Bathing Our Innate Buddha-nature with Sincerity．DDMBANJ Holds Buddha Bathing Ceremony to Commemorate the Buddha’s Birthday
Every year in May, Buddhists will participate in bathing the Buddha statue to commemorate the Buddha’s Birthday, signifying purifying their mental, verbal and physical actions, an essential endeavor to realize the aspiration to achieve the Buddhahood. On May 16th DDM’s New Jersey Chapter (DDMBANJ) organized a Buddha Bathing Ceremony, in which Ven. Guo Xing, abbot of Chan Meditation Center, was invited to preside over the ritual and give a Dharma talk. Also participating are Ven. Guo Dong, abbot president of DDM, who was currently on a tour in North America rendering care for the devotees, along with 10 other monastics from the DDM sangha. The ceremony this year drew a crowd of participants, with all seats occupied and some having to stand all the way through the ceremony, creating an extraordinarily solemn ambience at the venue.
Meanwhile, DDMBANJ’s new Dharma center is undergoing a refurbishment for a better venue for practice. In commemorating the Buddha’s Birthday, abbot president Ven. Guo Dong encouraged everyone to follow the Buddha’s teachings and practice accordingly, as we are fortunate enough to encounter the Dharma as taught by the Buddha, who came to this world to show us the way to attain Buddhahood. In the process of our practice, we should take any favorable and unfavorable situation as a fostering condition to help us develop toward spiritual maturity, thereby transforming our afflictions and karma, changing our habitual tendencies due to our ignorance, and creating our spiritual provisions for enlightenment. Finally, as a gift, the abbot president offered a piece of hanging decoration inscribed with “Great Light,” DDM’s blessing for year 2015, to extend his best wishes to all: “Using wisdom to transform circumstances, one’s mind is bright. Using compassion to benefit others, one’s promise is great.”
(Translated by Navi Chen/ Edited by Chiacheng Chang, DDM Cultural Center)
