Chanting Ceremonies

In 2014 the Burmese Abbot of the Kushinagar temple, Venerable Bhante Gyaneshwar, along with a delegation of monks and lay devotees came to join an ITCC meeting where they requested that we start the chanting in Kushinagar. This proposal was adopted and the first Tipitaka chanting was initiated bringing together all the local temples from all traditions in the following year.

In 2015, the first year of the International Tipitaka in Kushinagar was opened with a grand procession from the main site to the Thai temple. LBDFI sponsored the erection of a chanting pavilion, and offered food twice per day to all participants. There were close to 1,000 international participants with monks, nuns, lay people, and many colorful lay followers in their national dress. In the ceremony, we had close to 550 participants from all the local temples in Kushinagar including monks and laypeople from the Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, Nepalese, Tibetan and Korean temples.

In 2016, we came with a delegation of fifty Venerable monks and and joined 350 participants of venerable monks and nuns and 600 lay devotees. In 2017, we had the same number of participants. In 2018, we had 450 monks and nuns and 700 lay devotees. In 2019, we had the same number.

Amenities

We also offered a 8 foot stupa in honor of the Venerable Burmese bhante’s birthday. We also offered a Buddha in bronze from TNMC to be placed in beside the Tipitaka for the annual chanting ceremony.

Book Distribution

Since the Tipitaka chanting in Kushnigara relies on chanting the sutras that are related to the Mahaparinirvana, we distribute copies of the Dighanikaya in five scripts at each annual gathering. The sutra is offered in Roman, Devangari, Burmese, Khmer and Thai fonts. Each evening Dharma talks are offered for all participants, mainly focussing on the Indian community. We also distribute other books, including ‘What the Buddha Taught’ and the ‘Dhammapada’ in Hindi and Pali.

Pilgrimage

Every year as part of our yatra, we take the Venerable bhikkhus to the historical sites associated with Kushinagar. The place where the monks pay deep respect is circumambulating the Ramabhar stupa, Kushinagar.

Future walks:

Path from Mahaparinirvana stupa to the cremation stupa and pause by the Hiranyawati River.

Path from Mahaparinirvana stupa to the cremation stupa via the Matha Kuar statue. Pause by the Hiranyawati River and proceed to the place where the relics of the Buddha were divided into 8 parts.

Path to include a number of villages like Anirudhwa, Kurmouta, Bishnupur, Bishambarpur and Jhungwa.

Path around the Kakuttha River. For a long walk this can be connected to both Pava and Kushinagar.