30,000 ordained as monks in one go!
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Also known as “The Land of Smiles”, Thailand greatly respects Lord Buddha, the holy Dharma and all Sangha members. In Thailand, Buddhism has been established for thousands of years. Once strictly seen as religious teachings, the Buddhadharma has gradually become part of the Thai people’s beautiful culture and their way of life…the gentleness of Buddhism is infused in the polite outward interactions of the Thai people.
In a typical Thai Buddhist family, every male aged 20 and above is expected to be ordained as a monk for a period of time. It can be from 7 days up to a lifetime. Traditionally, when asking how long one has been a monk for, the Thai people would ask, “How many phansa?”. This refers to the number of Buddhist Rain Retreats the person has held monk vows for. The Buddhist Rain Retreat is so-named, as the period is just before the rainy season. The greater the number of periods one has been a monk for, the higher the seniority.
The Thai people will be ordained as a monk for themselves and/or for their parents, to express their gratitude towards them. By entering monkhood and holding the monk vows for a period of time, they gain a great amount of merit which they will dedicate to their parents and towards the peace of their land. Holding vows are a powerful way to overcome obstacles, increase one’s life and gain merits for spiritual practice for all involved.
This year, from 13 March – 30 April, was The 100,000–Monk Summer Mass Ordination Nationwide Project 2011. This was a large-scale project that was organized nationwide where thousands of people were invited to take monk vows. About 30,000 donned robes in a mass ordination ceremony in front of Dharmakaya Ceitiya, Thailand! Amazing..This is the largest Buddhist organization in the world.
Do take a look at the photos below, together with their captions. The same event was also happening at other temples all around Thailand! Do share this with others…it is amazing!!
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Ordination-30000-Thailand.mp4
In front of Dhammakaya Cetiya temple, more than 30,000 men are seen here carrying monk robes. This is the middle of the ordination ceremony after which they will take on their monk vows and don on their saffron robes. This is to signify their acceptance into monkhood, following the sacred Buddhist precepts and serving in temples across Thailand.
The actual attendance was an estimated to 200,000 people. In addition, there were thousands of viewers on satellite networks and there was participation in more than 100 meditation centers worldwide.
The annual celebration of Makha Bucha Day was attended by over 40,000 people in February at Wat Phra Dhammakaya. Held on the full moon of the lunar month every year, the festival is meant as a homage to Buddha and his teachings. It is a national holiday in Thailand, as well as in Laos and Cambodia.
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As the sun rose over the ancient town, Dharmakaya Ceitiya, Thailand, a sea of saffron and maroon-robed monks assembled in an area the size of a football field. Could not have imagined 30,000 ordained as monks in one go that’s rejoicing. Thailand is the Land of Dharma where the Buddhism has been established since thousands years ago. Buddha Dharma teachings have been infiltrated in the daily life of Thai people. The Thai Buddhist cultures are unique and beautiful and their country are known as “the Land of Smile”. Theravada Buddhism is the official religion of Thailand and plays a key role in many aspects of Thai culture. For many Thai people, Buddhism is considered a philosophy for how to live one’s life and numerous Buddhist principles. Buddhism is a key component to the identities of many Thais. Many beautiful Buddhist temples and golden statues could be a common sights all over. Thai Buddhism has influenced society for a long time that has contributed to Thai people being generally known as kind, and compassionate.
Thank you Rinpoche for this wonderful sharing. Looking at those rare pictures tells all…..simple amazing able to see it.
This is amazing! Such a huge number of monks attended the ordination ceremony in Thailand. This is my first time to come across such a huge ordination ceremony in Thailand. It is such an auspicious event. I rejoice to the Sanghas who are ordained in this ceremony. May they be able to benefit the lay people and other beings as well. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this wonderful and auspicious event!?????
