PUBLISHED : 9 Feb 2024 at 06:21
Relics of the Lord Buddha and his chief disciples Sariputra and Moggallana are being enshrined in Thailand for worship in celebration of His Majesty the King’s 72nd birthday in July.
The Department of Religious Affairs has announced that the relics will be brought from India and exhibited at Sanam Luang for people to pay their respects from 9am to 8pm, from Feb 22 to March 19.
After that, they will be moved to Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani and Krabi so that people in various regions can pay homage. Afterwards, the relics will be returned to India.
The event — organised by the Ministry of Culture in conjunction with the Indian government, the Indian embassy and the Bodhigayavijjalaya 980 Institutes — is being held to commemorate His Majesty’s 72nd birthday, or the sixth cycle birthday, on July 28.
The Lord Buddha’s two principal disciples are renowned for their wisdom, second only to that of the Buddha himself.
They achieved the arahantship — or the highest level of awakening — upon attaining nirvana through living a monastic life in compliance with the Buddha’s teachings. By doing so, they extinguished all defilements and desires.
The arahant is regarded as the ideal spiritual attainment in Theravada Buddhism.