Giving Thanks

I had an interesting Thanksgiving holiday--I had three Thanksgiving dinners.  The first was at a Sri Lankan temple in La Puente, about 20 minutes from campus.  One of my professors, who is from Sri Lanka and lives in a house on the temple property although he is not a monk, invited my friend Ven. Kiet and myself for a food offering ceremony.  Apparently, the brother of one of the temple members had passed away a few months back, so the food offering ceremony was arranged partly as a memorial service and partly as a merit making opportunity for the temple community. 

We spoke with some of the monks while the abbot performed the ceremony in the shrine room, then we all went into what would normally have been the living room and sat two each at several tables.  Then there were some prayers with the names of the donors announced, and then we were served.  The lay people chatted and watched us eat for a while, returning three times to offer more.  I warned Ven. Kiet not to fill his plate too much the first time as I figured that would happen.  After we finished the main meal, they brought long slices of fresh papaya, cheese cake, some kind of coconut sweets and other things around for us.  When we were done, the lay people ate together.  Then there were more prayers and then a Dhamma talk in Sinhala (Sri Lanka's main language). 

In the evening, a bunch of the international students had a second party themselves.  They had prepared a large Thanksgiving feast earlier in the day, but there was still food left, so we all sat at a large table in the kitchen below the cafeteria and had another delicious meal.  It was my first opportunity to speak with one of the Korean nuns on campus.  She said she thought it was difficult to be a Buddhist monastic in the States because there is no structure in place.  I think she hit it right on the head. 

On "Black Friday" I worked at the bookstore, but it wasn't so bad.  Then Saturday night, Shakya and Kelly and I went to a Nepali restaraunt in Pasadena to celebrate my five-year anniversary as a monk, which was actually on Sunday.  Then Sunday afternoon, I went to my aunt and uncle's home to have a traditional American Thanksgiving with them and my cousin Krista, her boyfriend Garner, and an old friend from Russia who was visiting, Nadya.  I got to know Nadya when I was teaching English in Russia in '96 for the summer, but I hadn't seen her since.  She used to work at the American Home where I taught.  It was a nice reunion.

Now I'm just trying to get all my papers and presentations done for the end of the semester.  I can't believe it went by so quickly!  I have only two weeks left, then it's off to retreat (see side bar). 

Sorry this is just a list of activities, but I'm pooped.  I've got to lay down for a bit before dinner, then it's back to the books.