Magha Puja In Commemoration of the Outset of Buddhist Mission To Benefit Humanity With Inner Peace But Still A Lot Of Need To Be Done
Author: Liberal HomoDeus
Posted on: 1st February 2020
Keywords: #Magha Puja, #peace, #meditation, #Buddhist, #Theravada
Length: 1574 words
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The picture depicted
the first Buddhist gathering |
Magha Puja celebration was originated in Southeast Asia, and is largely considered to be a Theravada Buddhist holiday, unlike Vesak Puja which is commemorated by all Buddhist schools: Mahayana, Vajrayana and Theravada. If the day of Vesak is considered the Lord Buddha Day by Buddhists, Magha Puja is held as the Sangha Day because it celebrates both the ideal of creating a spiritual community, and also the actual spiritual community which they are trying to create.
Magha Puja is observed on different days year-to-year, as celebrations are planned for the full moon of the 3rd month in the Hindu and Buddhist calendars. This year 2020, Magha Puja Day is fall on 8th of February.
In Thailand, Magha Puja is a lovely holiday. At every Buddhist temple, Buddhists gather after dark brought with them flowers, incense, and candles. With candles lit, they circle the temple’s main hall three times, once for each of the Triple Gems of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. The moon is bright, and the candles flicker in the night as they are carried clockwise around the Uposatha hall.
But if, like some Buddhists, who lack a nearby Buddhist temple, there are still ways to observe Magha Puja. Follow Buddhist tradition and clean their house well before the day arrives. It shows respect of the upcoming holy day. And then, observe the Five Precepts. And a completely acceptable, if simple, focus is always to meditate on the Three Gems and their importance: the Buddha: His attainment of enlightenment, the Dhamma: the Buddha’s Teachings, the Sangha: the community of monks, both those familiar and the many world-wide, beyond our own individual lives. Ultimately, meditation practice encompasses every part of Buddhism and it was what the Lord Buddha Himself taught that very first Magha Puja Day.
The significance of Magha Puja Day is to commemorate the spontaneous assembly of 1,250 enlightened monks to hear the Lord Buddha preach at Veluvana Vihara. The day is also called the Fourfold Assembly because it consisted of four fortunate factors that happened nine months after the Enlightenment of the Buddha: there were 1,250 Sangha members that spontaneously came to see the Buddha, all of them were Arhantas -enlightened monks, all of them were direct disciples having been ordained by the Buddha Himself, and it was the full moon day of the Magha month.
In this only once historic gathering, the Lord Buddha gave his first important sermon called The Ovadhapatimokkha which laid down the principles of Buddhism: to cease from all evil, to do what is good, and to cleanse one’s mind. On this day, He also gave the guidelines for the monastics to conduct when handling the mission of propagating his Teachings to the mass in order to secure the favorable result: to utter good words, to abstain from hurting others, to follow the rules of ‘Ovadhapatimokkha’, to know the quality of the food that is consumed, to live in a secluded place, and to train how to purify the mind.
And because the Lord Buddha had set out the plan on disseminating His enlightened knowledge to the public since then, Buddhists in these days acknowledge the Lord Buddha’s Teachings through the generations of monks throughout the history. Thus, it is very appropriate to offered recognition to the Buddhist Sangha in honor of Magha Puja annually.
At the present time when the world citizen witness mass population movements, violent conflicts, atrocious human rights abuses and hateful rhetoric aimed at dividing communities, the sacred commemoration of the Day of Magha Puja offers an invaluable opportunity to reflect on how the Teachings of Buddhism can help the Buddhists and the international communities tackle pressing challenges. The fundamental equality of all people, the imperative to seek justice, and the interdependence of life and the environment are more than abstract concepts for scholars to debate; they are living guidelines for Buddhists and non-Buddhists to navigate the path to a better world future. Therefore, on this Day of Magha Puja, let’s pledge to reach out to bridge differences, foster a sense of belonging, and show compassion on a global scale for the sake of humankind’s common future.
At the same time, Magha Puja is an auspicious time to extend best wishes to the international Buddhist community, recognize their contributions and hard work in bringing Buddhist teachings to world population, building solid foundations for spiritual growth, and embracing many in need; all these have added the rich fabric for countries where Buddhism is rooted, and that Thailand is a home to Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, Buddhism contribute to the welfare of Thai’s society in numerous ways, providing comfort, loving-kindness, encouragement, and wisdom for facing life’s challenges and suffering. Monastics and lay Buddhist workers are well-deserved tribute for their outstanding work towards the religion, enabling all Buddhists to celebrate the Day of Magha today.
