here are two slideshows of photos from the Kathina, followed by a statement on the celebrations

photographs taken by Mr. Khoo Teng Seng

photographs taken by Mr. Neal Nirmal Ariyapala

Statement regarding the Kathina Celebrations

November 12th, 2008

Dear Friends and Devotees,

The General Committee has asked me to write something regarding the changes that were introduced in the Kathina programme this year as some people were dissatisfied with the changes that have been made. This is quite natural, of course, as change is always welcome to some and seen as unnecessary by others, and we cannot expect it to be any different this time either. The decision on the changes was not made lightly but after much discussion in the temple and amongst the devotees and all concerned, and was eventually passed unanimously at a meeting of the full Committee on 27th July this year.

Let us consider why the changes have been introduced, and to do that we have to look at the foundation of the Kathina ceremony in the first place. The Lord Buddha gave the allowance for this ceremony following an incident in which monks' robes had been spoiled during the period after the first Rains Retreat, in order for the spoiled robes to be replaced by the laity.

When introducing this allowance, however, only one robe was allowed by the Lord Buddha to be designated as the Kathina robe and that was meant to replace an old and worn out robe which was no longer usable. It was not envisaged at the time that many robes - let alone hundreds of robes! - would be given to the Sangha or any member of it. Indeed what could one monk, who is restricted to the wearing of a set of 3 robes by the Patimokkha rules, do with hundreds of robes? It is evidently unnecessary and contradicts the frugal lifestyle of the monks, which serves as an example for the rest of the Buddhist Community.

You may be surprised to learn - as this is hardly ever the case these days - that at the Kathina ceremony this year the robe that was offered did indeed go to replace an old and worn out robe, and is now currently designated as one of the 3 robes which we, as monks, are allowed to possess and wear, and this was done in accordance with the original intention of the Lord Buddha.

Somewhere around 40 or so robes were offered personally to the monks at this year's Kathina and you may also be surprised that virtually all of them were left behind at the temple when the monks left. You may ask yourself why this is so? The answer is that the monks simply have no use for them. Over the past month most of the monks have probably received a score or so of robes each, none of which serve any purpose at all, as most of them are satisfied with the robes they have on their backs.

It may be thought that devotees who gain merit by making offerings of robes will now lose out. But first of all let me say that we are in no way preventing people from giving robes to the monks, or any other allowable requisites that the devotees may wish to donate, they are as free to do so now as they ever have been. But for the reasons stated above we are no longer encouraging it, and because of that the temple is no longer selling the robes.

It may also be thought that there will now be a loss of income to the temple because of these changes. However we are now encouraging people to make direct donations to the temple maintenance and development fund, and Lord Buddha has specifically stated that building (or helping to build) a monastery is much more meritorious than giving robes, so there will surely be no loss involved for the devotees who contribute in this way, and we are confident that when support is needed it will be as forthcoming from our faithful devotees as it always has been in the past.

The spirit of the Kathina celebrations is in any case not a fiscal issue, but rather one of Community. Vesakh and Kathina, which are the main celebrations in the Buddhist year, play an important part in bringing together the Sangha and the Buddhist Lay Community in a common endeavour to listen to, practise, and uphold the teaching of the Lord Buddha. During the Kathina celebrations this year, for instance, which lasted from Friday to Sunday we had more than 3 hours of Dhamma teaching, the chanting of the Maha Parittam, and on the Kathina day itself many of our devotees were able not just to offer the Kathina robe which was passed round for all to participate in, but also helped with the sewing of the robe and its subsequent dyeing and presentation, and as you can see from photographs above this brought much joy to the people who participated in these activities, and we intend next year to make efforts to fully involve everyone in these participatory activities.

In recent months we have made many efforts at the temple to make the Teaching of Lord Buddha available to people by holding regular meditation classes, Dhamma talks, presentations, video shows and discussions on Buddhist topics. We have restarted the Children's Dhamma School, which had been defunct for a number of years, so that the devotees' children can quite rightly be introduced to the Teaching from a young age. We have also arranged occasional one off events like the 5-day Qi Gong course and healing sessions, and the up-and-coming One Day Meditation Retreat with Ajahn Suthep. We have also kept up the old traditions of the temple by including regular and popular activities long associated with the temple, like the holding of Bodhi Puja on the New and Full Moons, Blessing Ceremonies for examinations, houses and people alike, as well as the daily Puja and Dana offerings.

Bearing all this in mind we very much hope that devotees will think that the new system and activities being held at the temple are worthy of their attention and will continue to give the favourable support that they have given in the past. Our wish is to see that the Buddha's Teaching is correctly implemented and taught to the people so that it may be the same blessing it has been to mankind for the past 2,500 and more years, and so that it will continue to be so in the future, for the happiness, welfare and benefit of all living beings.

With much metta,

Anandajoti Bhikkhu,
Resident Monk,
Bodhi Lankarama Buddhist Temple