Budism

Steven Phimsipasom, my best friend and now “Buddhist mentor”, is extremely active in attending his temple and practicing his faith outside of the temple as well. He is a Lao Buddhist, traveling to

The first two hours were through and it was time to get up from prayer. This part of the Buct Baat was rather radical to me though. All of the women got up and began cooking in the kitchen which was in the temple more toward the entrance. They cooked a light meal that was served to the abbot first and then the rest of the monks. All of the portions left over were evenly distributed to the people in attendance, and as quickly as the meal was prepared, it was over. Not even an hour passed and the gong sounded again. All gathered in the main prayer room. This time a silent prayer ensues and there is not a sound in the room for the next thirty minutes or so. This is a moment of deep prayer and recollection. This proved to be the closure of the ceremony and the end of the service. Many stayed in the kneeling prayer position for a long time after it was over, but after the final gong, the people were allowed to get up and leave. The abbot and monks retreated to behind the statue, and soon after mostly everyone else got up to leave.

First a spokesperson came and spoke of a few points concerning the prayer and temple activity. He introduced me to the rest of the gathering as a young man researching the temple and faith, as if me being there had to be justified to the rest of the people. Whatever the case may be, it was extremely quiet for a few moments after he was done speaking and the sound of chiming bells or symbols was heard from behind the statue of Siddhartha soon after. An extremely old man, the abbot , came out walking with his eyes closed, guided by two other monks holding each hand, and was seated directly in front of the golden statue. After placing his feet in the lotus position and curling his hands up by his heart, the parade of monks came from behind the statue and placed themselves on the same plane as the statue sitting on both the left and right sides in plain view. They too placed there feet in the lotus position but placed their hands on their knees. They were all positioned on the stage, a vast area only a foot off of the ground. A hard slap on the back of my head interrupted my viewing of the opening activity. Steven signaled, with an imperative look on his face, that I not look directly at the monks and bow my head only slightly and keep my eyes closed. I was not allowed to see the monks situate themselves, for I committed my first offense against this Buddhist session. The sound of every person taking a deep breath filled the room and Steven hit me again signaling I should open my eyes now. I saw now that each had a ceramic pot in front of them and there was a large ceramic pot in the front of the stage that was just set up.

During the prayer, each person got up and placed a small gift of food into the large ceramic pot that was placed in front of the stage. They were all gifts of health to the Buddhists, and this was done throughout the first two hours of prayer. This is called Sun Kawh , as I would be informed at the end of the Buct Baat. The food placed in the pot is blessed by a monk who, during the prayer, walks around with a wand of bound smaller bamboo sticks. He dips the stick in the fountain of blessed water, sprinkles it in the pot, and says a small prayer to himself. He then proceeds to sprinkle each person with the blessed water until all have been blessed. I was blessed with a waive of the large wand but not with the blessed water. Steven later translated a conversation with a monk saying that the water is reserved for a true Buddhist and not anyone else. There were also bells and cymbals lightly rung during the prayer. These bells, Dorjes and Dripus, are symbolic of peace and harmony during the prayer and truly did relax me upon hearing them.

Passing a large boulder embedded in the dirt-front yard, I was on my may to venturing within. Going inside, the temple was still completely concrete, a dull sandstone color. There were seven rooms that made up the com

Some topics in this essay:
Buct Baat, Eddie’s Parade, Speaking Thai, Father Curry, Siddhartha Gautama, Lao Buddhist, Dorje Dripu, Catholic Church, Fordham Road, Vietnamese Buddhists, buct baat, main prayer, buddhist temple, people attendance, blessed water, lao buddhist, lotus position, gong sounded, ceramic pot, buddhist faith, lao buddhist temple, temple lao buddhist, ceramic pot front, feet lotus position, abbot begins citing,