Wednesday was Makha Bucha Day, the second-most important Buddhist holiday and an official government holiday here in Thailand.
In the past, Makha Bucha was nothing more to me than a much-appreciated day off of work in which I was annoyingly forbidden from purchasing a beer at the local shop.
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| alcohol is banned on important Buddhist days in Thailand |
This year, Pinky and I decided to join in some traditional Makha Bucha observations. As the sun fell in the darkening sky, we took a taxi across the city to one of my very favorite places: Wat Saket, the Temple of the Golden Mount.
Makha Bucha, also known as Māgha Pūjā and sometimes described as "Buddhist All Saints Day", is an important Theravada Buddhist holy day celebrated on the full moon day of the third lunar month. It celebrates an event from Buddhist canon in which 1,250 of the Buddha's first disciples miraculously and spontaneously arrived without being summoned. All of the disciples were Arahants, or an enlightened disciple, and each had been ordained by the Buddha himself, making them his spiritual successors of sorts.
The Buddha's sermon that day, taught to his disciples to spread across the world, established the Buddhist community. His lesson was simple: "The non-doing of evil / the full performance of what is wholesome / the total purification of the mind." To remember his teachings, devout Buddhists take part in a circumambulation around a temple. When we arrived at Wat Saket, we purchased the necessary offerings from a vendor outside of the temple gates. The circumambulation requires incense, a candle, marigolds, a lotus blossom, and an orchid.
Each of the three clockwise circles one walks around the temple represents one of three pillars of the Buddhist community: the Buddha, his teachings, and the Sangha (monkhood).
We began in the Hall of the Black Buddha, a small chapel off of the main temple. There, we lit our candles and chatted with a monk who was excited to see a foreigner joining in on Makha Budha Day. It's an important holiday, but not a well-known festival like Songkran or Loy Krathong. The monk told us that he was preparing to go to Chicago on an "R" (religious) visa. He showed us some pictures on his phone of the Thai temple in Chicago and of one in New Mexico.
It seems that it's not easy to go abroad as a monk. To get permission to do so, you have to pass an intensive religious examination. Only 10 out of every 1000 applicants can pass the test and be assigned to go abroad as a missionary.
We joined the other pilgrims on their triple circumambulations around the Golden Mount. During that time, we were supposed to reflect on ourselves and our actions. While it's a fairly serious holiday, everyone seemed to be having a good time. I think people are just happy to be out and about again for the first time in a few years.
After we had made our three circles around the temple, we returned to the Black Buddha Hall to leave our candles, flowers, and incense as offerings. The monk we had spoken to earlier handed each of us a printed pilgrim's map of various sites we should visit at the temple that evening to receive good merit.
Leaving the hall, we made our way to the first of two Lucky Buddha images. The Buddha, set against a fantastical backdrop depicting the Buddhist heavens, was a beautiful thing to see. These small prayer halls are often either closed or overlooked in favor of the Golden Mount itself, and even though I consider Wat Saket to be my favorite temple in Bangkok, I had never visited this little chapel before.
A monk sitting inside the hall called us over for a blessing. He offered a short prayer, then used his little bundle of sticks to splash a sprinkling of holy water above our heads.
"What day were you born?" he asked in Thai.
"Tuesday", said Pinky.
"Monday", I said.
The monk reached into a bowl beside him and handed us each a string in our lucky color of the day to tie around our wrists: pink for Pinky and yellow for me.
We walked on to a second Lucky Buddha hall. Like the first, this image was located within a beautiful small chapel.
I suppose these small halls are used for the monks for meditation or for people who want somewhere beautiful and quiet to pray or sit in reflection.
Then, we followed the map to Luang Phor Toh, a huge golden Buddha image on the slopes of the Golden Mount itself.
Next was the Bamiyan Museum, a small exhibition hall displaying various Buddhist relics and holy artifacts. The museum is actually a cave set into the base of the Golden Mount.
A Buddhist sermon played in Thai on the speakers inside the cave. We spent a few moments looking around the dark, quiet hall.
Next, we visited the Buddha Image Hall and the main Ordination Hall of the temple. The Ordination Hall is the main hall of the temple, and home to Wat Saket's most important Buddha image. It was the final important place we had to visit before it was time to make the pilgrimage up the Golden Mount itself.
The Golden Mount looks its most beautiful at night, when the glittering golden temple rises high above the dark and sleepy streets of Bangkok's old town neighborhoods.
We began the procession up the Mount, ringing the large iron bells as we made our way to the summit.
Some people had gone to the very top of the temple to make their circumambulations around the Golden Mount's chedi, or reliquary shrine. We thought it was a little crowded inside, so we decided just to walk up and down again.
It was my first time observing Makha Budha Day. While I wasn't the only foreigner at the temple that night, it's far from Thailand's best-known holiday. This year, I'd like to make an effort to discover more of the culture's holidays and festivals that I had maybe overlooked before. It's a good feeling to still be able to discover something new, even after living in Thailand for several years.
When we got home, we decided to try something brand-new: a virtual Makha Bucha Day observation arranged by the Thai Sangha. A webapp has been developed so that people can observe the holiday from the comfort and safety of their homes if they are not comfortable going out and about during the pandemic. We had to upload our faces onto a cartoon avatar, which then made an animated circumambulation around a virtual temple while Buddhist chants played. After that, a cartoon monk gave a brief sermon on the Buddha's teachings.
It's kind of interesting to see how something so ancient like Buddhism can adapt to the "new normal". While we did take part in the traditional observations, it's super cool to see how you can use new technology to make merit.
