On 20 July 2024, it was Asalha Puja Day, which fell on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month. In the early morning, Wat Phra Dhammakaya organized the almsgiving to the new monks from the 2024 mass ordination project during the Rains-Retreat period, followed by the offering ceremony of LED candles and monks’ bath robe in the late morning so as to maintain the Buddhist tradition of the Rains-Retreat period. As for the night session, laypeople circumambulated the Maha Dhammakaya Cetiya and celebrated the successful completion of 6,562,000,000 rounds of Dhammacakka chanting in homage to the Buddha.
Asalha Puja Day is an important day of Buddhism because several significant events occurred on that day: (1) the Buddha delivered his first sermon, known as the Dhammacakka Sutta (2) Añña Koṇḍañña who attained the first stage of enlightenment (Sotapanna) and became the first disciple of Buddhism (3) the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha) was first established. During the Rains-Retreat period, it is the Buddhists’ tradition to accumulate more merit by giving, observing precepts and doing meditation. From the Buddha’s time until now, laypeople have still maintained the Buddhist practice by offering (LED) candles and monks’ bath robe to monastic community. The Rains-Retreat period is not only for the monks according to the monastic discipline but also the laypeople to abstain from all misdeeds, do only good deeds and purify their mind.
