Happy Magha Puja & Sangha Day
(CHAKRA) Sangha Day, also called Magha Puja Day, is one of the most holiest days on the Theravada Buddhist calendar and is celebrated across many nations, but most common in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. In Thailand it is marked with Buddhist Monks chanting, candle processions around the temple (Wat), and presentation of gifts of food and flower garlands to the monks by members of the temple (Wat).
Magha Puja day marks the four auspicious occasions, which happened nine months after the Enlightenment of the Buddha at Ve?uvana Bamboo Grove, near Rajagaha in Northern India. This special day also commemorates Buddha’s visit to Veruvana Monastery in the city of Rajagaha, when 1,250 arhats are said to have returned from their great wanderings to pay their respects to the Buddha. Sangha Day is celebrated on the full moon day of the 3rd lunar month which is usually March but falls in February in 2012.
Magha Puja/Sangha Day is a public holiday in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and is an occasion when Buddhists tend to go to the temple to perform merit-making activities. Celebrations for Sangha Day range widely by devotees and can also include: family gatherings, community gatherings, gift giving, lighting of oil lamps, meditation, chanting, food, flowers and the reaffirmation of commitments to Buddha.
The Chakra wishes everyone blessings on Magha Puja and Sangha Day.
Here is a video of how Sangha Day is celebrated by many in Thailand.
Enjoyed the video clip and thanks for the same to send me. Perhaps Lord Buddha regarded by Hindus as one of the nine Avatars taken so far, was a lucky one to get the most powerful King of that period who embraced Buddha as his spiritual guide after the Kalinga massacre with too much of bloodshed despite his victory in that war. However The Ashoka was completely dismayed with that massacre and loss of human lives. At that very time, Lord Buddha was wandering and King Ashoka had heard His glory and turned his disciple. That gave an extra phillip to the spread of Buddhism to such an extent that the entire subcontinent turned into Buddhism. It also posed a threat to the Vedic culture and their Divine Spiritual knowledge resulting in the incarnation of Adi Shankara Charya to revive Hinduism in India but the Buddhism that had spread beyond the borders of India still persisted to this day. My humble pranams and submission at the Feet of Lord Buddha. Perhaps Lord Mahavir was not that fortunate like Lord Buddha.