Welcome to Wat Sacramento Buddhavanaram

A Thai Buddhist temple in the Dhammayut tradition

Our temple is a center for Buddhist and those interested in Thai culture to meet and explore.

We offer you a place where your knowledge can grow and you can focus on a way of life and living that leads to greater understanding and achievement along the Lord Buddha's great path.

---

---

Visakha Puja Day
Sunday, June 4, 2023

Visakha Puja is one of the most important days in Buddhism. This day commemorates three important events in the life of the Buddha: his birth, achieving Enlightenment and his passing away or parinibbāna, all occurring miraculously on the same full moon days of the sixth lunar moon. All Buddhists around the world regard this as an important day to remember the teachings and pay homage to the Buddha who had great loving kindness, great purity and great wisdom. Vesak Day is recognized by the United Nations for its significance around the world, recognizing the teachings of the Buddha, and his message of compassion, peace and goodwill.

In observance of Visakha Puja, Wat Sacramento Buddhavanaram would like to extend an invitation to all devout Buddhists to participate in this religious merit-making ceremony at our temple, hoping that the Triple Gem and your merit protect you and your family from suffering, grief, and sickness, and result in happiness, strength, prosperity, wealth, and long life.

---

Thai Language and Culture Classes for 2023

We are pleased to announce the 2023 Thai Language and Culture Summer School schedule.

The first day of class, which includes student registration, will be June 11, 2023. This year's school will run through November 5, 2023. Class hours are 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

— Children's Class, ages 8 to 12.
— Adult Class, ages 13 and older.

Interested students should arrive by 9:00 AM on June 11 and complete their registration.

Please review additional information about our class below.

---

Wat Sacramento Buddhavanaram
Summer School
Thai Language Class

Students attending Thai language and culture classes at Wat Sacramento Buddhavanaram study vocabulary, conversation, grammar, and reading, along with Thai culture, literature, and the Buddhist religion.

Our classes are free. Donations are accepted to support school activities and provide materials to students. Part of the class day includes sharing free lunch at the temple. Not only do students get to eat authentic Thai food, they also have a chance to listen to and practice their lesson material with Thai speakers. Students may also bring food in the morning to share with the monks and community.

Class lessons work well for beginning through advanced students. All students study together with extra phonics lessons for new students to be sure pronunciation is correct. The different student levels work together for better results and understanding, and have more fun at the same time.

Students also benefit from taking the lessons home and studying on their own. Teachers may be contacted by email with questions about the weekly lessons to assist your learning.

All skill levels are welcome. Many students who have attended class for two to three years return and gladly help newer students adapt and begin to learn. They readily come back every year to review and polish their Thai skills and they really help add to the entire class experience.

We have a very open, friendly classroom environment with lots of opportunity to learn. We all share knowledge, experiences, and food as friends.

Our class is held outdoors, under a roofed cover without walls, creating a realistic Thai atmosphere. Summer mornings are usually cool to mild, while afternoons can be hot. Dress in layers, keeping in mind the need for modesty at a Buddhist temple. Shorts, tank tops, as well as other revealing clothing are not appropriate for a Buddhist temple. Please contact a teacher with questions before arriving.

IMPORTANT: Parents are expected to participate and remain in class with their children at all times while they attend class.

Registration forms will be available at the temple on the first day (June 11, at 9:00 AM). Come on out, complete your application form, and see what we have to offer.

Ajarn Nonglug Waldorff
อาจารย์นงลักษณ์ สงวนศิษย์ วอลดอรฟ

---

The Buddhist Monk's Discipline:
 Some Points Explained for Laypeople

Bhikkhu Khantipalo

"It is well to reflect about kamma and how each person is — 'owner of kamma, heir to kamma, born of kamma, bound by kamma, determined by kamma' — for such reflection cultivates equanimity. Each person trains himself, a bhikkhu according to his knowledge and ability and a layman likewise."

Every action, word, and even thought in some way touches our kamma. With that in mind, consider reading through Bhikkhu Khantipalo's short essay before your next encounter with Buddhist Monks.

Beneficial is control of eye,
Control of ear is beneficial too,
Beneficial is control of nose,
Control of tongue is beneficial too,
Bodily control is beneficial,
Control of speech is beneficial too
Beneficial is control of mind,
Everywhere restraint is beneficial.
The Bhikkhu here restrained in every way
Free utterly is he from every ill.
— Dhp 360-361

 "The Buddhist Monk's Discipline:
  Some Points Explained for Laypeople", by Bhikkhu Khantipalo.
  Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013,
  https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khantipalo/wheel130.html.

---

Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection

Jarā-dhammomhi jaraṃ anatīto.

I am subject to aging. Aging is unavoidable.

Byādhi-dhammomhi byādhiṃ anatīto.

I am subject to illness. Illness is unavoidable.

Maraṇa-dhammomhi maraṇaṃ anatīto.

I am subject to death. Death is unavoidable.

Sabbehi me piyehi manāpehi nānā-bhāvo vinā-bhāvo.

I will grow different, separate from all that is dear & appealing to me.

Kammassakomhi kamma-dāyādo kamma-yoni kamma-bandhu kamma-paṭisaraṇo.

I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions.

Yaṃ kammaṃ karissāmi kalyāṇaṃ vā pāpakaṃ vā tassa dāyādo bhavissāmi.

Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.

Evaṃ amhehi abhiṇhaṃ paccavekkhitabbaṃ.

We should often reflect on this.

These are the five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained.
  – Upajjhatthana Sutta – AN 5.57

---

An Ancient Path Rediscovered

"It is just as if a man, traveling along a wilderness track, were to see an ancient path, an ancient road, traveled by people of former times. He would follow it. Following it, he would see an ancient city, an ancient capital inhabited by people of former times, complete with parks, groves, & ponds, walled, delightful. He would go to address the king or the king's minister, saying, 'Sire, you should know that while traveling along a wilderness track I saw an ancient path... I followed it... I saw an ancient city, an ancient capital... complete with parks, groves, & ponds, walled, delightful. Sire, rebuild that city!' The king or king's minister would rebuild the city, so that at a later date the city would become powerful, rich, & well-populated, fully grown & prosperous.

"In the same way I saw an ancient path, an ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times. And what is that ancient path, that ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times? Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration... I followed that path. Following it, I came to direct knowledge of birth... becoming... clinging... craving... feeling... contact... the six sense media... name-&-form... consciousness, direct knowledge of the origination of consciousness, direct knowledge of the cessation of consciousness, direct knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of consciousness. I followed that path.

"Following it, I came to direct knowledge of fabrications, direct knowledge of the origination of fabrications, direct knowledge of the cessation of fabrications, direct knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of fabrications. Knowing that directly, I have revealed it to monks, nuns, male lay followers & female lay followers, so that this holy life has become powerful, rich, detailed, well-populated, wide-spread, proclaimed among celestial & human beings."

    — SN 12.65

---

 

---

 

The Middle Way realized by the Tathāgata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

 

---

---

---

From the Dhammapada

Refuge ...

---

Nibbaana sacchikiriya ca etammangalamuttamam

Endeavoring for the realization of Nibbaana is the highest blessing