Sunday Nov 1st, Join the traditional annual “Kathina celebration” at Charlotte Buddhist Vihara, a family-friendly joyful program organized by the Buddha himself to bring together the larger community of his clergy & supporters. ~
Four bhikkhunis (fully-ordained female monks) will join Ayya Sudhamma to engage in the central ritual about a sacred robe.
Some say you can think of this date as “Christmas for the temple”, a time to show the support that’s in your heart for courageous renunciate teachers.
Aside from a robe-giving ritual there will be a potluck feast, meditation, and Dhamma talks (Buddhist lectures) delivered by excellent bhikkhunis who will come from Colorado, California and South Carolina to help us celebrate.
For an overview of the topic see Wikipedia on Kathina; for more info see http://www.buddhamind.info/leftside/lifesty-2/kathina.htm For the history and more details than you imagined possible, see: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/kathina.pdf
One of the two biggest occasions on the Buddhist calendar, Kathina celebration was created by the Buddha himself. He wanted all his lay devotees to attend together with his bhikkhus or bhikkhunis.
There’s nothing like the solemnity and joy of this annual occasion that brings together so many ordained clergy in harmony for the Kathina ritual, cooperating together like the vast numbers who came before us – every year – throughout the past 26 centuries.
Ayya Sudhamma and four bhikkhunis (fully-ordained female monks) from across the USA – from Los Angeles, Jenner, Boulder and Greenville – will come to help us celebrate. (On the previous day the five bhikkhunis will be at Carolina Buddhist Vihara in Greenville for their celebration, then shall head north to Charlotte for ours.)
A full year ago Ayya Sudinna and Ayya Sudhamma made a pact to attend each others’ Kathinas, and to hold the Kathinas of their two temples (viharas) on a Saturday & Sunday of the same weekend, to enable them both to gain the necessary full quorum of five bhikkhunis; and they strategized together on invitations to their bhikkhuni friends. Such cooperative planning is traditional, as well, for temples often schedule their Kathina dates methodically to enable monks to support each others’ celebrations.
The Kathina celebrations each year mark the end of India’s Rainy Season (Vassa). Given the weather here, soon we too will feel like we have lived through a monsoon and that it’s time for a Kathina!