Magha Puja Day
Greetings my fellow Earthicans. A little Buddhist knowledge for you all.
Today is actually a Buddhist holiday, Magha Puja Day. Although not significant in Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, Magha Puja day is considered to be one of the three major holidays in Theravada Buddhism. The other 2 are Vesak day (birth, enlightenment, death) and Asalha puja (day of the Buddha’s first sermon).
Magha Puja day lands on the full moon day of the 3rd lunar month. The day commemorates a spectacular occasion 9 months after the Lord Buddha’s enlightenment. On that day, 1,250 Buddhist monks from all over the Indian subcontinent came to Veluvana Bamboo grove to meet the Buddha without being physically summoned. All 1,250 of those monks were fully enlightened arahant disciples who were ordained directly by the Buddha Himself. On that day, the Lord Buddha laid out the “Ovapatimokkha” or the core rules/principles of Buddhism, to His arahant disciples. The sermon is often dubbed "the Heart of Buddhism" by many.
The “Ovapatimokkha” stated that the core of Buddhism consists of three simple things “to do good, to abstain from doing evil, and to purify ones mind”. The Lord Buddha also laid out the rules for propagating His teachings. These rules include things such as abstaining from killing in the name of Buddhism, threatening to kill or harm others unless they converted to Buddhism, forcing others to convert to Buddhism, trying to convince others to convert to Buddhism by belittling or criticizing other religious beliefs and other forbidden conversion tactics.
Although often forgotten in some sects of Buddhism this holiday is a huge deal for Theravada Buddhists and is regarded as marking one of the most important events in the Lord Buddha's and one of the most important events in the history of Buddhism.
With metta, and until next time my loyal UBA minions.