31st Anniversary Celebration of Wat Greensboro Buddhist Center

We celebrated the 31st Anniversary Celebration of Wat Greensboro Buddhist Center in Greensboro, North Carolina last Sunday, March 19, 2017.  Back in the 80s, we had a very small Buddhist community in this area. We fled from our war-torn countries, some immigrated from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The Thai community was small in the 80s. We couldn’t speak each other’s languages but what we have in common is the belief of the Buddhist teachings. The original founders rented a house for 2 years, then purchased this place 31 years ago. We are fortunate to have Ven. Phramaha Somsak Sambimb as the temple abbot that fluently speaks Khmer, Thai and English. Wat  Greensboro welcomes members, visitors, and educators that seek to practice and learn more about the Buddhist teachings.

We have generous members that donated to the temple building fund. We recently had a new roof installed last year, a new carport for the holiday events’ vendors installed this year, the paving is a work in progress.

We have completed the men and women’s bathrooms project on January 1, 2017.

We have volunteers that help make these projects possible and also help cleaning up the temple ground on the weekends. The temple sits on a 10 arcs lot and during the clean up the crew members found an old Spirit house that has been hidden from view of the overgrown bamboo trees. We are thankful for all the work that they have done for the temple and their dedications to make Wat Greensboro great again.

The 31st Anniversary service was held in the Buddha’s room.

Alms-giving

The foods prepared for the monks.

Money offering to the temple and monks.

Ven. Phramaha Somsak Sambimb giving the sermon.

Pouring water merit making ceremony.

Offering foods to the monks.

We have young dancers practicing for the upcoming Songkran event in April, looking forward to seeing them perform.

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1st Sart Festival (Kanben) or Merit Making Transference at Wat Greensboro

We celebrated 1st Sart Thai Festival at Wat Greensboro on Sunday, September 18, 2016. The temple called it small Sart day, and the big Sart day will be in 2 weeks. Sart day is a Buddhist tradition where it’s a memorial day for the dead, it is a time to remember dead relatives and merit making on their behalves. This is a belief that once a year the hell gates open for 15 days for the deceased ancestors to visit their living relatives. Lao people called it Boun Kao Padap Din where the Laotians also believe that once a year the hell gates open for souls in hell to come visit the living world. People would leave foods around the temple gates or under big trees as offering to the spirits.

Almsgiving

Foods offering to the monks.

Please see more photos at Wat Greensboro’s Facebook 1st Sart Festival (Kanben) or Merit Making Transference

The Buddhist Lent Day 2016

Sunday, July 17, 2016 was the Buddhist Lent Day at our local temple Wat Greensboro. On the day we also observed Asalha Puja Day, the day of the announcement of the first sermon of the Buddha also known as the Sangha Day. The Buddhist Lent Day is 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.

Alms’ Bowl.

Food offering to the monks.

Alms giving.

Offering the robes and candles to the monks.

Local vendors

Huge Jackfruit from Florida.

It’s nice to see that the offering flowers were mostly flowers from the garden.

Please visit Wat Greensboro’s Facebook to see more photos of The Buddhist Lent Day 2016.