Buddhism Week in Observance of Magha Puja (19/2/2016)

The Ministry of Culture is joining hands with more than 20 Buddhist networks, government agencies, and private organizations in holding a Buddhism Week from 16 to 22 February 2016, on the occasion of the Magha Puja Festival.

Various activities during the Buddhism Week take place in both and all provinces nationwide. In Bangkok, the focal point of the festival is at the Sanam Luang ceremonial ground. There are merit- making, chanting of holy texts, sermons, and a wian thian ceremony, or a candle-lit procession.

The Ministry of Culture has also assigned the Religious Affairs Department to arrange a special program for members of the public wishing to travel by boat to pay homage to Buddha images at nine temples in Bangkok. The program will be arranged between 20 and 22 February. Boat services will be offered free of charge from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the piers of the nine temples, namely Ratchasingkhon, Wat Worachanyawat, Wat Yan Nawa, Wat Kanlayanamit, , Wat Rakhang Khositaram, Wat Kharuhabodi, Wat Thewarat Kunchon, and Wat Rachathiwat.

Magha Puja, the first major Buddhist anniversary of the year, falls on the full-moon day of the third lunar month, coinciding with 22 February this year. It commemorates a great event that took place once during the Buddhas lifetime.

According to Buddhist scriptures, nine months after his enlightenment, the Buddha traveled to a city and stayed there for several months. On the full-moon day of the third lunar month, a total of 1,250 monks from different places gathered to pay homage to the Buddha, each on his own initiative, without prior notification. All of them were enlightened monks, and they had been individually ordained by the Buddha himself. Such a unique gathering has never occurred anywhere else.

On the evening of that day, the Buddha gave them the Ovadha Patimokha discourse, laying down the principles of his teachings. The principles can be condensed into three major guidelines: to do good, to abstain from bad, and to purify the mind.

For Buddhists, to do good and to abstain from bad means, first of all, to follow the five precepts of refraining from destroying life, from taking what is not given, from immoral sexual behavior, from false speech, and from taking intoxicating drinks.

Buddhism teaches that ones life does not begin with birth and end with death, but is a link in a chain of lives, each conditioned by volitional acts, or karma, committed in previous existences. The concept of karma, the law of cause and effect, suggests that selfishness and craving result in suffering. Therefore, only by eliminating desire can one find peace of mind.

Buddhism has had a profound influence over the Thai arts, culture, tradition, and learning; more important still, it has dominated the character of the vast majority of the Thai people.

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