May birthdays:
May 7 Noi naa
May 20 Mom
May 21 Leela
May 23 Christian
May 25 me
and yesterday was not only Buddha’s birthday, but also his day of enlightenment, and the day he died. (More specifically, that day is the full moon of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, but it happened to fall on May 28 this year.)
We were lucky enough to be invited to go to temple with some friends of Sue’s.
We donated money for a lotus flower, incense, and candle and walked around the temple three times with the rest of the procession, meditating on our own good fortune and how to be a better person. Easier said than done! It was hard to stay focused for even one go around the temple – but I appreciated being part of a large group of people making that effort.
Before entering the temple grounds - you can see that lots of people are taking advantage of this holiday to sell food and trinkets.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHlZphLPXiE]
Gold leaf being applied to a reclining Buddha.
Everything about the evening was lovely.
The light was especially gorgeous. Very fitting for "right" thinking.