{"id":4313,"date":"2013-11-05T23:44:03","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T15:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=4313"},"modified":"2013-11-05T23:44:03","modified_gmt":"2013-11-05T15:44:03","slug":"the-kathina-festival-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=4313","title":{"rendered":"The Kathina festival 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the rainy season (Vassa<\/a>), Theravada Buddhist monks don’t travel and are going on retreat in a temple or monastery. When the rainy season is over, traditionally in October\/November, the end of this 3-month retreat is celebrated during the Kathina festival.<\/p>\n

The (legendary?) background of this festival is so interesting that I can not resist the temptation to tell you a bit about it.<\/p>\n

A group of bhikkhus (monks) was on its way to the Buddha, when the rainy season started. Not to damage the harvest, living creatures (and themselves), they decided to stay where they were, although unhappy about the delay. After the rains stopped, they continued their travel. When they reached the Buddha, to console them, gave them a piece of cloth to stitch a robe. To stitch a robe, you need a frame, which is called a kathina.\u00a0A detailed account can be found\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n

Nowadays the devotees offer this cloth (and other items) to the monks during the Kathina ceremony. This ceremony takes place in many locations in Malaysia, but is especially popular in Taiping, in the\u00a0Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary. I have visited this beautiful, quiet sanctuary on the slopes of Maxwell Hill quite a few times.This time it was still beautiful, but not quiet with a few thousand visitors.<\/p>\n

\"Entrance<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Many<\/a><\/p>\n

We went up early Sunday morning, as Jenny was a volunteer at one of the many food stalls. Food stalls, yes, because this is Malaysia, no celebration without food…:-) \u00a0Probably many visitors mainly came for the free food.<\/p>\n\n\t\t