{"id":2801,"date":"2023-07-03T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/?p=2801"},"modified":"2023-06-26T18:27:08","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T17:27:08","slug":"asalha-puja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/2023\/07\/03\/asalha-puja\/","title":{"rendered":"Asalha Puja"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asalha Puja is a Theravada Buddhist festival, one of the most important festivals in Theravada Buddhism. The celebration takes place on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, which is typically in July. It celebrates the Buddha\u2019s first sermon \u2013 the \u201cSermon in the Deer Park\u201d at Sarnath in India. In this sermon, the Buddha set out to his five former associates the doctrine that had come to him following his enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"639\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/asalha-puja-1653071550.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2802\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/asalha-puja-1653071550.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/asalha-puja-1653071550-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/asalha-puja-1653071550-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This first pivotal sermon is often referred to as \u201csetting into motion the wheel of dhamma\u201d and is the teaching which is encapsulated in the Four Noble Truths: there is suffering (<em>dukkha<\/em>), suffering is caused by craving (<em>tanha<\/em>), there is a state beyond suffering and craving (<em>nibbana<\/em>), and the way to nirvana is via the Noble Eightfold Path. At the end of the talk, one of the five participants recounted his understanding of the sermon and asked to be received as a disciple. The Buddha granted this request, therefore establishing the first order of monks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/Sermon_in_the_Deer_Park_depicted_at_Wat_Chedi_Liem-KayEss-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2803\" width=\"475\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/Sermon_in_the_Deer_Park_depicted_at_Wat_Chedi_Liem-KayEss-1.jpeg 475w, https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/Sermon_in_the_Deer_Park_depicted_at_Wat_Chedi_Liem-KayEss-1-223x300.jpeg 223w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 475px) 85vw, 475px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asalha Puja is mostly celebrated in countries with large Theravada Buddhist populations, including Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Observant Buddhists go to temple and listen to sermons, as well as make offerings to images of the Buddha to honour him on that day. Some people also listen to monks recite the <em>Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta<\/em>, which is the Buddha\u2019s first teaching. Monks also light the temple grounds with candles, and lead followers around the grounds in a candlelit procession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/2_20180801204720-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/2_20180801204720-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/2_20180801204720-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/2_20180801204720-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/70\/2023\/06\/2_20180801204720.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asalha Puja is a Theravada Buddhist festival, one of the most important festivals in Theravada Buddhism. The celebration takes place on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, which is typically in July. It celebrates the Buddha\u2019s first sermon \u2013 the \u201cSermon in the Deer Park\u201d at Sarnath in India. In this sermon, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/2023\/07\/03\/asalha-puja\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Asalha Puja&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":572,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annual-celebration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/572"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2805,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801\/revisions\/2805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/culturalcalendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}