Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Kathina: End of "Buddhist Lent" (Nov. 3-4)

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Kathina: End of "Buddhist Lent" (Nov. 3-4)

Bhante, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit; Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara

I love my monastic robes, samanera at Shwedagon Pagoda, Buddhist Burma

Los Angeles Kathina Ceremony, 920 N. Summit Ave., Pasadena CA 91103 (LABV)

Theravada monk in Sri Lanka (pinterest.com)

Kathina is a Buddhist festival that comes at the end of Vassa (Buddhist "Lent"), the three-month rainy season retreat for Theravada Buddhists in India, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Laos.

The time during which a monastery may hold Kathina is one month long, beginning after the full moon of the 11th month in the Lunar calendar (usually October).

It is a time of giving, for lay Buddhists to express gratitude to monastics. They bring donations to temples, particularly new monastic robes for nuns and monks. In Sri Lanka Buddhists offer the "eightfold requisites" (atapirikara, අටපිරිකර).

Origins

Robert, we should follow? - Yes, your holiness

Kathina is a Pali (the exclusively Buddhist language) word referring to the sturdy wooden frame used to measure the length and width by which the special monastic robes are cut.

As the legend goes 30 Buddhist monastics (at that time "wandering ascetics" or shramans) were journeying with the intention of spending the Rains Retreat with the Buddha.

However, the rains began before they reached their destination, so they had to stop at Saketa. According to the Buddha's guidelines for the Rains, mendicant wandering ascetics should refrain from traveling during the rainy season as they might unintentionally harm crops and the prolific insect life during their journeys. As such, they had to stop.

The monastics passed their time together without conflict, practicing Dharma. Therefore, afterwards, the Buddha rewarded them by demonstrating a way to practice sharing and generosity (dana).

A lay disciple had previously donated pieces of cloth to the Buddha, so he gave the pieces to the group of monastics and told them to cut and sew it into a robe and then offer it as a gift to one of them who had practiced most assiduously... More

Rains Retreat in Los Angeles

Dear Friends in Dhamma:

We [Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara] are delighted to inform everyone that the Rains Retreat Dharma Program offered by LABV was a great success. It was a great opportunity for a lot of people to learn and practice the supreme teachings of the Buddha.

All the Dharma talks delivered in Sinhalese and English have been uploaded into the temple's YouTube channel. The Dharma talks were conducted on various interesting Dharma topics

by erudite and virtuous monks.

We would like to extend our sincere and respectful thanks to all the venerable monks who generously shared their Dharma knowledge by conducting these talks. At the same time, we sincerely appreciate all the devotees who sponsored the talks by proving facilities for the monks and all of the participants.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who attended these spiritual programs and those who helped us to make this Dharma program a success. With metta, LABV
Links to listen to Dhamma Talks