The Buddhist Lent Day at Wat Greensboro

Sunday July 21, 2013 was the Buddhist Lent Day at our local temple Wat Greensboro. It is called Kao Punsa for the locals and it’s 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 that they might accidentally step on young plants. 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. It is also considered inauspicious to get married or move house during the Lent period, and after the end of the Lent period then the calendar is open for weddings.

My alms bowl.

This year we have a brand new orange shade cover, and it’s eye catching from a distance. When I took my first alm’s shot, I’ve noticed right away that people’s faces were orange color. I thought to myself that this can’t be good. I worked to adjust the color for this image below, but it’s still too orange to me.

I tried to adjust the remaining alms giving photos, but it was impossible for me to do so. My only solution was to convert the photos to black and white.