The Ceremony of Offering Flowers to 3,000 Monks in Saraburi

The Flower Offering Custom
History
The history of this custom appeared in the Buddhist legend that Malakara who had his duty of collecting fresh jasmine to offer King Bimbisara, the King of Rajagriha, everyday.  One day, Malakara had gone to collect jasmine in the garden, he met the Lord Buddha and the monks walking past.  He became faithful and offered jasmine to the Lord Buddha.
When King Bimbisara knew that the Lord Buddha was walking for the Morning Alms Round near his palace and Malakara met Him and offered jasmine to Him.  The king went to pay respect to Him and awarded Malakara because of this offering.  Since then, Malakara lived happily because of the fruit of worshipping the Lord Buddha by jasmine.  Because of this fruit, Buddhists have offered flowers and established the Flower Offering Custom since the Buddha Time.

The Ceremony of Offering Flowers
Residents in Phrabuddhabat district, Saraburi province have had the Ceremony of Offering Flowers since the past.  In the morning, they go to the temple to offer cooked rice to monks in Phrabuddhabat Temple.  Then, the adults are going to the hill to collect a kind of flowers which blooms only the Buddhist Lent.  Its name is “Dok Khao Pansa” which means the Flower of Buddhist Lent.  They will collect the flowers to prepare for the Ceremony of Offering Flowers in the afternoon of the same day.


Some fruits of the Ceremony of Offering Alms
1.    You will long live, have nice skin, be happy, healthy and diligent
2.    You will be healthy and rarely sick
3.    You will be rich and have a lot of properties.  You will be the millionaire who supports Buddhism.
4.    You will be diligent and have nice skin and aura.  You will be in the high rank or in the high society.
5.    You will not lose your beloved thing and will be happy everywhere.
6.    You will reborn in the Buddhist country every lifetime
7.    You will attain Dhamma easily every lifetime


You should
-    Wear white suit or at least white shirt to worship the Lord Buddha
-    Offer only dried food
-    Seal all packs of rice
-    Don’t offer the cup drinking water
-    Don’t offer money in the monks’ bowls.  Please donate your money at the donation points or the picked–up trees which the staffs are serving.
-    Keep your mind bright and happy while you are offering your alms
-    Pay respect in your offering by let people in front of you offer their alms first



Translated by Chadawee Chaipooripat