2017MakhaBuchaDay
11 FEBRUARY 2016 - KHLONG LUANG, PATHUM THANI, THAILAND: Buddhist monks walk to their seat during the Makha Bucha Day service at Wat Phra Dhammakaya. Makha Bucha Day is a public holiday in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Many people go to the temple to perform merit-making activities on Makha Bucha Day, which marks four important events in Buddhism: 1,250 disciples came to see the Buddha without being summoned, all of them were Arhantas, or Enlightened Ones, and all were ordained by the Buddha himself. The Buddha gave those Arhantas the principles of Buddhism. In Thailand, this teaching has been dubbed the “Heart of Buddhism.” Wat Phra Dhammakaya is the center of the Dhammakaya Movement, a Buddhist sect founded in the 1970s and led by Phra Dhammachayo. Makha Bucha Day is one of the most important holy days on the Thai Buddhist calender. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
