A Belated Account of Vesak Day Celebration, 2008

As mentioned here, we attended three local celebrations of Vesak Day, an annual occasion to commemorate the life, the enlightenment, and the passing of Buddha. Other than the one held at Guang Ming Temple, Orlando, which follows the Mahayana (The Great Vehicle) tradition, the other two were held at the St. Pete area that practice the Theravadan (the Hinayana or the Small Vehicle) tradition. Despite the allusion of sectarianism, the spirit enshrined in the Buddhist celebration is integral to both traditions, and the messages, equally uplifting and humbling at the same time.

The first of the latter was held on May 3, 2008 at the premises of the Unitarian Universalist Church, Clearwater under the auspices of Dhamma Wheel Meditation Society (DWMS) located just across the road. The second, sponsored by Samadhi Buddhist Meditation Center of St. Pete, was held on May 31, 2008 at Chinese Community Church, Clearwater, the venue of Middle Way Buddhist Association (MWBA), Pinellas Park.

This brief blog, admittedly a belated one, serves as a succinct pictorial account of both joyous occasions, reminding us to aspire toward the Perfection of Wisdom that is beyond our conventional rational, dualistic mode of thinking, and that nothing exists independently as form and emptiness are but both sides of the same coin, to put in worldly terms, as exemplified by Buddha and underpinned by the Dharma. Read here for a more complete coverage of the May 31, 2008 event and visit the DWMS and MWBA websites for more photos of the two events.

A cross-faith electronic display put up by the Unity Church of Clearwater located just next to DWMS, symbolizing inter-faith harmony (May 3, 2008).

The pre-ceremony procession making its way across the road to the venue, led by the bearer of the Baby Buddha statue flanked by two bearers of the Dharma Wheels, followed by the Venerables and attendees (May 3, 2008).

Another angle of the procession, this time offering an unobstructed view of the community of Venerables who were to lead the celebration (May 3, 2008).

A pre-ceremony screening of a film on the aftermath of the Typhoon devastation inflicted on the Myanmar coastal area and the relief efforts (May 31, 2008).

The Venerables gracing the occasion (May 31, 2008).

One of the many spiritual performances, Devotional drumming by Marvin A. Sotoamaya (May 31, 2008).

Celebrating Buddha's Birthday and Mother's Day Festival

The Month of May is a blessed month for Buddhists all over the world. It is in this month that Vesak Day is celebrated, commemorating the birth, the life, and passing of the Buddha. Hence, in May, Buddhist temples and centers the world over organize a rolling series of celebrations for local Buddhists and lay persons alike.

As in past years, we participated in a couple, and will be attending another one toward the end of the Month. Guang Ming Temple of Orlando is one such venue. To take advantage of the Mother's Day that also falls in the month of May, the organizers have combined the two into a Celebrating Buddha's Birthday and Mother's Day Festival on May 11 (Sunday). And there's where we headed last Sunday.

The day's programs included Buddha's bathing ceremony, Chinese book fair, and cultural performances. We arrived in the afternoon to join a throng of people mingling in the courtyard. This is our second visit to the temple, but the first after it has become fully functional. The first visit occured in July 2006 when wify attended the Taking the Three Refuges Ceremony conducted by Master Hsing Yun, the founder of Fo Guang Shan (the Buddha Light Mountain). Then only the Main Shrine (Precious Hall of the Great Hero, literaly translated from Chinese) was essentially completed for the ceremony to be held within its august bowel.

This time, the completed temple looks majestic with its gently upward curving roof line, like dragons on the verge of soaring high, and the architecture, elegant against the backdrop of azure sky. The morning service was already over when we arrived. So we helped ourselves to bathing the Buddha, after which we sauntered upstaris to view the Arts exhibition and visited the Book Fair held at the third floor. Here then is a pictorial chronicle of the sights as we sampled the events of the day on this auspicious day in the month of May.

The courtyard lined by food and souvenir stalls (just beyond the view to the sides here), the two tents providing shade from the afternoon sun for the audience enjoying the open-air performances. The small figurines standing on top of the roof edges are molded shapes of animal form (mythical? I can't tell).

