Robe Offering on A Crisp Day

As Fall is coming to a close, the sky has been getting cloudless, an azure tapestry seemingly stretching till the edge of the world, our visual world of course. Concomitantly, it gets chilly even during the day, prompting us to switch on the heater in the house. But it sure makes a good day to spend outdoor when suitably clothed.

Thus bundled up appropriately, we set off for Clearwater yesterday (Nov 17, 2007) morning, the entourage including CE and Yu Huei. We were on our way to attend the 2nd Robe Offering Celebration organized by Dhamma Wheel Meditation Society (DWMS) under the auspices of Bhante Dhammawansha and his fellow Sangha from around the area (St. Petersburg and Bradenton) and as far as away as Washington DC, LA, Michigan, Canada, and Sri Lanka, 15 in all.

This is our second attendance, the tradition having started last year.

We arrived just in time, just when the sangha was entering the premises, wify bringing along a vegetarian curry dish, Yu Yuei several bunches of juicy bananas, me my faithful Canon Powershot A75, and CE, well, just herself, in a casual outfit topped up (pardon the pun) with a baseball cap.

As was last year, the solemn ceremony started with the Bhantes filing along the food table, alms bowls in hand ready to receive the food, symbolically, from the devotees. The actual food was served once the Bhantes were seated in the house. Then it was our turn to partake of the vegetarian food offering, a concerted preparation by all volunteers.

Symbolic food offering.

Serving the Sangha.

Our turn at the gastronomical pursuit, CE standing in her cool outdoor outfit.

Thus satiated, the Bhantes took their seats at the outdoor pavilion, the sun by then beaming down, illuminating the tent top in a magnificent hue. The ceremony commenced with devotees offering robes to the Bhantes in turn, following the cue from the MC who read off the names of offerees. Wify participated too.

The start of the robe offering ceremony, under the Sun's full stare, glistening the White Buddha Statue.

Wify's offering stance, full of humility and reverence.

After a brief welcoming speech by Bhante Dhammawansha, the resident monk of DWMS, he invited Bhante Muditha to deliver a Dhamma talk on happiness and living now as summarized below:

Robe offering is a 25-century old Theravedian tradition. It's a ceremony, not a ritual, to mark the support for Buddhist dispensation. The robe is hailed as the banner of saints, worn by the monks and nuns who dedicate themselves to self practice and to deliver the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha.

It's an act of generosity that accumulates merits, the robe fulfilling one of the four requisites, cloths. The other three are food, shelter, and medicine.

Our worldly happiness, acquired by constantly looking beyond ourselves, is neither endurable nor long lasting. It's only by looking inward, by supporting the sangha, by generating metta, by engaging in meditation, by practicing good virtues and morality that we can accomplish the three acts of Dana, Sila, and Bhavana. Then we will be able to remove all the negativities and impurities, extricate ourselves from samsara, the circle of existence, and attain nibbana where true happiness resides, and which follows us like a shadow.

The pious ceremony concluded with the acknowledgment of appreciation by Richard Baksa and a closing blessing from the Bhantes. Thus blessed, and a bottle of blessed water in wify's hand, we embarked homebound, secured in our fulfilling yet another meritorious act toward Dhamma bliss.

Devotees lining up to receive the blessed water.

A Virtuous and Meritorious Day to Remember

A regular activity of my wife's cohort of buddhist adherents is the monthly ritual of releasing life. While Buddhism advocates that one shall not kill and terminate the life of another sentient being, releasing life is considered as a virtuous deed that can accumulate merits to one's good karma, hence begetting good consequences in a future life.

The activity is carried out in the morning at the water's edge, be it bayside or riverside. First, the entourage will stop at a pre-determined fish bait shop in the vicinity of the chosen location. Using the donations received from fellow adherents, we will buy bucketful of juvenile fish, shrimps, and sometimes, crabs, all live ones (I always tag along as I'm the designated driver since my Minivan can seat 8 passengers, and also the photographer, armed with my Canon Powershot A35).

Now, a site reconnaissance is first conducted to ascertain that the proposed site is accessible, that there is a fish bait shop nearby and it opens for business early in the morning, and that the place is not frequented by either fishing enthusiasts or preying birds for obvious reasons.

