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What a surprise when during a recent visit to the Wat Carolina I found my old buddy Phra Platoon in from California for a visit.

Platoon was best friends with former Wat Carolina resident monk Phra Manass who lived at the temple a little over two years ago.

Platoon and Manass studied together in the international school in Thailand; a prerequisite to monks going on foreign missions including the US.

It was a joy at the temple when these two monks were together and I care for both deeply. With Platoon still serving as a monk, Manass has since disrobed and is living in Bangkok.

I wonder if Manass has retained the English I tried so hard to help him learn. I must admit my use of Thai has vanished in the wind like a feather in Forest Gump’s hat.

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As a second part of this post, My buddy James Rimes came back over to the house for another Mancave session in Surfside.

Last week we used my little Edirol R-09 to make recordings.

This week James brought over his rig and manned the controls while I made a few recordings.

His equipment used several high quality mics and a large equalizer and mixer. It was much more sophisticated than my lowly unit.

James would be a perfect person to hire if a band or singer needed a high quality demo recording.

Here are a few of the examples.

Unknown Immigrant ©2010 Hippiedog Produce

Like a Rolling Stone Dylan Cover

Mill Train ©2010 Hippiedog Produce

Thanks to James for making these and thank you for listening.

rlh

Sunday was the Buddhist celebration Visakha Puja at Wat Carolina and I was fortunate to be able to attend. With my recent move south, I now have a long drive to my spiritual center.

Visakha Puja commemorates three events in the Buddha’s life that each took place on this full-moon day: his birth, awakening, and death.

The ceremony concludes with Abbot Chao Khun leading the participants around the temple carrying flowers, a candle and burning incense.

Sadly I found out resident monk Phra Theip (pictured below) is going back to Thailand to practice his studies in his home country. It has been great to have his wonderful abilities with the English language and his kind spirit at the temple to translate complex Buddhist philosophies. We will miss him.

rlh

My friend and fellow Wat Carolina patron Jane Tigar sent me some of her photos from the Buddha ceremony on Saturday. I haven’t figured out a way to do a gallery for my wordpress blog so I edited her take down to this wonderful photo of Chao Khun and the beautiful statue.

photo by Jane Tigar © 2008

rlh

On Saturday there was a special surprise at Wat Carolina marked by the arrival of a new life size Buddha statue donated by temple patrons from Pennsylvania.

My intention was to go visit the monks and make a donation honoring my father and his recovery.

To my delight, I was lucky to witness the ceremony dedicating the new statue made from solid brass, gold plated and as we found during the placement, very heavy.

rlh

Abbot Chao Khun of Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanaram 

There are many important Buddhist holy days and they usually fall on the full moon days of the month. Magha Puja Day takes place at Wat Carolina this year on February 17th in Bolivia.

The holy day celebrates an important event in the life of the Buddha.

After the first rains retreat at Deer Park (near the city of Benares in India), the Buddha went to Rajagaha city and without prior appointment, 1250 Arahants (enlightened saints) or the Buddha’s disciples, returned from their missions to pay respect to Buddha. They assembled at Veruvana Monastery in what is now referred to as the Fourfold Assembly.

This assembly is named for the following reasons

1.   All 1250 monks were Arahants
2.   All of them had been ordained by the Buddha
3.   They assembled without any prior call
4.   It was the full moon of the Magha month

Listen to the audio clips below for Chao Khun’s explanation of the importance of the holiday and what the Buddha taught the assembled monks.

Chao Khun’s Magha Puja Message in English

Chao Khun’s Magha Puja Message in Thai

Chao Khun’s Magha Puja Message in Indonesian

for more info go to www.wat-carolina.com

rlh

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

from the 2007 Asalha Puju Ceremony 

This year I am committed to bring to the internet an audio message about each of the holidays on the Buddhist calendar from abbot Chao Khun of Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanaram.

A little history about why I’m doing this.

In 1999 as a photojournalist at The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, I worked on a story about the relationship between the mostly Baptist community in Bolivia, N.C. and the monks of the Buddhist temple at Wat Carolina. The story evolved into another about the lives of the monks and their acclimation into the society around this quiet North Carolina community.

I found nothing moves quickly at the Wat and the photo essay took nearly two years to put together. During this time my visits to the temple were as a professional photojournalist and not as a participant.

In July of 2001, with the help of my former colleague Mark Adams , the story was published on both the web and print editions of the paper and I moved on to other things.

Soon, I found I missed the abbot’s simple truth about life struggles, so I started visiting the temple more for my personal journey and less for journalistic endeavors.

In 2003 I was given the gift of an expanded tour of the source of the Wat’s message with a trip to Thailand. The trip was a pilgrimage for me and I was honored by all those I encountered for my respect of the religion and my desire to learn from the country’s noble and kind people.

It has been said that America is the home of the free but mostly by those who have not visited Thailand.

I will post these messages a few weeks before each celebration and will give the link on the Jambudvipa list serve.

A brief summary for each of the holiday celebrations will be published to go with the audio and guest writers are welcome to give personal stories of why that holiday is important to them. It just needs to be submitted well in advance of the holiday.

Comments and personal insights are encouraged and welcomed but please remember this is not Chao Khun’s personal site and any messages to him may not make it to him directly. You are encouraged to e-mail him through Wat Carolina’s web site.

For protection from unwanted use, all content on this site is copyrighted and you must get permission from me before you download any of the images or text or audio.

Here are the celebrations I plan to post about and the days they will be celebrated at The Wat Carolina.

1. Magha Puja - Feb 17, 2008
2. Songkran      - April 13, 2008
3. Visakha Puja - July 13, 2008
4. Asalha Puja - July 13, 2008
5. Sart Day - Sept 14, 2008
6. Kathina & Loi Krathong - Oct 19, 2008
7. King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s celebration - Dec 7, 2008

rlh

Abbot Chao Khun of Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanara in Bolivia, N.C. gave these New Year messages for members far from a quick drive to the Temple. This time we decided to include a message in Indonesian for those native to that language.

***** Hello to my friend Ian in Bali if you see this post. We wish you were still at the Temple in terra cotta robes. I hope life is treating you well.

These messages can be time consuming to put together. I’m struggling to keep the best sound quality that will stream on the Internet. For those with slow internet connection speeds, let me know if they are working and streaming smoothly for you.

Chao Khun and temple resident Shane Huddleston enjoy a recent warm afternoon at Wat Carolina with Beckham the cat. 

Chao Khun’s message in English

Chao Khun’s message in Thai

Chao Khun’s message in Indonesian

rlh

Although Thanksgiving is not an official Buddhist celebration, I asked Abbot Chao Khun of Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanara in Bolivia, N.C., if he would like to use this space as a way to give a message to those far from a quick drive to the Temple.

In the past I’ve tried without success to post audio clips of the Abbot’s dharma talks on the yahoo list serve “Jambudvipa”. Due to space limits, Yahoo will not allow these mp3 files. I will post them here and invite the jam list members to visit.

Abbot Chao Khun

Chao Khun’s Holiday Message in English

Chao Khun’s Holiday Message in Thai

rlh