Sunday 23rd October 2022
Wat Phra Dhammakaya London, England held the Kathina Ceremony: Establishment of Crystal room
Late Morning session:
Thai lay community and local people gathered in the church participating in the meditation session and the ceremony of installing the plague of lay presidents namely Mrs. Siriphorn Siphinphaew and Mr. Liu HannZhao, supporting the establishment of the crystal room. Then everyone participated in the ceremony of a meal offering with the congregation representatives namely Mr. Sakkasem and Mrs. Anothai Tirathamcharoen reciting the words of the offering and ending up the morning session with Alms-giving ceremony.
Within the event, there were 18 Thai food stalls providing various Thai food to participants.
Afternoon session:
- The Kathina ceremony started with the Kathina procession of lay people and local people, walking in a clockwise direction 3 rounds around the church as to pay homage to the Triple Gems and then offer the saffron robe to the monastic community.
14.45 lay representatives namely Mr. Thianchai Chitwichiankul, Mrs. Montha Kleabmek, Dr. Kanuengnit Garnet reciting the words in accordance with offering Kathina robe and the monk president, Venerable Maha Ronnapop Jotilapho, then invited the lay presidents to offer Kathina robe
Lay presidents, namely Mrs. Siriphorn Siphonphaew then recited the words of Kathina robe offering in Pali and Thai, and Mr. Liu Hannzhao did so in English.
Then, the lay presidents offered the Kathina robe to the monastic community.
After that, it was the session of Kathina Khandhaka, which is the ceremony where the monastic community makes the decision to give the Kathina robe to the optimal monk who completes the criteria for receiving the robe.
By the end of the ceremony, lay presidents and the congregation of the Thai lay community including local people offered Kathina requisites and received gifts from the monk president. And they all helped together packing up and cleaning up the place with a delightful feeling after accruing a big merit today.