Sunday, March 11, 2012

How I celebrated Kuan Yin Bodhisattva's Birthday?

Today, Chinese Mahayanist celebrate the birthday of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva. I append below the youtube chanting by the Kwan Um School of Zen. These 3 chantings are done on a daily basis in their evening service/puja.  It is in Korean language but some of the sounds are transliterations of the actual sound in sanskrit. I love the melody. I played the musical chants and/or recited together with each yesterday and today.

The Great Compassionate Dharani

Thousand Eyes and Hands Sutra Chanting

The Heart Sutra



fruits & food offering
flowers for Kuan Yin
What did I do today? Today I did a small Lama Chopa and Tshok (or called "Ganacakra" in sanskrit, which is a meal offering feast for Kuan Yin. I regarded my Vajradhara Lama in the aspect of Kuan Yin/Chenrezig and recited the short Lama Chopa and tshok liturgy. The meal offering is very simple but consisted of the best red traditional pastry (called "ang ku" in Hokkien dialect, bought from the shop, which is said to be selling one of the best "ang-kus, although that can be disputed; refer to picture) and big juicy green and yellow pears as well as a big delicious orange. I did not choose small cheap ones. I especially choose these fruits to reflect 3 different colours (to denote the inner, outer and secret offerings). I also offered beautiful chrysanthemum flowers. Look at the pictures which I took. After that, I played the Surangama Mantra and listened to it for quite a while. So, that's how I celebrated Kuan Yin's birthday today. How about you? How did you celebrate it?

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