Buddha Jayanti events organized in Thailand marking Makha Bucha Day

BANGKOK, March 7 (TNA) - Several agencies in Thailand have organized Buddha Jayanti events to mark the 2,600th anniversary of Buddha’s enlightenment and the Makha Bucha Day 2012. One of the events is taking place in front of the Amarin Plaza shopping center at Ratchaprasong Intersection in Bangkok, with its organizers including the management of the Phraram 9 Temple, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the Ministry of Culture, the Metropolitan Police Division and the World Fellowship of Buddhists. The Bangkok event is also welcoming Buddhists to worship a Buddha relic, the collarbone, from Myanmar, being on display on the 22nd floor of the Amarin Plaza shopping center. The Buddha Jayanti events allow participants to donate Buddhism books to monks to promote reading, in accordance with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s declaration Bangkok as the World Book Capital for 2013. In Thailand's southern Songkhla Province, meanwhile, the management of Samankoonvitayatan School in Hat Yai organized an event for students to chant prayers, listen to Buddhism teachings and have candle-lit parades around the main chapel and a pagoda of Khok Samankoon Temple, marking the eve of the Makha Bucha Day 2012, which falls March 7ใ In the northeastern Si Sa Ket Province, Governor Prateep Keetirekha opened a provincial merit making event at the provincial cultural office to promote public worships of the Lord Buddha images at nine local temples. (TNA)