Navam Full Moon Poya Day in Sri Lanka

In the eve of the first Navam Full Moon Poya Day after the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha, there were more than one thousand two hundred and fifty disciples in the order of Maha Sangha. The enlightened one envisaged the need for principles of management to maintain the moral conduct and discipline of the followers. Although there had been no problem until then, the farsighted enlightened one would have anticipated incidents of breach of conduct and morality when the community of Sangha grew in number and variety.

Navam Poya also commemorates the first-ever Buddhist Council, held three months after the death of the Buddha.

Bringing together all monks for the first-ever Buddhist congregation, the appointment of Arahants Sariputta and Moggallana by the enlightened one as his chief disciples, promulgation of pre-liberation or collection of precepts of Vinaya or discipline and the determination of the term of life of the enlightened one by Gautama Buddha are significant events associated with Navam Full Moon Poya Day. These events make Navam Poya a day of paramount importance for Buddhists worldwide.