The Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony in Bodh Gaya
Buddhism began with an Indian prince, Prince Siddhartha. He lived a pampered life until one day, in his twenties he slipped out of his gated community to see the world outside. Naturally, he was struck dumb seeing the pain and suffering all about. Possessing a caring nature, he vowed not to rest until he could figure out how to deal with all of this pain and suffering in the world. And so he set out on his journey to reconcile the irreconcilable, wandering and fasting and meditating. At last, as he was sitting under the bodhi tree here in Bodh Gaya, he felt the answer come to him. He followed this up with continued meditation until he had an entire system of mental and physical discipline worked out, wherein people could escape suffering. This involved working toward spiritual purity, dissolving the illusions presented by the present reality and dissolving the boundaries between the material world and the ethereal timeless worlds.
Chanting is a mechanism capable of transporting one into another consciousness. Oral storytelling is a way of preserving knowledge. At the Tipitaka Festival, monks and nuns from all over the world come together for a period of ten days to chant Buddhist scriptures on different subjects like love and compassion in the original Pali language. Twenty thousand have gathered here on the temple grounds surrounding the bodhi tree where Prince Siddhartha, now better known as the Buddha, had his first glimmer of enlightenment. Many here have set up delightful shrines in their personal space amidst the gorgeous flowers, the brilliant lotus lamps, the luminous golden Buddhist sculptures circling the temple and the stories of heroes engraved in the stonework of the 2500 year old temple. The grounds are spacious with huge old trees providing shade. There are three levels of walkways where one can perambulate around the temple amidst the chanters, the orange and gold marigolds, the lotus blossoms, and the monks and nuns wearing distinctive robes designating their particular sect, all lovingly reading the dharma. It is peaceful and beautiful.
I didn’t see anyone else taking it all in that way, but that was my m.o. since I don’t read Pali, and I wanted to get in there and feel the love. It worked well. Tonight I’ll read some of the suttas they are probably chanting, like the loving kindness discourse of the Metta Sutta: ‘Just as a mother would protect her child with her life, so one should cultivate a boundless heart toward all living beings.’ And I’ll go back tomorrow. I like being surrounded by gentle people and while obviously not everyone there is holy, most of them have one up on me in matters like cultivating boundless love, and I like it when they share their smiles with me.
These are offerings for sale by vendors outside the temple. Purple lotuses are also very popular. I couldn’t find a good picture of the temple and grounds that I could legally insert, but if you’re interested there are some out there for viewing. It’s the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Electronics aren’t allowed in the complex and it’s probably obvious from my posts that I don’t carry a separate camera. The temple is old, stone, very tall and pyramid-shaped. The grounds are extensive and laid out in a way that affords many lovely secluded spaces for contemplation. It looks particularly festive during this ceremony as everything is bedecked with flowers. That includes hundreds and hundreds of statues and carvings, walls, arbors, you name it, it is smothered with gorgeous, fragrant flowers. Below is a Wikimedia photo (donated to the public domain) of the Buddha inside the temple, where cameras aren’t allowed and chances are won’t completely capture what you feel in its presence anyway. It’s glowing and magically sparkly. I’ve come to believe that both artistry (think Michaelangelo’s David) and collective belief can charge even solid matter with certain types of energy.
