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[stextbox id=”download” caption=”Where From?” color=”000000″ ccolor=”ffffff” bgcolor=”78c0f7″ cbgcolor=”2e7cb9″ bcolor=”fde97d” ]The Poya Offering talisman is from Kelani Raja Maha Viharaya Buddhist Temple, Colombo, Sri Lanka
[/stextbox][stextbox id=”download” caption=”Where Now?” color=”000000″ ccolor=”ffffff” bgcolor=”78c0f7″ cbgcolor=”2e7cb9″ bcolor=”fde97d”]The Poya Offering Dish talisman now?
Maris – Rome, Italy
[/stextbox][stextbox id=”download” caption=”Write About It” color=”000000″ ccolor=”ffffff” bgcolor=”78c0f7″ cbgcolor=”2e7cb9″ bcolor=”fde97d”]Poya Offering Dish Talisman has its own Facebook group!
Read about people’s experiences with this talisman as it travels from person to person.
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TALISMAN #11: POYA OFFERING DISH
The Poya Offering Dish talisman has the power to remind whomever comes into contact with it the Universal Truth that we are all interconnected and the infinite power and grace that emerges from within when we truly remember.
IF YOU CURRENTLY HAVE THIS TALISMAN
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One Poya (full moon day), I had the privilege to partake in a very special Buddhist ritual with a Sri Lankan family. Every full moon in Sri Lanka is the most auspicious/spiritual day of the month. It is a public holiday across the country and generally shops and businesses are closed and the sale of alcohol and meat is forbidden. Once a month, every layperson (a day to day, non-monk person) is reminded of the importance of spiritual practice and to spend one day concentrating and renewing their commitment to their spiritual practices.
A practicing Buddhist can take various forms. There are clear differences between the practices of laypersons and ordained monks (almost seeming like separate traditions). Whereas monks generally concentrate on studying scripture and meditation, laypeople generally concentrate on activities that provide protection from spirits or that are “merit-making” for the future.
Some basic merit-making activities include making donations to temples and monasteries, lighting candles and incense for Lord Buddha, chanting and offering food to Lord Buddha and to monks.
The ritual that I partook in involved offering food to Lord Buddha. The practice involves cooking the best meal that your time and money can afford, walking it to the temple to offer to Lord Buddha, and then distributing it to the needy while you eat and taste nothing or eat the most simple meal possible.
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A complete offering involves cooking 32 separate vegetarian curries prepare based on the ancient King’s own menu created by royal chefs. The king is known to have eaten 32 mouthfuls of rice combined with 32 curries each carefully prepared using 32 different methods of cooking.
As part of our ritual, we did not create the complete 32 curries, but it still took us nearly all night to prepare 8 curries along with several sides. The complete ritual also entails walking to the temple at the crack of dawn, while carrying all the food.
The Poya Offering Ceremony helps to develop the virtue of humility and in order to gain higher self-control, soothe the soul, greater perspective to know what is really important in your life, create deeper and more meaningful relationships, and to re-discover a sense of wonder. It also helps gain karmic merit so that you can have a better rebirth in the cycle of birth and death and make substantial progress towards release from suffering.
I felt so lucky and humbled to be able to participate. It brought to me a sense of calm, meaning, connection and Love. I wanted to share this feeling with the world and so I asked if I could keep one of the dishes that we used in the beautiful and gracious offering ceremony. May this talisman serve to remind whomever comes into contact with it the Universal Truth that we are all interconnected and the infinite power and grace that emerges from within when we truly remember.
Poya Day (every full moon) is also a reminder to practice the 5 Buddhist Precepts (5 virtues/ basic code of ethics):
- I undertake the training rule to abstain from causing harm or killing humans or non-humans (not eating animals).
- I undertake the training rule to abstain from stealing (not taking what is not given).
- I undertake the training rule to avoid sexual misconduct (sexuality, sensuality, lust).
- I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech/lying (including pretending to know what you don’t).
- I undertake the training rule to abstain from alcohol and intoxicants that causes heedlessness.
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8 vegetarian curries and some delicious sides that we prepared and offered to Lord Buddha during Poya (full moon) lunch.
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