Next Life in the Afternoon

This is a video I made when Phramaha Nattapong came to visit me in Worcester, MA a couple years ago. He is the Buddhist monk I went to Thailand with in 2004, the one who encouraged me to come and stay in the temples and ordain as a monk. In this video, he is giving a Dhamma talk, which is something like a sermon, if I were to relate it to something we are familiar with here in the States.

Worcester Magazine had done a story on me and my Worcester Diaries project. You can catch someone taking picture of my robed friend. She was a student photographer with the magazine sent to get some shots to accompany the story. As luck would have it, I had a monastic visitor when she came and she got a whole lot more than she had bargained for, I think. Great times!

Technorati Tags: video, Phramaha Nattapong, Buddhist, monk, Thailand, Dhamma, sermon, Worcester Magazine, Worcester Diaries

I had planned to go to the Songkran festival today at Wat Pananachart in Aldie, VA but woke up feeling like my whole body was held together by pus and snot. It must be a cold or something. Hack, wheeze, snort, sneeze.

Songkran is the Thai New Year festival and is really quite a to-do. People set up stalls to sell all sorts of stuff, people spray each other with water guns and the Sangha – the monastic community – plays an active role in blessing the laity for the new year.

I try to have contact with the Thai community here in the DC area and attend festivals like this when I can. One problem I have had with staying in touch has been the distance to a temple. From what I can tell, there is no Thai temple in Washington, DC or Arlington.

I recently stumbled on a temple in Alexandria I hope to visit again sometime. This one is only thirty minutes away, as opposed to the hour-long drive to get to the one in Aldie. And that’s if I drive like Rusty Wallace, which I find myself less and less willing to do the older I get.

Alas, no Songkran for me this year. What can I say but, “Cha na bai bai,” – next life in the afternoon.

Dear Phra Rasamee,

Sincerely,
Epstein’s Mother

Technorati Tags: Songkran, Wat Pananachart, Thai New Year, Sangha, Thai, Washington, DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Rusty Wallace, next life in the afternoon, Epstein’s Mother