Wow…..such a huge number of monks attended the ordination ceremony in Thailand. Could not have imagine such a big place for the organising committee to host such an auspicious event. Can see from the pictures its very orderly . It seem this Monk Summer Mass Ordination Nationwide started many years again since 2011. Its amazing looking at those pictures . The mass ordination ceremony happened in almost every other temples around Thailand.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Funny, it wasn’t the sight that captivated my attention but rather the song with its English subtitle. I almost having tears in my eyes. I wonder why?
Thank you for Rinpoche for sharing this article. This is my first time to come across such a huge ordination ceremony in Thailand. This is such an auspicious event. I rejoice to the Sanghas who are ordained in this ceremony. May they be able to benefit the lay people and other beings as well.
With folded palms,
Vivian
This is a very spectacularly touching scene to behold. Such an amount of people decided to sacrifice the life of materialism pleasure in exchange for the Buddhist teachings and eventually gain enlightenment.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this great news with us.
With folded hands,
Carmen Lin
About 95% of Thailand’ population is Buddhist and the people have great respect in the holy sangha. The Thais are very lucky to have dharma instilled in them as part of their culture. Even the King of Thailand respects the holy sangha.
It is such a beautiful sight to see so many people ordained as monks to bring benefit and expressed their gratitude towards their love ones and towards the peace of their country.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for sharing
This is a great tradition in Thailand for people to become ordained as monks from 7 days to a lifetime. At least even if people do not wish to pursue a lifetime of monkhood, they can still experience what is like once a year. Of course while we all know that the best is to be ordained and live a life of virtue, all of us are at different levels of renunciation and the three delusions, so many of us may not be ready for monkhood yet but this way, you can ‘try it out’. Some people may not be ready for an all or nothing method and if push come to shove, they may out of ignorance, prefer to opt for nothing. That is the beauty of Kechara, where as Tsem Rinpoche has said, we don’t have to change our lives but just simply add spirituality to it.
I’m speechless at these wonderful sights. These monks gave a sense of calm and serenity to the beholders.
It makes me feel like crying with joy.
Rinpoche always applauds the nations that have mass consciousness of the Dharma and government’s support for the religion. I can see the what Rinpoche means from the pictures and the video shown.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IS AMAZING!!!! Such a beautiful sight!! BEAUTIFUL~~~~ ^^, ^^,
Cant imagine if i were fortunate to be there, my tears sure drop! There’s 30,000 ordained as monk to benefits others!!! Touching~~~ =….)
Thank You so much for the sharing Rinpoche.
Beautiful sight of many thais ordaining as monks may they benefit their loved ones. Yes monks are a merit field for the lay people, how lay people accrue merit is in dependance of making offerings and service to the monks. Great merit for the people who have arranged for all of these to happen!
Amazing. Thank you for sharing. 😀 I do hope that I have the opportunity to be ordained as well in future repay the kindness of my parents. That is the least I can do for my parents to make sure they don’t fall to the 3 lower realms.
WOW!!! THIS IS TOTALLY SPEECHLESS !!!
My goose bumps keep standing while listening the song and watching the video. I love the song a lot, in the lyrics mentioned that:
“I’m willing to give my all to undergo self-training and I’m doing this for my mom, I’m doing this for my dad, deep inside of me, lies eternal love for them, i want to repay themat least once”
This is so touching, by letting go our own selfish, ignorant mind and generate the merit and dedicate to our parents who spent their whole life to make sure we are ok. BY praticing the Buddha dharma and follow his path will bring us to a better place from lifetime after lifetime.
Dear Rinpoche, really thanks to share this with us, i love it very very much.
It’s such a beautiful sight to see so many people ordaining as monks. In Thailand, Buddhism is part of the Thai culture and Thai people have great respect for the sangha and people upholding the Dharma. People in Thailand generally accepts the core principles of Buddhism like the law of cause and effect,impermanence and the sufferings of samsaric existence. Therefore, it is a very conducive country for Dharma practice. This must be due to the merits of the Thai people. I hope such Dharma consciousness can be established in Malaysia one day. Perhaps, it will not happen in our life time but I am sure we in Kechara have already started the trend 🙂