Buddhist Blessing Ceremony - Photography by Deb Swingholm

A Buddhist Blessing Ceremony

In October 2007, a Buddhist blessing ceremony was performed in our apartment building, following the death of one of the residents.

This traditional ceremony was held in the large open space at the entry to our apartment building and was performed by 9 monks (a very auspicious number of monks to have perform a ceremony!). The purpose was to restore harmony and remove any negative energy...

To begin, an
altar is prepared
and blessed. Candles and
incense are lit.
And, offerings of
food and flowers
are made.

A long string
is tied around the entire building,
top to bottom and then tied around
the Buddha images on the altar...

...the head monk begins the prayers and unwinds the string
so that all the monks are holding it in their hands
as they begin to chant

The chanting lasts for over 30 minutes and the prayers fill the
whole building with the most beautiful, peaceful energy

The vibrations seem to penetrate into the very structure of the
walls, purifying and releasing anything negative or "stuck"

When the chanting is finished, offerings are presented to the monks

They are given food, toiletries and a variety of specialty items
they do not buy for themselves

At the completion of the ceremony, the head monk cuts portions
of the string (which has now been completely infused with prayers) and
each person receives an individual blessing

He cuts the string, prays with it cupped in his hands, then he blows the blessing into the string. It is then tied onto the person's wrist (monks cannot touch women, so he places it in our hand)

The head monk also visited each apartment to
sprinkle holy water and perform a blessing.

As a foreigner living in Thailand, it was such a joy to be part of this beautiful, traditional ceremony. It was also wonderful to feel the difference in the building afterwards - it was an amazing sense of peace, happiness and community.

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