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I may not be able to attend this important General Assembly Meeting at Wat Buddhatham-aram but I like to show my support in some other way. Wat Buddhatham-aram is the heart of Lao Buddhist community of Portland Oregon built in 1980 by faithful Buddhist worshipers and has grown since.
It is important that members attend this important meeting, as passed on to me this urgent message that on Sunday October 18, 2009 at 2pm, the community have the opportunity to restore and help the Lao Temple of Oregon back to how it once was. The community need 600 signatures to keep the temple and community at peace. This is critical, 600 signatures to avoid disbandment of the monks and the community.
Your voice is very important here, I believe the temple is having Thot Kathin this weekend, so please stop by and sign your name on Sunday October 18, 2009 at 2pm. Please tell your friends and family to help spread the word, 600 signatures are needed to restore Wat Buddhatham-aram and the Lao community of Portland Oregon.
Today was Ork Punsa at our local temple Wat Greensboro, also known as Greensboro Buddhist Center, but tomorrow is the day that marks the conclusion of the Rains retreat. The tradition of Buddhist Lent or the annual three-month Rains Retreat known in Laos and Thailand as Punsa, which dated back to the early Buddhism in ancient India, this is the time where monks spent three months of the annual rainy season in permanent dwellings. This is to avoid unnecessary traveling during the period when crops were still new for fear they might accidentally step on young plants. According to our sermon today, in the ancient time, the Lord Buddha left earth for 3 months to visit his mother up in heaven, he wanted to show his gratitude by chanting for her during this Lent period, and the day of Ork Punsa was the day that he returned to earth, and all the people came to greet him. It is also considered inauspicious to get married or move house during the Lent period, but after Ork Punsa, the calendar is open for weddings.
As I’ve mentioned before, according to our Buddhist belief, Tuk Badt or Alms giving is believed by many that it’s a Boun (merit making) of life, that they’ll live a long and healthy life, which technically speaking, by Tuk Badt, they’re offering foods to the monks to sustain their livelihoods.
Today’s Alms giving is called Tuk Badt Tayvo, its an old Thai tradition of Alms giving where the Buddhist worshipers would lineup and the monks come by to collect Alms, I’m not sure if it’s called the same in Lao. This made me think of the time that we lived in Kamphangphet, Thailand, we would Tuk Badt Tayvo with rice grains, and dried foods that way it would not get spoiled because there were long lines of Buddhist worshipers and hundreds of monks collecting Alms, it’s a beautiful sight to witness and to take part in the ceremony.
The tradition of Buddhist Lent or the annual three-month Rains Retreat known in Thai and Lao as Khao Pansa marks the beginning of the three month Buddhist ‘Lent‘. Laypeople provide monasteries with stacks of new robes for Lent monks, since during the Lent period monks are restricted to their monasteries for a prolonged period of spiritual retreat. Ordinary people are also expected to be rather more religious during this time, marriages do not take place and it is inauspicious to move house. This is a good time for young men to temporarily enter the monastery. (source)
As for our local temple, Wat Greensboro or Greensboro Buddhist Center, we’ve Buddhist service and Alms Giving every Sunday during the Rains Retreat. Our Wat (Temple) is looking to expand the Sala Hong Tham (worship hall) and we’ve the opportunity to broadcast part of the sermon on TV, I think it is going to be on NatSat TV.
Some Buddhist worshipers were there to Tum Boun (merit making) for their passed loved ones, the deceased names were written on a white piece of paper, then burned during the ceremony.
Lee Wai to pay respect during the ceremony.
Some pay respect by the big Buddha.
This sounds like a fun event to be a part of, Danny Bunyavong has been in the Twin Cities MN for a week now rehearsing for the Macy’s Glamorama fashion shows. This charity event will benefit Children’s Cancer Research Fund, and it’s this Friday, August 14, 2009 at 8 PM. The guest performers will be Ne-Yo, Kristinia DeBarge, and the New Standards. Danny will be a part of the fashion shows, taking the catwalk stage as one of the runway models and the confirmed designers that will be Marc Jacobs, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel, Just Cavalli, Sportmax, Maxmara and CNC Costume National. I know I can’t be there, but would love to watch the program on TV, I heard that it’ll be aired in the Twin Cities.
Description of the event,
A fashion and entertainment extravaganza that fuses famed musical headliners with the latest in fashion couture. Style, music, art and cuisine come together for this unique evening featuring the fusion of colors, patterns, textures, shapes and trends. City sophisticate, punk princess and the classic cowboy harmoniously come together for a stylishly chic scene.
- Send Me An Angel by Scorpions
Have you ever wondered why there are so many young novice monks in Laos, especially in Luang Prabang? Our Buddhist faith in Laos is not as strict as the Myanmar, where it’s their tradition that every Myanmar Buddhist boy average age between 7 and 13 is expected to enter the monastery as a novice for a period of a few weeks to months, it’s considered to be the most important day in the boy’s life.
But in Laos, we don’t have a tradition like that, but yet we see many young novice monks at the local temples. Back in the olden days, temples were the schools, especially if you’re poor, as there was no formal education system. This makes sense because the Buddha is a teacher, and monks provide basic lesson in both spiritual and secular subjects, and for some, this might be the only way to get an education, not just in the olden days, but also in today society.
During my visit to Laos and Thailand, after we got stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport, we went back to Vientiane Laos to catch our flight back home, and we stayed at a hotel that’s not too far from Wat Mixay. I didn’t get to take a picture of the entrance, and this is a borrowed photo from here.
My dad and I passed the temple gate, and saw school children playing in the temple ground and thought that the school must be nearby. We visited the temple and that’s when I realized that the school is at the temple, kind of surprised me at first because I didn’t expect to see this at all. The children are very happy.
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