Wat Saket, together with the Wat Saket Lumber Community and Wat Thammapanyaram Bang Muang, is hosting a grand Chinese New Year celebration to pay homage to Phra Attharos and the Medicine Buddha, also known as Luang Pho Moiya, during the Chinese New Year festival from 15 to 19 February.
Phra Rajakitjaphon, assistant abbot of Wat Saket Ratchaworamahawihan, said that Wat Saket, along with the Wat Saket Lumber Community and Wat Thammapanyaram Bang Muang—also known as Wat Heng Seng Yi, under the Anamikay Mahayana Buddhist sect—is organizing a grand Chinese New Year celebration to venerate Phra Attharos, the large standing Buddha statue granting blessings located inside the Phra Attharos Vihara at Wat Saket, and the Medicine Buddha or Luang Pho Moiya, brought from Wat Thammapanyaram Bang Muang, also called Wat Heng Seng Yi, in Sam Phran District, Nakhon Pathom Province.
During the Chinese New Year festival from 15 to 19 February, the Phra Attharos Vihara and Golden Mount will be open for public worship until 9 PM. On 16 February, an important day for the Thai-Chinese community, the Phra Attharos Vihara will remain open until midnight. On that day, between 11 PM and 12:59 AM, the monks of Wat Thammapanyaram Bang Muang will conduct a chanting ceremony to welcome the Horse Zodiac deity, the god of wealth (Cai Shen Ye), and the deities who protect destiny (Tai Sui Ye), following traditional Chinese New Year rituals.
Phra Rajakitjaphon added that throughout the festival at the Phra Attharos Vihara courtyard, activities will run all day as follows: at 10 AM, the Gong Huk ceremony will include chanting and offering rice to the Buddha; at 1 PM, the first round of chanting the Mahayana mantra will be conducted to seek protection from the Bodhisattva; at 4 PM, the second round of chanting the Mahayana mantra will honor Amitabha Buddha of the Pure Land, dedicating merit to ancestors for blessings and protection; and at 6 PM, the incense circling ritual will pay homage to Phra Attharos, the large standing Buddha granting blessings, with prayers to make wishes come true, and chanting to honor the Medicine Buddha Lu Yilai, protector of health and wellbeing, followed by the Pak Tao Geng ritual to chant mantras honoring the nine planets during the Chinese New Year festival.
During the incense circling ceremony, participants enter the Phra Attharos Vihara and proceed in a clockwise direction to the chamber housing Luang Pho Dusit, also known as 'Luang Pho Chana Kadee.' This symbolizes entering the Dusit Heaven of the Pure Land, where the Bodhisattva resides. Worshippers pray before Luang Pho Dusit for abundant life, success in any pending legal matters, and that all wishes made at any time and place will be fulfilled once they have paid respects to Luang Pho Dusit.