14 FEBRUARY 2014 - KHLONG LUANG, PATHUM THANI, THAILAND: Lay people participate in the evening candle light procession for Makha Bucha Day at Wat Phra Dhammakaya. The aims of Makha Bucha Day are: not to commit any kind of sins, do only good and purify one's mind. It 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. The day marks four important events in Buddhism, which happened nine months after the Enlightenment of the Buddha in northern India; 1,250 disciples came to see the Buddha that evening without being summoned, all of them were Arhantas, Enlightened Ones, and all were ordained by the Buddha himself. The Buddha gave those Arhantas the principles of Buddhism, called "The ovadhapatimokha". Those principles are: 1) To cease from all evil, 2) To do what is good, 3) To cleanse one's mind. The Buddha delivered an important sermon on that day which laid down the principles of the Buddhist teachings. 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. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