Page 44 - Siddhartha Gautama Buddha Teacher of Gods & Men

MAGHA PUJA DAY

Magha Puja day marks an event occurring at the Veluvana Grove,

near Rajagaha, ten months after the enlightenment of the Buddha and is celebrated on the full moon day of the

third lunar month. It celebrates a gathering that was held between the Buddha and 1,250 of his first disciples,

which, according to tradition, preceded the custom of periodic recitation of discipline of monks (Patimokkha). On

the day, Buddhists celebrate the creation of an ideal and exemplary monastic community, which is why it is

sometimes

called Sangha Day. The Buddhist community goes to the temples to perform merit-making activities, such as

alms giving, meditation and listening to the teachings.

Magha Puja has four characteristics:

1. 1,250 disciples come to see the Buddha that evening without being summoned. These are mostly pupils from

the Buddha’s converted

disciples, such as the three Kassapa brothers, and the monks Sariputta and Mogallana.

2. All of them are Arahants, enlightened disciples;

3. All have been ordained by the Buddha himself, and therefore

are his direct spiritual descendants;

4. It is the full-moon day of the third lunar month. Magha Puja is also the day that the Buddha is believed to have

announced in Vesali that he would die (parinibbana) in three months, and after the announcement a miraculous

earthquake followed.