Makha Bucha Day Celebration
At Dhammakaya Temple in the Pathum Thani province of Thailand, monks gathered to celebrate Makha Bucha Day by holding a candlelight procession called a wian tian (wian meaning circle and tian meaning candle), meant to commemorate two events during the Buddha’s lifetime that occurred on the same date, 45 years apart. The first was the ordainment of 1,250 monks who came from all over, and the second was the delivering of the Buddha’s teachings shortly before his death. Both events happened on the full moon of the third lunar month. The spiritual aims of the day are not to commit any kind of sins, do only good, and to purify one’s mind.
(photos: Rungroj Yongrit @ EPA / via: NBC Photoblog)
