November 2017
This is the highest ranking Buddhist in the town of Kushinigar, he is Burmese and he was celebrating his 82nd birthday.
Nelson Chama, member of the Board of Directors of LBDFI and a resident of Rio de Janiero
After cutting his cake he fed the honored people surrounding him, it was really sweet, and yes, I was also honored with a bite of cake by his hand.
Stanzin found these young nuns as adorable as I did and brought them extra cake with lots and lots of frosting
The closing ceremony for the Tipitaka Chanting ceremony included a walk by all the participants to the Rhamabhar Stupa which marks where Buddha was cremated.
It is always quite a site to see two columns of monks walking for several miles along the busy streets of any town.
After circumambulating the stupa twice they stood on the lawn and chanted for quite a while. It was a lovely, lovely moment.
We have two young monks traveling with us from Thailand that have been carrying statues of Buddha with them everywhere. Taking these statues to the holy sites imbues them with goodness and holiness. I caught this intimate and sweet moment where they were placing the Buddha’s on the stupa and praying. They both will take these statues to their parents the next time they see them.
People place lotus flowers, candles and gold at most holy Buddhist sites.
The march to the stupa was followed by a quick ceremony at the Royal Thai Temple.
The grounds and the classic Thai architecture of this monastery are breathtaking. I understand the Queen has had much to do with the building of the temple, but their website is in Thai so I was not able to get much information. They also, apparently, have stunning accommodations, but you must be a Thai citizen to utilize them.
Dr. Jaran a high ranking Thai monk and U Javana, a high ranking Burmese monk asked that I take their picture in this stunning building.
