Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Dietmar Temps (dietmartemps.com, DeepBlue66/flickr.com)
Novitiate initiation in Pagan, Burma (Bagan, Myanmar)
For a boy in Burma it is customary to
enter a Buddhist monastery as a novice (
samanera, "little ascetic") between the ages of 7-20.
One has his head shaven and vows to adhere to ten precepts (rather than the monks' 227 rules) for at least a week.
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| The renunciation ceremony |
Sometimes the boys are even younger, in rare cases only 5 or 6 years old. For Burmese people, the novitiate initiation is a very important ceremony and a big event for the family.
The temporary ordination ceremony is called
Shinbyu in Burmese. The practice is not limited to Theravada Buddhists in Southeast Asia but is practiced throughout the Buddhist world except in Sri Lanka where
temporary ordination is not done.
The first Buddhist novice was the Buddha's son, Prince Rahula, who became a monastic at age 7.
The first novice
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| Rahula, his father the Buddha, and Ananda |
Rāhula (who lived at least 25 centuries ago) was the only son of Prince Siddhartha Gautama (who later became the ascetic Siddhartha and then the Buddha) and his wife Bimba-
devi (who is known to the world as
Princess Yasodharā then the Buddhist nun Ven. Bhaddakaccānā). He was the first child to become a Buddhist novice (
samanera) at his father's behest. One account of his life is given in the Pāli language canon.
More
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| Bang the gong not the tympani, venerable. I'll ring the bell, handle the vajra. You guys chant. |
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| Vajrayana child novices enjoy temporary ordination throughout the Himalayas -- in India (Ladakh, Dharmsala, AP, HP, Sikkim...), Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China (dietmartemps.com) |
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| Dietmar Temps is a world class photographer who travels the globe to bring to light cultures and kids rapidly fading into memory due to Western hegemony and the homogenization of the planet (dietmartemps.com). |
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