Chiang Mai University students carrying a heavy Buddhist shrine during the Welcome parade.

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Buddhist Lent begins this week

The Buddhist Holy Day of Ahsala Bucha falls this year on Thursday July 17, the 15th night of the full moon during the eighth month of the Buddhist Lunar calendar. “Ahsala Bucha” means paying homage and worshipping on the day identified according to the lunar calendar during the eighth month, Ahsala being the name of the eighth month in the Pali language.
Ahsala Bucha Day commemorates three events which occurred on the same day in the life of the Lord Buddha; his first sermon, the “Dharmachakapavattama Sutta,” which outlines the “Four Noble Truths” and which was presented to the first five disciples; the birth of Buddhism itself on that day, and the creation of the Sangha, when the first person to hear the Lord Buddha speak became a Buddhist monk by pledging to follow the Buddha’s teachings. From these three events arose the “Triple Gem” of Buddhism, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.