The 2025 edition of the “Mobile Buddha Bathing Stand” will be held on May 3 and 4, on the eve of Buddha’s Birthday, the event’s organiser, Buddha’s Light Association Youth of Macau, announced in a press conference yesterday afternoon.
The two-day event will be held outside the Na Tcha Temple next to the Ruins of St. Paul’s.
To celebrate Buddha’s Birthday, according to yesterday’s press conference, the event aims to provide residents and visitors with an opportunity to purify their mind, pray for world peace and social stability through Buddhist rituals and cultural activities.
The event is organised by the Buddha’s Light Association Youth of Macau in collaboration with the Na Cha Temple Association, the Buddha’s Light International Association of Macau, and International Buddhist Progress Society of Macau.
The Na Cha Temple Association is the entity running Na Tcha Temple next to the Ruins of St. Paul’s landmark.
Addressing yesterday’s press conference, Lam Chi Kit, the president of the Buddha’s Light Association Youth of Macau, said that the event aims to enable residents and visitors alike to connect with the Buddha’s teachings and to cultivate compassion for others by inviting them to participate in the traditional “Bathing the Buddha”* ritual during which fragrant water is poured over a Buddha statue.
Alongside the ritual, stalls of vegetarian food and cultural creative products for charity sales will be set up during the two-day event.
According to the press conference, the first day of the event will feature various activities starting in the evening, including a magic show, as well as Cantonese opera performed by young people attending a Cantonese opera training course run by the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (known as Kai Fong in Cantonese).
On the second day of the event, according to the press conference, a “Plaster Painting Workshop” parent-child activity will be held in the afternoon, encouraging collaborative artistic creation and enhancing familial bonds. In the evening, starting at 6:30 p.m., Venerable Hui Lun**, the deputy abbot of the Taiwan-based Fo Guang Shan, will share practical applications of Buddhist wisdom in daily life.
Buddha’s Birthday is a public holiday both in Hong Kong and Macau. In both special administrative regions, the event is celebrated each year on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month, May 5 this year. According to Buddhist tradition and archaeologists, Gautama Buddha was born at Lumbini in Nepal circa 623 Before the Common Era (BCE)
Macau boasts two temples dedicated to Na Tcha (Ne Zha in Mandarin Pinyin). Na Tcha is a guardian deity. Apart from the one located next to Ruins of St Paul’s, the other is located on a slope behind Ginza Plaza. The deity has gained global fame recently because of the huge commercial and cultural success of the 2025 Chinese animated fantasy action adventure film “Ne Zha 2” worldwide.
*The Bathing the Buddha (浴佛) ritual is a sacred Buddhist ceremony performed to honour the birth of Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha), traditionally celebrated during Buddha’s Birthday. – DeepSeek
** Fo Guang Shan (佛光山) is a major international Buddhist monastic order based in Taiwan, founded in 1967. It is one of the largest Buddhist organisations in the world, promoting Humanistic Buddhism (人間佛教), which emphasises applying Buddhist teachings in daily life to benefit society. – DeepSeek
Lam Chi Tit, president of Buddha’s Light Association Youth of Macau, announces details of the 2025 edition of the “Mobile Buddha Bathing Stand” to be staged on May 3-4 in a press conference outside Na Tcha Temple yesterday. – Photo: Ida Cheong
