Codex of FaithsAn illustrated atlas of belief

Buddhism

Magha Puja

When is Magha Puja in 2027, the Theravada Buddhist festival of the gathering of 1,250 monks before the Buddha: merit-making, the Buddha’s summary of his teaching, and candlelit processions round the temple.

Next date

Sunday, 21 February 2027

Date in Thailand; Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka keep the full moon by their own calendars.

In brief

  1. I.Magha Puja remembers the day 1,250 enlightened monks gathered before the Buddha without having been called.
  2. II.On that day the Buddha gave a short summary of his teaching: avoid evil, do good, purify the mind.
  3. III.Buddhists make merit at the temple in the morning, keep the precepts and listen to a sermon.
  4. IV.In the evening they walk three times round the temple hall with a candle, three sticks of incense and a flower.

Chapter I

What it celebrates

According to the Theravada tradition, nine months after his awakening the Buddha was staying at the Bamboo Grove, Veluvana, near Rajagaha. On the full moon of the month of Magha, 1,250 monks, all of them arahants, came to him on their own. To this assembly the Buddha recited the Ovada Patimokkha, a summary of the teaching that includes the verse also found in the Dhammapada (183): “Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind: this is the teaching of the Buddhas.”

The day is therefore also a celebration of the Sangha, the community of monks and nuns, which is why some Western Buddhist communities call it Sangha Day.

Chapter II

How it is kept

Lay Buddhists go to the temple in the morning to offer food to the monks, give alms and take the precepts; some keep eight precepts for the day and night. Monks give sermons on the Ovada Patimokkha.

At dusk comes the wian tian, “circling with candles”: holding a lit candle, three sticks of incense and a flower, worshippers walk three times clockwise round the ordination hall or a stupa, once for each of the Three Jewels, the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, reciting their qualities. The temple grounds glow with hundreds of small flames.

Chapter III

Around the world

In Thailand the day is a public holiday, and the sale of alcohol is banned. Cambodia keeps it as Meak Bochea and Laos as Boun Makha Bousa. In Sri Lanka the February full moon, Navam Poya, also recalls the first assembly of the Buddha’s disciples, and Colombo’s Gangaramaya temple holds the Navam Perahera, a procession of drummers, dancers and elephants.

Questions people ask

Why 1,250 monks?

Tradition counts four marvels in the gathering, held at the Bamboo Grove near Rajagaha nine months after the awakening: it fell on the full moon of Magha; 1,250 monks came without being summoned; all were arahants, fully awakened; and all had been ordained by the Buddha himself.

Is it an old festival?

The event is old, but the festival as Thailand keeps it today was introduced at court by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in the mid-19th century and later spread to temples across the country. It is now a public holiday in Thailand.

Sources and further reading

  1. Calendarific, “Makha Bucha in Thailand”
  2. Office Holidays, “Makha Bucha in Thailand”
  3. Kenneth E. Wells, Thai Buddhism: Its Rites and Activities (Bangkok, 1939)

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