Buddhism in the future will not be limited for Asian people; there will be increasing numbers of covert Buddhists who do not inherit Buddhism as a part of their ethnic background. There will probably be a split of populations. There will be people who take a fairly traditional approach to Buddhism, because they are looking for a religion and everything that comes with that. On the other side, there will be the Buddhist-influenced or meditation-influenced people who may not self-identify as Buddhists or be part of what we would generally call Buddhist communities. There will be an even broader range of types of involvement and identification than we see today.
The on-current observation on people joining Buddhist meditation retreats and centers found that after completing the course, the practitioners become very close-knit and have stayed in touch afterward, particularly young adults. Another observed fact is shown that the rise of social media is critical as it helps meditation practice and Buddhist studies become more affordable especially for younger spiritual seekers and blue-collar workers in the society. Another co-existing scenario witnessed is many, perhaps most temples and meditation centers in many countries including Buddhist countries like Thailand alike, struggle financially because the current systems of donation widely used by most Buddhist temples and centers only through fee-for-service are just systems and can be used with a spirit of generosity or calculation, depending on the practitioners’ mind state. Therefore, organizing meditation session by using the internet benefit as social platform saves both practitioners and organizers financial burden.
Mission of teaching Buddhism and meditation practice whether during the early time of Buddhism in India or today when Buddhism has reached twenty-sixth century is a daunting task; potentially on the first phase of setting up, it was the pioneers’ life-long sacrificed contribution and it is why pioneers and later generations sharing the vision and ideology and work to bring the mission alive are well deserved to be honored. In many Buddhist communities, there are some evolvement within the Four Buddhist Communities to be more democratic in which Sangha and lay members of the Community collectively hold the religion’s responsibility and wisdom; certainly it presents a creative and thought-provoking approach.
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Venerable Sodh Cadasaro: the great master of Dhammakaya meditation method
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Dhammakaya Buddhist community has long been a steadfast source of support and spiritual guidance for world citizen in term of peace and tolerance through the teaching of Dhammakaya meditation to world individuals to cultivate inner peace, and at the same time, has been adding to its own community lasting strength and vibrancy. And, with an intention to foster interfaith friendships and share the traditions of Buddhism with people of all backgrounds and beliefs, Dhammakaya people have worked towards a brighter future. Therefore, for Dhammakaya devotees, the celebration of Magha Puja will not only offer a wonderful opportunity to gather and practice their Teachings, but will also promote peace, loving-kindness, and wisdom and teachings of Dhammakaya meditation to make the world a better habitat.
Dhammakaya temple has been actively holding Dhamma talks and teaching Dhammakaya meditation technique for decade longs and found that Buddhist meditation is appealing to people both Buddhists and non-Buddhists around the world as Buddhist meditation contains capacity much more than being stress or anxiety healing but enabling practitioners to eliminate life suffering and attaining enlightenment.
Dhammakaya’s success in teaching Dhammakaya meditation to younger generation, university undergraduates and graduates including young adults and holding them as being the Temple’s network member helps accelerating mission of disseminating Buddhist teachings and meditation far and wide. Dhammakaya members realize it is extremely fortunate to come across the Dhammakaya Teaching. Once having found this marvelous teaching, there is no reason to desert it. Believing themselves as valuable resources of Dhammakaya’s ideology, Dhammakaya followers are convinced that they are obliged to propagate Dhammakaya meditation and act as a world peace ambassador in cooperation with other Dhammakaya members around the world.
The sense of individual and group pride, according to the emergent norm theory, is essential for a person to be active in the cause and adhere to a movement. And this is one of the factors of the success of Dhammakaya Temple in spreading Dhammakaya tradition as it helps lessen the degree of peace ambassador defection and at the same time, secure the future commitment in working to share the know-how of Dhammakaya meditation practice and tradition globally.
The first Magha gathering, the Lord Buddha made it clear to the congregation for His Teachings to spread to people of all walk of life through the work of His creating Sangha and Himself. This year Magha gathering to commemorate its significance and to remind today’s Buddhists that the Buddha’s original vision and mission have yet completed; it is today’s Buddhists’ duty to work cohesively to ensure Buddhist teachings will not die with our generations but have more enough younger people coming up through the ranks to sustain healthy Buddhist communities.
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