November 2018
Dear friends,
What a beautiful celebration we co-created last Sunday at Aloka Vihara. Over sixty lay community members gathered from near and far to celebrate Aloka Vihara’s Kathina Ceremony. The monastic communities of Dhammadharini and Karuna Buddhist Vihara joined us again this year and seven bhikkhunis, one samaneri and three anagarikas were present.
An amazing meal offering was presented which included many delicious dishes cooked on site by Kanthie Gunawardana and others. Our son Leo (age 5) led us in the rice pindapata, along with his friends Joe and Nice (ages 4 and 3). Alex and Sonya Perrotti brought and arranged flowers from their farm for the altar, and Susan Seitz and Karen Phillips offered very beautifully and thoughtfully assembled gift bags for the monastic community.
Ayya Suvijanna and Ayya Santussika offered inspiring Dhamma reflections during the ceremony, and Kanthie, her children and grandchildren, as well as Tim Montague generously offered additional robe cloth.
You can see more photos here. (Many thanks to Holly Griswold for the photos.)
The money raised in this year’s Kathina Ceremony will provide for the basic requisites of the Aloka Vihara nuns, as well as lay the foundations for a solar electric future. As of today, over $21,000 has been donated! We’re happy to say that $2,500 of that total came from dana offered at a pre-Kathina fundraiser at our house that was taught by Debbie Stamp of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
People also donated many items from Aloka Vihara’s wish list.
Anumodana is a traditional Buddhist way of saying that we rejoice in your goodness and hope that it is a source of great peace, happiness and liberation for you! With very grateful hearts, we offer an anumodana to all of you.
with deep gratitude,
Danny, Juliann and Leo and the Friends of Aloka Vihara