Cāturaṅga Sannipāta: The Buddhist Tradition “Māgha Pūjā day” in Thai Society

Abstract

         Cāturaṅga Sannipāta, or the fourfold convention, is one of the important events in the Buddhist narrative. This event happened on Māgha Pūjā Day, which is the 15th day of the waxing moon of the 3rd lunar month and 1,250 Khīnāsava monks, who ordinated with higher ordination by the Buddha (Ehibhikkhu-Upasampadā) and received the Supernatural Knowledge (Abhiññā), gathered without an appointment. Thai Buddhists know about Māgha Pūjā Day from the Royal Merit-Making Ceremony “Māgha Pūjā”. During the reign of King Rama IV, King Mongkut was graciously pleased for this ceremony to be held in the Grand Palace and advocated the general public to likewise observe the event on the 15th day of the waxing moon on the 3rd lunar month.
         According to Thailand’s royal writings, “The Twelve-Month Ceremony” of King Chulalongkorn (Reign V) that recorded all ceremonies in the reign of King Mongkut (Reign IV), the Royal Merit-Making Ceremony “Māgha Pūjā”, is the practice of the ancient savants. There is a possibility that these savants may be the commentators to Indians and Sri Lankans because the model from the aforementioned scholar gives information that corresponds to the Dīghanakha Sutta of Majjhimanikāya Commentary, and this points to the propagation of the Cāturaṅga Sannipāta. In addition, the information about Cāturaṅga Sannipāta was also found in the Mahāpadāna Sutta of Dīghanikāya Commentary. When studying the text from these two commentaries, it was found that they were consistent in both the events and the context, but the details of the Cāturaṅga Sannipāta are slightly different. The congruence of these two commentaries can lead to the study of information in the Tipitaka scriptures. However, the Dīghanakha Sutta of Majjhimanikāya Sutta does not appear to show the story of Cāturaṅga Sannipāta. But the Mahāpadāna Sutta of Dīghanikāya is another scripture that may be key to answering the fourfold event in the Tipitaka scriptures.