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!

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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

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