As with previous years, I went to the Seck Kia Eenh (SKE) temple in the morning with dad. The first we did was we joined other devotees along the streets to take part in the "pindapata", or offering of alms to the monks. This act is considered very meritorious. Here are some pictures:
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| Donating and getting the rice for the monks |
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| The head monk leads. Devotees kneel with rice to be placed into his bowl. |
There were 10 monks carrying silver bowls. We had to make sure there's enough rice for each monk. The last monk almost always gets the most - lucky fella :-) I didn't hear them say thank you, but I guess they did in the Pali language and in their hearts. Maybe I was too excited to hear them say it!
Immediately after this, dad and I walked back to the temple under the scorching morning sun. There, we waited for the monks to return and receive alms from the rest of the devotees. I'll try upload the video clip a little later.
The night before, there was a procession. I was there with the Tzu Chi organisation (more on this in another post). There were floats - you can see some photos of the procession in Blog to Learn too. I've never been this close in a procession. This time, for once, it was well worth the wait...
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| The head monk on a float blessing everyone with holy water. No, Shell didn't sponsor the monks or the float :-) |
We were allowed to approach one particular float as closely as we could. When this float arrived, it stopped, and showers of blessing were sprinkled on our heads. No, this act doesn't cleanse our sins; it's a symbol that we've been blessed and hopefully we will be better people with such blessings.
It was a very sweaty day for me. I don't know how much water in my body was used up as a result of the terrible heat. It was the same the previous night, too.
1 comment:
happy wesak day to u n family. :)
this year i didnt follow dad n mom to temple. lol.
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