Kathina Day – Sunday, November 5, 2023
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Kathina Ceremony – November 5
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This year’s Kathina will take place on Sunday, November 5. As usual, it will be held outdoors in a big tent. This year we will be joined by Ajahn Nyaniko, the new abbot of Abhayagiri now that Luang Por Pasanno has stepped back, and by Ajahn Sek, who some of you may remember spent a few months with us in 2021. They will be with us for about a week including the Kathina ceremony and will return to Abhayagiri in time for their own shortly thereafter.
As always, everyone is welcome to attend and join in the occasion. The Kathina is a ceremony established by the Buddha and observed in Theravada Buddhist countries to the present day. The hallmark of this ceremony is an unsolicited offering of cloth with which the Sangha will sew a finished robe before the next dawn; that finished robe is then bestowed upon a senior monk chosen by the Sangha to be a worthy recipient. Organized by members of the lay community who wish to offer requisites and support to the monastery, this traditional ceremony also serves as an annual coming together for the lay and monastic communities and anyone who wishes to attend.
This year, for the first time, there has been no “main sponsor” of the Kathina who’s come forth wishing specially to facilitate the offerings and financial support usually offered to the monastery at this time. Instead various monastery supporters have asked for the occasion to take place, and so we have a date – November 5 – and they are inviting anyone interested to join them in making offerings*.
In fact this is usual too; that is, everyone is welcome to join us for any part of the day: an alms-round and shared meal, the Kathina Offering, a Dhamma Talk offered by Ajahn Nyaniko, and a chance to meet with the Sangha. Hope to see you there.
* The offering ceremony will be what’s called in Thai a “Kathina Samagee”, which implies “everyone in harmony offering together”. Therefore anyone who wishes to offer a traditional Kathina cloth to the Sangha can do so formally, one-by-one during the official ceremony: please let us know beforehand if you wish do so. Anyone wishing to offer requisites can find a list of current needs on the Contribute page. For those wishing to know what’s most needed: currently it is in fact financial support to allow us to finish the Lodgings Building we are soon to break ground on, which is the first major undertaking in moving ahead with the monastery’s master plan. We already have enough for about half the construction cost and plan to begin building during the next month nevertheless, with an option of stopping for an indefinite pause half way through if adequate funds aren’t yet there.