KANCHANABURI (PART 2)

A MORNING AT THE TEMPLE: THE BUDDHA DAY

#attimidiordinariafotografia

Three novice monks light candles at an altar in honour of the Buddha - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

A dog yawns on the legs of its owner gathered in prayer - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

Some monks gathered in prayer near the offerings of the faithful - Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

---

As I mentioned in one of the first posts on this page, having arrived in Thailand one cannot help but notice the strong presence of Buddhism everywhere. A feature that is undoubtedly of great interest if one wants to try to understand in more depth the infinite levels of reality that surrounds us. When I first met Nam, I had only recently begun to discover this country and was grappling with the classic mountain of information, notions, and curiosities that daily heightens one's awareness of the bigger picture while blurring its boundaries. One day, sensing my curiosity and attending the temple regularly, she asked me if I would like to go there with her the next morning. She would introduce me to some monks and I would be able to see for myself certain things we had talked about.

The Buddhist calendar varies according to the different schools of thought and geographical areas in which it is followed, but in general the moon is always of great significance and importance in determining the importance of a day. In Theravada Buddhism, the one followed in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, it is the phases of the moon (the new moon, the full moon and the two half moons in between) that designate the Uposatha, the days - usually one for each week - on which to go to the temple. These, precisely because they follow the monthly course of the moon, are not fixed, falling at different times of the week and varying from year to year.

That day for example was a Friday and they had even brought schoolchildren to the temple to follow the ceremony. Before it began, Nam showed me the different ways and types of offerings, intended partly for the monks and partly for the neediest people in the community. To begin with, we left bags of food and water on a step later used by the group of monks as an altar from which to recite mantras while seated; then, going to the outdoor area immediately in front of one of the temple entrances, we emptied a bag of ready-made rice into more or less equal portions inside the numerous metal bowls placed in a row. These bowls, which can also be made of clay and have different sizes, represent one of the basic elements of every monk's equipment and perform various functions in his daily life - from alms collector to food dish.

When the ceremony was over, I followed along with Nam and other women dressed in white, an additional function reserved for them and the monks who officiated at it. Only later did she explain to me that she was part of a group of lay women who chose to follow 8 or 10 precepts of Buddhist life.

---