វត្ដគិរីវង្សាបុប្ផារាម អាស្រមសមាធិសន្ដិភាព នឹងប្រារព្ធពិធីបុណ្យមាឃបូជា នៅថ្ងៃអាទិត្យ ១៥កើត ពេញបូណ៌មី ថ្ងៃសីល ឆ្នាំខាល ចត្វាស័ក ព.ស.២៥៦៦ ត្រូវនឹងថ្ងៃទី៥ ខែកុម្ភៈ គ.ស.២០២៣
The Kiryvongsa Bopharam Pagoda, the Peace Meditation Center to observe the Māgha Pūjā on Sunday the 15th Waxing Moon of Māgha, Day of Abstinence, B.E.2566 equivalent to February 5, A.D.2023.

Venue: The Kiryvongsa Bopharam Pagoda, the Peace Meditation Center
100A Cave Hill Road, Leverett, MA 01054 – 9728
Tel.: 413.367.0280, 978.408.7030, 978.437.0632

Background on មាឃបូជា Māgha Pūjā

Māgha Pūjā is the second most important Buddhist festival, celebrated on the full moon day of the third lunar month in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka and on the full moon day of Tabaung in Myanmar. 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 by monks. On the day, Buddhists celebrate the creation of an ideal and exemplary community, which is why it is sometimes called Saṅgha Day, the Saṅgha referring to the Buddhist community, and for some Buddhist schools this is specifically the monastic community. In Thailand, the Pāli term Māgha-pūraṇamī is also used for the celebration, meaning ‘to honor on the full moon of the third lunar month’. Finally, some authors have also referred to the day as the Buddhist All Saints Day.

Celebration of Māgha Pūjā is a public holiday in many Southeast Asian countries and is an occasion when Buddhists go to the temple to perform merit-making activities, such as alms giving, meditation and listening to teachings. It has been proposed as a more spiritual alternative to the celebration of Valentine’s Day.

Māgha is derived from the name of the third month in the traditional Indian lunar calendar, on which the celebration is held. It is also the name of a star, which during this period is close to the full moon. Māgha Pūjā is held on the full moon day. In a leap year, the celebration will be postponed to the full moon day of the fourth lunar month.

Māgha Pūjā day marks an event occurring at the Veḷuvana grove, near Rājagaha (present Rajgir) in northern India, ten months after the enlightenment of the Buddha. The traditional story goes that a meeting is held in the afternoon, that has four characteristics:

1,250 disciples come to see the Buddha that evening without being summoned;​ These are mostly pupils from the Buddha’s recently converted disciples, such as the three Kassapa brothers, and the monks Sāriputta and Mogallāna.
All of them are Arahants, enlightened disciples;

All have been ordained by the Buddha himself, and therefore are his direct spiritual descendants;
It is the full-moon day of the third lunar month.

Because of these four factors, Māgha Pūjā is also known as the Fourfold Assembly Day. On this occasion, the Buddha teaches those arahants a summary of Buddhism, called the Ovādapatimokkha. In these, three principles are given:

“The non-doing of evil / the full performance of what is wholesome / the total purification of the mind.”

This is followed by a formulation of Buddhist ideals:

“Patience (and) forbearance are the highest austerity. The awakened ones say nibbāna is the highest. One is certainly not a wanderer if one injures others; one is not an ascetic if one harms another.”

Finally, the last stanza is about the path of religious practice:

“Not abusing, not injuring, and restraint under the rules of discipline, and knowing moderation in eating, and secluded lodgings, and exertion in respect of higher thought, this is the teaching of the awakened ones.”

According to the traditional Pāli commentaries, the Buddha continued to teach this summary for a period of twenty years, after which the custom was replaced by the recitation of the monastic code of discipline by the Saṅgha themselves. On Māgha Pūjā, Buddhists celebrate the creation of an ideal and exemplary community.

Māgha Pūjā is also the day that the Buddha is believed to have announced in Vesālī he would die in three months, after which a miraculous earthquake followed.​​​ Moreover, in Sri Lanka, it is considered the day that the Buddha appointed his two main disciples, the monks Sāriputta and Moggallāna. Apart from the religious meaning, Māgha Pūjā also reflects the Southeast Asian agricultural year, as it is celebrated after the harvest.

It is unknown how traditional Buddhist societies celebrated this event in pre-modern times, but in Thailand, the first known instance was during the reign of the Thai king Rama IV (1804–68), who instituted it. He first held it in the palace only. In the evening, 31 monks would recite the Ovādapatimokkha, lit lanterns around the ubosot (ordination hall), and give a sermon about the same Ovādapatimokkha. A recitation text used for this occasion is attributed to Rama IV. Rama IV’s successor Rama V (A.D.1853 – A.D.1910) expanded the practice and organized it as a national celebration in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. From Thailand, the practice spread to neighboring countries. Already in A.D. 1937, the ceremony was widely held and observed in Thailand.

Māgha Pūjā is a day that laypeople make merit. Monastics and devotees will hold processions, light candles, and make offerings. Māgha Pūjā is celebrated most extensively in Cambodia and Thailand, but it is a national holiday in most Southeast Asian countries, such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

In Thailand, Māgha Pūjā was instituted by Rama IV. It is currently designated as a national holiday, on which sale of alcohol is strictly prohibited. On the evening of Māgha Pūjā, most temples in Thailand hold a candlelight procession. Furthermore, people will make merit by going to temples and by joining in with activities, such as listening to teachings, giving alms, etc. At times, special events are also held, such as a recital of the entire Buddhist scriptures and ceremonies for avowing oneself as a Buddhist lay person. In A.D.2006, the government of Thailand made an announcement that Māgha Pūjā should be celebrated as a “national day of gratitude.” Māgha Pūja was therefore presented as a day of spiritual love and gratitude instead.

In Sri Lanka and Cambodia, Māgha Pūjā is also observed. In Chinese communities, as well as in Myanmar, a similar festival as Māgha Pūjā is observed. The Burmese people celebrate this on the full moon of the month Tabaung according to their traditional calendar. Fifteen days before this full moon day, a Shwedagon Pagoda Festival is held, on which a ceremony is held for offerings to the 28 Buddhas (from Taṇhaṅkara to Gotama Buddha), followed by a 10-day, continuous recital of Buddhist texts. Burmese devotees make merits and meditate during this period.

Māgha Pūjā has also become a popular event among Western Buddhist converts in the West. Wikipedia

ផ្សាយនៅថ្ងៃអាទិត្យ ២រោច ខែបុស្ស ឆ្នាំខាល ចត្វាស័ក ព.ស.២៥៦៦ ត្រូវនឹងថ្ងៃទី៨ ខែមករា គ.ស.២០២៣
Sunday the 2nd Waning Moon of Phussa B.E.2566 equivalent to January 8, A.D.2023 Year of the Tiger