On 28/10/2019 I visited a Maha
Vihara Buddhist temple which located at Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Buddhist Maha Vihara was founded by the Sinhalese community based in Kuala
Lumpur and the surrounding areas in 1894 to provide a place of worship in their
Sri Lankan Theravada tradition. Most of Sinhalese were either traders or
artisans and skilled workers brought in from Ceylon by the British
Administration to develop the colonial Malayan Civil Service. It is also one of
the famous Buddhist temples in Malaysia.
The
prayer session started at 8.30am, which is known as Puja. Puja is the name
given to the wide variety of devotional and offering ceremonies practiced in
all Buddhist traditions. The word itself comes from the root of the ancient
Tamil culture meaning “a flower” while pujas themselves probably developed from
the custom of offering the buddha flowers on his arrival in a particular place
during his travels. Pujas consist of placing flowers, lights, food and incense
in front of his statue or image of the Buddha. The Sanskrit word puja simply
“reverence, honour, homage, adoration or worship”, so a Puja is a ceremony that
enables us to create the highest merit by making actual and visualized
offerings, with the bodhicitta motivation, to the highest objects of offering,
the Gure and the Triple Gem – the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. That merit is the
basis for achieving every good thing up to and including enlightenment.
Once
they done with the Puja, the monk starts chanting which is Sutta Pitaka. The
Sutta Pitaka is the second of the three divisions of the Tripitaka or Pali
Canon, the Pali collection of Buddhist writings of Theravada Buddhism. The
Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings) attributed to the
Buddha or his close companions. In chanting, it talks about Buddha story and
teaching. Surprisingly, they were chanting the whole book and it took almost
half an hour. While the monk is chanting one of his assistance gives blessing
to the devotees by sprinkled the holy ware as in the picture below. They bow
down 3times and chant Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!.
When I first
entered the hall, I felt so awkward because never participate any prayer
session including my own religion, but I do meditation by my own so by the time
I walked in; the monk was start chanting while others were meditation. So, I
sat down, close my eyes and start meditation while listening to the monk
chants. I really loved every second of the chant that was going through my
ears. Every time when I meditate, I only listen to an audio which says Om but
for the first time it felt so different and nice. Sadly, I couldn’t understand
a single word of the chant but the sound of it Is really something that I
couldn’t describe. Throughout the prayer session it was very relaxing and
peaceful. The atmosphere inside the hall of the prayer session is I never
experienced before. Later one when I saw a Monk wearing White Robes and
Once, done with the prayer session,
I approach the monk who was chant the suttas during the prayer session to get
know more about Theravada Buddhism. The Buddhist Monk name is Sumangala and
he’s from Sri Lanka. He’s being staying in Malaysia for 4years and he became a
monk when he was 10years old. He also very kind enough to give some explanation
about The Three Jewels in Buddhism. Buddhist take refuge in three different
expression of awakened mind, buddha, dharma and sangha. Each of these is
precious and necessary element of the Buddhist path, and so they are called the
three jewels. Buddha is The Teacher, this refers to the historical Buddha, the
original teacher. He was not a but a human being like us, and his example shows
us that we too can follow the path to enlightenment. More broadly, the buddha
principle refers to all teachers and enlightened being who inspire and guide
us. Dharma is the teachings, The Buddhist dharma starts with the fundamental
truths that the Buddha himself taught the four noble truths, the three marks of
existence, the eight-fold path, etc. Sangha the community, the term sangha has
traditionally referred to monastics and arhats in whom lay practitioners take
refuge.
Before I end our conversations, I
told him I would like to follow Buddha’s path one day, the monk offers me some
books about Buddha & Buddhism which is “What Is This Religion” by Dr. K.
Sri Dhammananda, Good Question Good Answer by “S. Dharmmika”, “Buddha The
Radical Shrink (Buddhist Psychotherapy) by Ven. Dr. Madawela Punnaji Maha Thera
and “Do You Believe in Rebirth?” by Dr K Sri Dhammananda. Throughout my life I
have visited to Mosque, Church and Hindu Temples, but I never seen any religion
gives out free book to their followers to read and learn about Buddhism. It was
totally different and now I know why Buddhism is a very peaceful religion. Gautama
Buddha is one of the best human being ever lived in this world and spread his
teaching all over the world. That’s what I liked about Buddhism, they always
love to spread positive energy and respect everyone not like some other
ignorant religion teaching. When I saw a Buddhist monk in White Robes, it
reminds of Doctor Strange. Wish one day I could be Doctor Strange and save the
world from Thanos. Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
