Kathina Offering – Sunday, October 8, 2017
/Please join us for this year’s annual offering ceremony and fall gathering, which will be held at the monastery on Sunday, October 8, 2017, from 10.15 a.m.–3 p.m., and which will be the first “Kathina” offered at here at Jetavana (the Pali name of Temple Forest Monastery). The Kathina offering has been a continuous tradition since the time of the Buddha, and is similar in nature to the “Pa Bah” offerings we have had each year. It is organized by the lay community, and is a time where robe cloth, which is offered ceremonially, and other requisites of whatever kind the monastic community needs are offered, along with donations to support the monastery. The occasion includes informal opportunities to meet the sangha and others in the wider lay community, thus serving as an annual festival-like gathering too. A Dhamma Talk will be offered after an alms-round and shared meal and the ceremony for the offering of requisites.
A group from Thailand plan to join with our local community to help make the Kathina offerings, and anyone who wishes is welcome to join them in doing so.
For this special occasion we are pleased to host several of the abbots of Ajahn Chah monastery branches in North America: Luang Por Pasanno, abbot of Abhayagiri; Ajahn Sona, abbot of Birken Forest Monastery; and Ajahn Sudanto, abbot of Pacific Hermitage. Ajahn Karunadhammo, from Abhayagiri, will also be with us.
You are welcome to come for all or any part of the day, whether bringing offerings, just wishing to hear a Dhamma Talk, or visit with the sangha and others.