IV recognized the great
importance of these incidents that occurred during the
Buddha’s lifetime, that these great occurrences should
become a religious celebration to bring more faith to
the religion. Therefore, the Royal Makha Bucha Celebration
was established and was later expanded throughout
the country.
The devout Buddhist normally celebrates
the occasion by offering alms in the morning and
then participates in more merit making throughout
the day, such as, to receive the precepts at a temple,
to refrain from all sins, to give offerings to monks
and to give alms to all creatures, while receiving
dharma from a sermon and performing the triple
circumambulation around the chedi or temple grounds
in the evening.
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