Cambodia commemorates Lord Buddha's Day

Approximately 200 Buddhist monks and over a thousand Buddhists on Friday gathered at the foot of Udong Mountain, where the relics of Buddha are placed, to mark Meaka Bochea's Day, the day the Lord Buddha declared his passing-away. The elaborate religious ceremony was presided over by Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong, head of the Mohanikaya Buddhist sect, and Supreme Patriarch Bou Kry, head of the Thammayut Buddhist sect, and was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Royal Palace Kong Sam Ol. The celebrations of Meaka Bochea's Day is to remember the day that the Lord Buddha announced his death, which would happen three months later, and to mark the ordainment of Buddha's first 1,250 disciples, who spontaneously came to see him and to listen to his sermon on that day. At Friday's ceremony, participants brought praying stuff such as candles, incense sticks, flowers to pray to the Lord Buddha and offered food and cash donation to the monks in order to dedicate to their ancestors. "The ceremony aims to maintain national identification, tradition and Buddhism," Supreme Patriarch Bou Kry said. Meaka Bocha's Day is one of the major Buddhism festivals in this Buddhist-dominant country. On the day, Buddhists throughout the country prepare food for the monks in pagodas in the morning and listened to sermons in the afternoon. The country on Thursday last week recovered a golden urn containing only Buddha relics, which was stolen from a shrine on Udong Mountaintop on Dec. 10. Bou Kry said the urn of Buddha relics is currently still kept at the Royal Palace in the capital Phnom Penh, pending an appropriate time to move it back to the mountain top shrine.