Not obvious? Then for one thing, fishing enthusiasts have a nose for where fishes congregate and where fishes are found aplenty, the juveniles that we release would have vanished instantly into the food chain, thereby defeating the purpose of our efforts. While some may view this as a symbolic act, due diligence must be exercised that their chances for survival are maximized. As for the preying birds, we usually have a trick up our sleeve, by feeding bread crumbs to them first, which in itself is a meritorious deed as well. Having their appetites satiated, the birds are less likely to swoop down on the temporarily disoriented juveniles, which can be traumatized during the release operation.

One of the adherents always provides the pails and portable aerators for keeping the juveniles alive during the short transit to the chosen location. Once at the chosen location, the ritual starts with the chanting of the Great Compassion Mantra and the Heart Sutra. Then the juveniles are released when the contents of the pails are poured gently into the water.

Today is the first time we have the ritual at the river side, actually is more like a canal, the Tampa Bypass Canal, which shunts the river discharge from the upstream of the Hillsborough River directly into the Bay during high rainfall events. But we added a new life to be released: earthworms, which are bought at the same bait shop, four cans-ful of them. But instead of pouring the can contents into the water, they are poured into shallow holes dug near the river bank then backfilled where they can then burrow to their heart's content without having to worry about wandering birds/chicken.

We left the house at 7.15am and by 9.10am, the ritual of release life was over, for today. Seeing the juveniles swimming away in a carefree fashion, instead of being gobbled up as baits at the end of a fish hook, filled our hearts with compassion, and permeated our minds with wonderful thoughts of the benevolence of life.

But for today, that wonderful feeling continued. This time, at 10.30am, the destination was the first Annual Robe Offering Celebration of the Dhamma Wheel Meditation Society held at Clearwater. Laden with cooked food ranging from fried noodles, vegetable dishes, to fresh-cut fruits (my wife prepared two bowls of water melon and strawberries), we arrived at the destination at the nick of time (my fault as I was busy talking about the recently concluded US election with my front seat passenger and missed the turn into State Route 60 from the I-275 bridge crossing the Tampa Bay. So instead of going to Clearwater directly to the north, we ended up at St. Pete at the south because there is no U-turn on the I-275 bridge and we had to make a long detour to the south first).

But as I said, we arrived just when the ceremony was about to start with food offering to the various Bhante (the equivalent of Venerable in Pali) monks (thirteen in all). The adherents stood on a line next to the serving table and the Bhantes then walked by in a line on the opposite side, their bowls gradually filled up by food items picked up and offered by the adherents.

This is the most meritorious of alms giving, offering food, clothing, shelter, and robes to the sangha, any community of Buddhist monks. That done, the bhantes then sat on two opposite rows, with the apex occupied by the white statue of the Buddha, seemingly presiding over the ceremony. This was the setting for the robe offering ceremony. The adherents took turns to offer the robes stacked neatly on a table in their names as sponsors to each Bhante in turn.

This was followed by the award of certificates to newly ordained adherents, each being given a Buddhist name in Pali with the meaning explained. The ceremony concluded with a Dharma talk on the significance of the robe offering and the associated merit gathering aspect, and lastly, an acknowledgment of appreciation from the Dhamma Wheel Meditation Society (DWMS) to all concerned who had helped make this a solemn and virtuous event.

Thanks were also extended to the congregation of Unity Church, the ever helpful neighbor, for their continued support of DWMS. This inter-faith cooperation is especially credit-worthy and inspiring and should auger well for a peaceful world.

Today has indeed been a wondrous day, and we have all been blessed in more ways than one. May all beings be well, happy and peaceful, as written on the program sheet. And I extend the same to all those who visit my blog, and pray that you would likewise extend the same wish to all with whom you cross path.

P.S. I’ve been using the term "adherents" but the term used by DWMS is "practitioners". To the extent that Buddhism emphasizes the practice of the various Buddha teachings and their embracing as a way or philosophy of life, I would agree that “practitioners” would be a more appropriate and meaningful description than “adherents”, which may imply blindly following of a faith. Henceforth, I will use “practitioners”.