December 2017
The 13th Annual Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony in Bodhgaya began on December 2nd this year. The first morning starts with a loud, decoration filled walk from the host temple, this year it was the Royal Thai Temple, to the Kalichakra.
The lead is a horse drawn carriage loaded with the Tipitaka chanting scripts.
The lead carriage
The head abbot and the Thai Temple
Before the parade begins, blessings are given by the head abbot, followed by fireworks and dancing.
The drums beat for the opening ceremony.
There was lots of dancing by both Thais and Indians.
Then the cutting of the ribbon so the parade could begin
The funny thing is, the parade had already started. The parade set up was on a horseshoe driveway, so they just started from the other end. This meant I ran the course 3 times to get all the entrants and goings on.
It is heartwarming and astounding to see how many countries participate in the Tipitaka Chanting ceremony.
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Some had floats elaborately decorated and others simply walked with lotus flowers, the symbol of Buddha
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The lay dignitaries rode in horse drawn carriages.
The lesser lay people and the important monks rode in highly decorated tuk-tuks
The horses were as decorated as the floats.
This is Nelson, a member of the B of D of LBDFI and one of my favorite nuns, Maechi Anita.
The term maechi has a fascinating history. It is technically illegal to be ordained as a Buddhist nun in Thailand, so they use the honorific maechi.
The drummers came along to provide noise.
Nelson with Ahajn Amaro, a highly respected Buddhist monk, originally from England.
The Zen Flower group from Viet Nam were major donors to the event, and a wonderful group of people.
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The Royal Thai temple
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All of this was followed by a long list of speakers at the welcoming ceremony before lunch at the Kalichakra.
Sri Nangzey Dorjee, the Secretary, and head of the exceptionally important Temple Management Council
More dancing was part of the program
Then we fed thousands.
After lunch was over these four to five thousand people all headed to the Mahabodhi Temple to sit under and around the Bodhi Tree for more speeches.
Raji Ramanan
The Master of Ceremonies was Raji Ramanan. I have had the absolute pleasure of getting to know Raji over the last several weeks. She is a gracious, beautiful and a highly intelligent, accomplished woman. She is an author, translator for the Dali Llama and a scholar. She kept the show flowing, even when the power went out and the microphones died.
The District Magistrate Kumar Ravi
Dr. Ravindra Panth, Advisor IBC of India and faculty member at GBU. I have had the pleasure to spend time with Dr. Panth over the last several weeks, he is as delightful as his smile, and a true gentleman.
The festivities went well into the night with gift giving and more speeches and finished with chanting. An auspicious way to open the ceremony.
I have said before, I do not know what it is about Indian events that require 4 to 5 hours of speeches, but the parade was fun and the program has begun.