A Forest Blog

Being aware of attachments is so freeing. Seeing them for what they are, there is nothing left to do but letting go. Walking on the path to ending suffering and stress.

On Sunday, April 11, 2010, Buddhist Temple of America celebrated Songkran, Thai New Year. Like other major events, many people attended the celebration, and many people valunteered to provide food for the visitors. I wasn’t able to stay long, but here are a few pictures:

Venerable teachers making the almsround.

Venerable teachers making the almsround.

Long line of people waiting for their turns to offer food.

Here are a couple of pictures of the interior of the Chedi (pagoda) that’s been built to house holy relics in the future, at least 108 different kinds of Buddha and other Awakened Ones’ relics. We are hoping that the construction will be completed in just a few months.

On this Sunday, Ven. Sivali's relic is housed in the small pagoda for the visitors to pay respect.

Ven. Sivali's relic

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.