Buddhist Monk Blessing Ceremony

Cambodia is largely a Buddhist country. It is practiced by around 95% of the population. The Buddhism is based around the more than 5,000 monastery temples in the country. Known locally as Pagodas sometime Vihear or Wat, they are administered by monks. You will frequently see them around town, wearing their distinctive orange robes, with their shaven heads and eyebrows.The monks are basically teachers or students themselves. One service they will offer is a “blessing and religious ceremony”. This is a beautiful ceremony, designed to impart good luck, long life and happiness and prosperity. I went along to receive one at the monastery. We will have a future article on what this center offers, but for now, this is about the blessing. After the ceremony, there was a chance to ask questions. These were asked randomly by the participants in the ceremony, hence the slightly unstructured nature of the questions that follow. The monks were seated in front of an altar. On it was a statue of Buddha, some fruits, candles and flowers. The room is wooden in the Khmer style and very simple in its decoration. There were mats for us to sit on. We were told to sit cross legged (or actually in the classic Yoga pose if we could manage it). We were also told it is impolite to stand in the presence of the monks as we should remain lower than them. It consisted of a continuous chant, lasting around 20 minutes. Using the religious language, Pali, (which is related to Sanskrit) the monks started intoning the words. The head monk started and the others joined in. At the times, they would break off, but always at least one monk continued. Near the end of the ceremony, the head monk picked up jasmine flowers or a whisk of leaves and threw water from a bowl over us with the whisk or jasmine flowers. Right near the end, the monks picked up bowls of jasmine buds and threw them over us. Finally it was over. After the questions, the head monk tied a piece of red cotton around our wrists. We were instructed to move forward and pick up a small tray with an offering on it, as the monks can’t take anything unless it is given to them. Contact us by : sokmengguide@gmail.com