Yesterday was the first day of the 2-day ceremony to celebrate and dedicate the new pagoda (chedi in Thai) at Buddhist Temple of America. The pagoda houses at least 108 different holy relics of the Buddha and other Awakened Ones. I am sharing some pictures here. Brief descriptions of the images available on Flickr.
Today, Sunday, May 29, 2011, a formal ceremony will be performed to place the holy relics of the Buddha in the center of the pagoda. I am really looking forward to this event!
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa.
Above is a picture of the holy relics of the Buddha. A small portion of it was installed in a large Buddha image in the sala last night. I think this is the first time that I post any image of Buddhist relics on this blog. I hesitate to write about their mystery and wonders. Maybe it’s because of my extreme introverted personality that cause me not wanting to catch attention. Maybe because of the risk of possibly causing disbelief in those who had not experienced these holy relics. One thing is sure, I have very high respect for them and do not want to make any mistake. Since I still feel reluctant to elaborate on them in this blog, I’ll just give you a couple of links. This one is a very short explanation, but from a tradition that’s close to mine. Here’s one that’s quite famous actually, from a different tradition’s understanding. Just to give you some ideas. You’ll have to research if you want to know more.
Visakha Pjua (Buddha Day), a full-moon day, is a day that commemorates three key events in the Buddha’s life: his birth, Awakening, and final Unbinding (parinibbana). We started with the main ceremony of special chants, Dhamma talk, and followed by everyone walking around the main shrine room three times, holding flowers, candle and incense. Some of us even saw a shooting star (including me 
).
After the main event we gathered at the sala for the installation of the holy relics in the head of the large Buddha image.
After the installation, some of us gathered at the site of the future Holy Pagoda for silent meditation. Sorry, no pictures. We only had the moon and the stars for light source. Not good for picture taking. Also, I just wanted to meditate without interruptions. 
It is our plan to build a Thai style Pagoda in the next few months. It will eventually house 108 different relics of various Awakened Ones, so that people can visit and pay respect, and feel inspired to look at one’s self and to purify one’s mind.
Last Sunday was a great day at the temple. We celebrated our teacher’s birthday and his receiving of a new title in Thailand. I had no idea that it would turn out to be quite a large gathering. Even Ven. Ajaan Geoff came down early from Metta Forest Monastery to attend the celebrations. Later in the afternoon more monks from Metta Forest Monastery arrived to perform an ordination ceremony. It was truly an eventful and auspicious day.
The alms-round. It was raining in the morning so everyone crowded in the covered area to offer rice to the monks.
After the alms-round everyone gathered inside the sala to make more offerings.
After the meal we gathered in the ubosoth for the ceremonies. First the announcement of the Abbot’s new title. Followed by blessings chanted by the assembly of monks.
The Abbot presented holy relics to the monks to celebrate the auspicious events.
The younger monk is a new Abbot at a new temple located in Columbus, Ohio. Our teacher presented him with a statue of Luangpu Mun that was offered by a layperson. The younger monk is an old friend. We met when I was a monk at the temple.
This was the beginning of the ordination. The soon-to-be ordained together with the lay community walked around the ubosoth three times.
The soon-to-be ordained threw coins to the crowd signifying the letting go of possessions, leaving the householder’s life. These coins are considered lucky and not to be spent. I got some in my bag from a previous ordination.
The soon-to-be ordained entered the ordination hall where an assembly of monks awaited to begin the ceremony. First he had to go through the novice ordination. Followed by the ordination of monkhood.
Newly ordained novice waited to be questioned. He would be asked questions to determine if he was qualified to be ordained. The whole ceremony was done in Pali.
The novice was questioned twice. First away from the assembly of monks. A second time among the assembly of monks.
People offering gifts to the new monk.
Truly an auspicious day. You can see more photos here.
Last time I checked, 48. No, it’s not the physical age of my brain. But an estimate of how old my brain is behaving. Looks like I need to exercise my brain “muscle” to get it back in shape. That’s why I got the Nintendo DS Lite and Brain Age. Something that I can use to exercise my brain power and, ahem, have some fun. Having a brain age of 48 at 40… I need to do something about that. Seriously, feeling that my mind is not as sharp as before bothers the heck out of me.
A couple of weeks ago CB and I hung out at Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica when the cleaning lady was here. It was nice to get away for a few hours.
Last Sunday we celebrated Thai New Year at the temple with a special “hand washing” ceremony.
There was another filming at A Mano yesterday (Wednesday). Time Warner Cable wanted to do a Video On Demand segment of the S&B. If it goes well, it might even appear on CNN. Not a lot of details. But we had tons of fun!
I told you that I have proof that I was once a monk for 7 days.
It is quite common for Thai males to become short-term monks. I am not Thai but go to the Thai Forest Tradition temple. My sister suggested that I ordain as a monk to make merit to share with my mother who is a lung cancer patient. I agreed, but at the time I truly believed that you should want to be a monk for the rest of your life when you decide to be ordained. Not for short term. But it was a special situation.
There’s no special ceremony for short term monks. You go through the same procedures and become a fully ordained monk, with 227 training rules to follow. No less. You just ask to leave the monkhood when you feel that you can’t continue being a monk.
I took this opportunity and asked myself to truly train as a monk, to think like a monk. Body, speech and mind. For my own understanding, and because of the support of the community. With so many teachers, good information and good environment, I gained an understanding of the path that is unshakable. I am not saying that I knew everything. But I finally understood the practice. I knew which direction to go, and that I had much to learn.
Unlike before, I now think that it’s good to be a short term monk if one isn’t just keeping up the appearance. Train like a monk inside and out. Chances are that one will gain understanding and maybe even consider staying as a monk. In any case, one can learn a lot!
Here are a few more pictures:
Getting ready to shave off the hair and eyebrows.
Receiving the requisites from Mom.
A snapshot with friends.
