What is the history of Mekha Bucha?
Mekha Bucha is a major festival that is important in Buddhism. This festival has been placed on the calendar as a national holiday by the Royal Government of Cambodia and has been declared a day off for all institutions and organizations. This major religious holiday was also approved by the United Nations in 1999, recognizing it as an international festival that can be celebrated in all United Nations offices around the world.
What is the history of Mekha Bucha in Buddhism? Makha Bucha is an important festival in Buddhism, celebrated to commemorate the day when the Buddha declared the establishment of Buddhism in the world in India on the 15th day of the Makha month, nine months after his enlightenment.
The establishment of Buddhism as a religious organization took place among 1,250 monks, members of a great assembly invited from all over the world. At that assembly, the Buddha proclaimed principles for all members of the assembly to adopt as a way of life and to spread to others so that they could understand the doctrines of Buddhism.
On the day of the Makha Bodhisattva, our Lord Buddha gave the Patimokkha sermon to the assembly of monks at the Veluvana Monastery, the first monastery in Buddhism at that time. On the day of the Chaturanga Mahasannibha, four important events occurred:
1- The 1250 monks and nuns whom the Buddha had sent to various regions to spread the Dhamma returned to him in unison. The monks who were invited to attend the Mahasannibha were all arahants and kinasaraps.
2- All the monks were monks who had been ordained by the Buddha himself, which is called the monks of the Upasana.
3- All the monks who were arahants, having the six qualities of manifestation, hearing, sight, understanding the minds of others, remembering the nation, and having eliminated defilements, gathered together at the Veluvana Monastery without prior appointment.
4- The day on which all the monks gathered together was the full moon day of the month of Makha.
This gathering was also called the Chaturanga Sannibha, which means the meeting of the four elements. The Chaturanga Sannibhata was held at the Veluvana Temple in the capital of King Bimbisara's Magadha kingdom, nine months after the Buddha attained the supreme enlightenment.
Because of this unexpected miracle, the Buddha took the opportunity to give the Padamokkha sermon to 1,250 monks, setting out a policy for the propagation of Buddhism on that occasion.
