Cambodian Buddhist Society Re-dedication Ceremony
We congratulate all members of the Cambodian Buddhist Society in their recent celebrations and re-dedication ceremony of the their beautiful premises in Kelmscott. At the Special Blessing Ceremony held on the 3rd of July 2010, the committee and members thanked all supporters in their journey.CBSWA Secretary Tholla Chan (also Vice-President of the BCWA) gave this speech:
It is my pleasure to welcome everyone to our Temple today.
On behalf of our monk ven Lohn Ky, the Committee and our members I would like to thank the most venerable Ajahn Brahm for accepting our invitation to conduct this special ceremony this morning.
We would also like to thank venerable Visuddha Wansa from Sri Lankan temple for participating in today’s special event.
I would like to specially acknowledge the presence of Mr. Doug Solomon and Ms Tracy Hong from the Solomon Brothers Law Firm in Perth,
Ms Olga Ramasamy from the Australian Asian Association, Mr. Dennis Sheppard, the president of the BSWA, Mr. Ananda Thilaksiri, the treasurer of the BSWA.
Dr Jake Mitra, the president of the Buddhist Council, and Ramani Gunasekera from Sri Lankan Temple.
We gather here today for a special Blessing ceremony in order to express our deep gratitude to many people who have given generous support to our Temple especially in its most challenging time.
I want to make a special mention of the generosity of Mr. Doug Solomon and his assistant, Tracy Hong, in coming to our rescue. You have made it possible for us to carry on our journey, back on track.
Our thanks also go to Mr. Arvind Pillay who sent his apology for not being able to attend this ceremony..
We would like to thank Olga from AAA who have assisted us on many occasions.
We thank the Buddhist Council of WA and the Buddhist Society of Wa for their support.
We are very grateful to have received spiritual guidance and practical advice from Ajahn Brahm. Thank you very much Ajahn.
While we can never repay your kindness, we would like to share with you our merits in building this Temple. There will be lots of chanting, blessing and sharing of merits.
We believe that there are great merits and blessings in building a temple because there are a lot of challenges to overcome along the way.
To commemorate today’s event we have created and printed a small booklet on the 38 Blessings taken from the Mangala Sutta in both English and Khmer. You are welcome to have one as a souvenir.
Today’s ceremony also marks a new beginning for WAT DHAMMAYANARAM which was created in October 2007, with a lot of enthusiasm and optimism. We intend to continue our efforts in making it into a meditation centre where people can come to learn Dhamma, and if possible we would set up a type of residence suitable for older Buddhist people who may wish to live around a temple like they do in their home countries. (In fact my own grand-mother did that when she was getting older. I used to enjoy going to visit her.)
In spite of the challenges, we will endeavour to do whatever we can to move forward on the path we set out to do from the beginning. We do hope that we will be able to succeed. However, there are still many more challenges ahead.
Thank you all for spending your precious time with us today.
I would like to thank all our members who have helped clean up and prepare for today’s ceremony.
May all sentient beings be well and happy.