A Kung Fu troupe just finishing performing and its protagonists of various ages lining up to deliver a traditional Chinese salute, the Shaolin style, a fist pressed against an open palm. According to the brochure on Guang Ming Temple, the geometric rectangles seen covering the floor of the courtyard "symbolizes rice paddies with weed growing around the edges. We meditate to help remove the weeds and desires from our mind so the harvest will be plentiful. It is also named "the great way to Buddhahood" because we need to walk through it to reach the Main Shrine (Buddha Hall). [Note that the courtyard is used for walking meditation.] Our mind is like the rice paddy. If we plant good seeds then we can reap merits and attain Buddhahood." Also, one of the two lions at each top corner of the courtyard is visible toward the back. "Lions represent bravey, strength and courage since the lion is the "king of all animals". Lions serve as guardians to ward off evil, and since the lions roar is very loud, it helps to awaken us from ignorance", the brochure continues.

Wify engaging with Sister Lana and an American attendee in front of a souvenir stall. In the background stood two Venerables looking at a game of rolling up balls along an inclined chute so that they would fall into holes at the top of the chute in progress. I guess this must be the brain child of the YAD, standing for the Young Adult Division of Buddha’s Light Int’l Association.

The tall urn, standing like a sentinel on guard at the entrance to the Main Shrine.

The Main Shrine fronted by a tableful of four baby buddhas facing each of the four cardinal directions amidst the floral arrangement. The centerpiece beyond is a porcelain white statue of the Buddha flanked by the Chinese inscription of the Heart Sutra, which in turn are abutted by about 80 images of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Guanyin Pusa), who is "the embodiment of great compassion for the troubled and suffering of the world. She will come to the aid of anyone who invokes her name sincerely and mindfully."

Wify doing the honor of bathing the buddha with a wooden ladle, rather gingerly.

CE's turn (actually this was taken about a week after when CE, and WT, came with us to attend the Dharma Talk delivered by Venerable Yung Han on May 17, but it did fit in with the occasion nicely, don't you think?)

The Gatha for bathing the Buddha in Chinese and English. They were actually pasted on two pillars opposite to each other but were combined here.

The significance of bathing the buddha described in English and Chinese. Again these appeared on opposite walls. You would have to click the image to be able to read the contents that would surely enlighten you appropriately.

Some of the drawings displayed on the wall at the Arts gallery on the second floor.

The entrance to the Book Fair on the third floor. Wonder what the parasols signify?

Wify leafing through a book at the Gardening and Hobby Section.

A Sand Mandala: A Buddhist Symbol for Impermanence

We read about another Vesak Day celebration in the Bay area, scheduled for June 10, 2007, on the June 7, 2007 issue of St. Petersburg Times (Tampa & State, pg.4B).

This time, the venue is Chua Phat Phap Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple that we have visited earlier as blogged here.

However, this one has an addition: the display of a sand mandala. According to Wikipedia, while mandala is Sanskrit ("circle", "completion") and has a Hindu origin, "in the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. In practice, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective."

The Wikipedia article further adds:

"To symbolize impermanence (a central teaching of Buddhism), after days or weeks of creating the intricate pattern, the sand is brushed together and is usually placed in a body of running water to spread the blessings of the Mandala."

"The visualization and concretization of the mandala concept is one of the most significant contributions of Buddhism to religious psychology. Mandalas are seen as sacred places which, by their very presence in the world, remind a viewer of the immanence of sanctity in the universe and its potential in his or her self. In the context of the Buddhist path the purpose of a mandala is to put an end to human suffering, to attain enlightenment and to attain a correct view of Reality. It is a means to discover divinity by the realization that it resides within one's own self."

As shown in the following scanned copy of the St. Pete news, Venerable Tashi, a Tibetan monk based in Bradenton and who was also present in the last two Vesak Celebrations featured in my blog, is a picture of rapt concentration, deftly guiding the tiny flow of colored sand grains issuing from a small tube by rubbing a metal object against the tube's notched surface to form an intricate design of a mandala, which was gradually taking shape as shown in the bottom picture. What a painstaking undertaking indeed.


Today, we made a beeline to Chua Phat Phap Buddhist Temple. The completed mandala was placed in front of the stage in the sanctuary, which was slowly being filled by a constant stream of Buddhist practitioners and other attendees, patiently waiting for the service to begin. We were informed by the usher that indeed the sand mandala will be destroyed after the service and the sand, filled in small bags to be given to the attendees.

Mom and son at the front compound of Chua Phat Phap Buddhist Temple.

I was able to take a picture of the sand mandala before the service, which looked much more vivid than its black and white half-completed counterpart in the paper. However, I take heed of the significance of the symbolic act of creating and destroying the sand mandala, it being the impermanence of things.