Maha Mayadevi Temple
Wake up call was at
4:30am and we woke up at 2:30am. We had breakfast at 5:00am and left our hotel
at 6:00am. We visited Thay Huyen Dieu’s Phat Quoc Tu. We all had
a Bodhi seed from Thay Huyen Dieu I stayed at this temple in 2007 and still
vividly remember how they didn’t let Sanjay stay because he was an Indian. Thay Huyen Dieu talked about 12/12/2012. Now I am typing this and today is
18/12/2012. The world is still here and I don’t believe any of the 12/12/12 nonsense.
After Phat Quoc Tu, we finally went to the
Maha Mayadevi Temple. We walked in and out the temple mindfully. Thay TC picked
a place which faced the Pushkarini Pond. It is believed that the new born
Buddha’s first purification bath is in this holy pond. The Ashoka Pillar was
behind us. The Ashoka Pillar was erected by Ashoka in 249 BC to mark that the
Lord Buddha was born in Lumbini. We chanted and meditated. We went to the pond.
Hue Dung took some water from the pond to take home. I asked him why he took
the water. He said he would like to share this with his family members and to
remind them such an important place. He said he would use this water to
symbolise the purification of his sins. This was very beautiful. Yes, at this
very moment I wished my boy would be here with me. Somehow without my boy the
trip wouldn’t be the same. My sister and I went inside the temple again and
queued up to pay respect to the birthplace of the Buddha. It was a long queue.
After the Maha Mayadevi Temple, we went out to do
some souvenir shopping. Fong and Teresa bought some long mala for $100 Indian
rupees. They all asked me whether they were the real Bodhi seeds. I told them
Bodhi seeds are soft. They are fig like fruit. They can’t be made into mala.
Every time I entered
the Maha Mayadevi Temple, my tears couldn’t hold for the great man who was born
at this place. He was a human like us but very sensitive to sickness, old age,
birth and death. He worked so hard to find a way for the human kind to attain
their ultimate happiness, and yet I am still wandering in these six realms up
and down like a yoyo. This is truly sad. My heart deeply feels the karmas I
have created, not only in this life but many previous lives. I repent in front
of the Buddha for my misbehaviours from this minute onward and I will not
recreate my negative karma; I will take refuge to the Triple Gems and observe
the five precepts accordingly until I have strike for my ultimate nirvana;
again this time I vow for this life and may future lives that I will walk on
the Bodhisattva path without doubt. Although I could not be a nun in this life
but this doesn’t matter, I vow for my boundlessness future life that I have
this affinity to be one. In this life, I can ordinate myself to renounce my trouble
home (inflection mind).
Thay TC talked three
ways to renounce the world:
1)
Renounce the worldly
house (form)
2)
Renounce the
affliction onerous (84 thousands affliction onerous)
3)
Renounce the three
realms (Desire, Form and No-Form)
He also talked about
the benefits of becoming a monk/nun:
1)
Protect inside of a
person not to follow the external
2)
Cut off the jumping
mind, have more time to reflect upon self
3)
Practise to remove
greed, hatred and ignorance.
When we arrived
at Kushinagar, we visited the Ramabhar Stupa. Thay TC said we were going to do
a light offering ceremony but it didn’t happen. We also visited the river where
Ananda got some water for Buddha to drink before reaching the final
destination. We also visited a school which was operated by a temple. We
donated money to that school.
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