Yesterday, Sunday, I went along to a Thai Buddhist ceremony at a house in Mold, the ceremony was for good luck, and it was a great day. My Thai friends and I set off at 8.15 in the morning, after I had stopped to take in the wonderful view of the meadows next to the river Dee, coated in frost and mist, from the elevated position of the road.
So... I'm not a Buddhist, but I've been to a couple of these ceremonies and I get the jist of whats going on, even though its all in Thai, and from my druidic practices i can understand in my own mind whats going on and appreciate the similarities in outlook and rituals, so this may not be an entirely accurate description from Buddhist eyes, it is my understanding from druidic eyes.
We were there early, bringing food, and as time went on, more and more people arrived, bringing more and more food with them, more being cooked in the kitchen, and the tables set up crammed with plates and bowls for the monks, who arrived later on in the morning.
First was some praying, then there was offering rice to the monks, we all got a bowl of cooked rice from the kitchen of from a table, and bowed before the monks, dividing our offering between 2 pots for the 2 monks.
Then as traditional, the monks were taken to the table to eat first, from their pots of rice and anything from the food laid out on the tables. More and more food was brought out from the kitchen and offered to them. When they had eaten their fill, it was open buffet for the rest of us, it was a really relaxed friendly affair, people mingling or sitting around in groups sharing the food around. The leftover rice from the monks' pots was brought round and shared between everyone as this was good luck.
After we'd all eaten so much food that we could barely move, there were more prayers, chanting and then the blessing for the water - when the monks blesses his bowl of water, we also pour water from a cup or bottle into a bowl or other container, so that as it pours through the air, it is also pouring through the chanted blessing and is itself blessed. Next we, and the house were blessed by water by the monk, who went round splashing water over and around us, before our own poured water is taken outside and used to water plants outside, taking the blessing into the outside world. Any water left over from the monk's blessing is bottled to drink later.
As far as I know, the monks are not 'paid' for their work, they survive on what is offered to them, so as well as the food from today's meal, people had bought shopping, groceries for them, and this was given to them at the end as another part of the ritual. They have a small cloth bag which is laid out and the groceries or anything else, was put on the table, on top of the bag, for the monk to accept.
At the end of the day, any remaining food is bagged or boxed up and taken away to eat at home, at work that night I shared steamed fish with cabbage, rice and mushroom and bamboo soup to finish off the day's ceremony.
