Fwd: New Year's Eve Dhamma Celebration in Auckland
Buddhist Society Auckland University
From: Vimutti Buddhist Monastery <vimutt...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 5:09 PM
Subject: New Year's Eve Dhamma Celebration in Auckland
To:
New Year's Eve Celebration
Friday, December 31, 2010
8:00pm-12:30am
Auckland Buddhist Vihara
29 Harris
Rd. Mt. Wellington, Auckland
Join us for a wholesome and joyful evening of letting go of the past, preparing
for the future and enjoying the present. We will be celebrating with meditation, Dhamma teachings, Paritta chanting, the annual New
Year's Resolution Ceremony and a
VDO showing of The Buddha, an
excellent modern telling of the story of Siddhattha Gotama, narrated by
contemporary western meditation teachers and scholars. This documentary aired
on U.S.
public television to a huge audience earlier this year.
Schedule
8:00 Puja and Meditation
9:00 Dhamma Video: The Buddha
11:00 Dhamma talk by Ajahn Chandako
11:30 Ceremony of Affirming Vows
(adhitthana parami)
Requesting and taking
precepts
11:55 Paritta chanting by the Sangha
(complete with holy water)
12:15 Post Midnight feast
Delicious food and snacks will be available. You are welcome to
bring some to share with others.
Items for the Vimutti Stupa
We have now extended the time for people to offer personal items to be included in the base of the Vimutti stupa, and New Year’s Eve is an excellent occasion to present these to the Sangha. Ajahn Chandako will be happy to receive any items at the Vihara and take them back to Vimutti Monastery. This is especially useful for those people who find it difficult to find time to get out to Bombay.
So far we have received a wonderful array of items and personal messages. Thinking about what to include has been an opportunity for people to contemplate their lives, their loved ones and what is truly meaningful to them. We have received many touching bits of people's lives, alive with much history and sentimental value.
It is an extremely rare opportunity to be able to enshrine something personal in a stupa. The intention to include an object that has special relevance and meaning makes a kammic connection between your stream of consciousness and the relics. If it is done with the proper intention and devotional motivation, it will reduce the number and severity of any obstacles to practicing the Dhamma and increase the likelihood of you coming in contact with the teachings of the Buddha in future lifetimes. When you visit and circumambulate the completed stupa you will know that part of your life is enshrined there as well.
It is best if the items are not larger than a rugby ball. For example: ashes of loved ones, photos, special stones, common everyday items that reflect your life, glass, earth from sacred sites, crystals, gems, greenstone, jewelry, artifacts, stone carvings, items which have a powerful symbolic value, or cards written with your individual aspirations or hopes for our planet.