Achar

The Clergy Manual

Clergy must regularly help to guide the Dhamma teaching, ritual performing and practicing the following activities. If a clergy neglected or violated the fundamental five precepts, she/he will be warned, or disciplined, or dismissed eventually.

I. Sila Precepts Undertaking 
Clergy must follow Five Precepts as their Code of Conduct for daily life. Five precepts are fundamental ethic for all especially clergy must not violate any precept among those fives. The Five Precepts are following:

• Abstaining from hurting or killing living beings. They must be capable of giving compassion and love to all beings. All physical abuses must be abstained.
• Abstaining from corruption or stealing. They must have an honest livelihood and be diligent. All financial abuses must be abstained.
• Abstaining from sexual misconduct or committing adultery. They must be aware of obtaining consensual consent. All sexual abuses must be abstained.
• Abstaining from telling lies, using malicious words, harsh words and useless speech with everyday verbalizing. All verbal abuses must be abstained.
• Abstaining from taking intoxicant or addicting drugs. They must be aware of observing mindfulness. All emotional abuses must be abstained.

II. Conduct the leadership regularly on the Life Services from Birth to Death of people such as Baby Showering, Birthday, Wedding and Diseased One etc.
III. Vipassana Insight Meditation
Help guild and teach Vipassana Insight Meditation that has daily opened to the public to fit individual’s needs and commitment to care their own physical and mental insight. Vipassana Insight Meditation benefits practitioners following:

• Improve physical coordination and athlete performance.
• Increase capacity to relate to others with openness and warmth, which can enhance the enjoyment of oneself and others.
• Increase job proficiency.
• Gain a sense of harmony with life.
• Achieve greater self-acceptance.
• Enhance creativity.
• Enhance intuition or “going with your gut”.
• Become more patient, more creative, and more open.
• Develop resilience to face tough situations.
• Enriching the sense of generosity, morality, peaceful mind, and intelligence.

More than these, Vipassana Insight Meditation provides us many benefits in daily life such as:

• If you are a busy person, meditation can help you to get rid of tension and to find relaxation.
• If you are a worried person, meditation can help to calm you and help you to find either permanent or temporary peace.
• If you are a person who has endless problems, meditation can help you to develop courage and strength to face and overcome problems.
• If you lack self-confidence, meditation can help you to gain the self-confidence you need. This self-confidence is the secret of success.
• If you have fear in your heart, meditation can help you to understand the real nature of the objects that are making you afraid – then you can overcome the fear in your mind.
• If you are always dissatisfied with everything – nothing in life seems to be satisfactory, meditation will give you the chance to develop and to maintain some inner satisfaction.
• If you are skeptical and disinterested in religion, meditation can help you to go beyond your own skepticism and to see some practical value in religious guidance.
• If you are frustrated and heart-broken due to lack of understanding of the nature of life and the world, meditation will truly guide you and help you to understand that you are disturbed by unnecessary things.
• If you are a rich man, meditation can help you to realize the nature of your wealth and how to make use of your wealth for your own happiness as well as for others.
• If you are a poor man, meditation can help you to have some contentment and not to harbour jealousy towards those who have more than you.
• If you are a young man at the cross-roads of your life, and you do not know which way to turn, meditation will help you to understand which is the road for you to travel to reach your proper goal.
• If you are an elderly man who is fed-up with life, meditation will bring you to a deeper understanding of life; this understanding in turn will relieve you from the pains of life and will increase the joy of living.
• If you are hot-tempered, you can develop the strength to overcome this weakness of anger, hatred, and resentment.
• If you are jealous, you can understand the danger of your jealousy.
• If you are a slave to your five senses, you can learn how to become the master of your sense-desires.
• If you are addicted to drinking or to drugs, you can realize how to overcome the dangerous habit which has enslaved you.
• If you are an ignorant person, this meditation will give you a chance to cultivate some knowledge that will be useful and beneficial both to you and to your friends and family.
• If you really practise this meditation, your emotion will have no chance to make you a fool any more.
• If you are a wise person, this meditation will take you to supreme enlightenment. Then you will see things as they are, and not as they appear to be.
• If you are a weak-minded person, this meditation can strengthen your mind to develop your will-power in order to overcome your weakness.

Buddhist Sacraments of Wedding

Married couples take a vow:

A husband serves his wife by:

1. Honoring her in accordance with her status as his wife.
2. Not disparaging her.
3. Not committing adultery.
4. Giving her control of household concerns.
5. Giving her occasional gifts of ornaments and clothing.

A wife honors her husband by:

1. Keeping the household tidy.
2. Being helpful to the relations and friends of both sides of the family.
3. Not committing adultery.
4. Safeguarding any wealth that has been acquired.
5. Being diligent in all her work.

(D.III.192)

Married couples are blessed:

Jaya Gāthā
The Victory Protection

Mahā-kāruṇiko nātho
Hitāya sabba-pāṇinaṃ
Pūretvā pāramī sabbā
Patto sambodhim-uttamaṃ
Etena sacca-vajjena
Hotu te jaya-maṅgalaṃ

(The Buddha), our protector, with great compassion,
For the welfare of all beings,
Having fulfilled all the perfections,
Attained the highest self-awakening.
Through the speaking of this truth,
may you have a victory blessing.

 

Jayanto bodhiyā mūle
Sakyānaṃ nandi-vaḍḍhano
Evaṃ tvam vijayo hohi
Jayassu jaya-maṅgale

Victorious at the foot of the Bodhi tree,
Was he who increased the Sakyans’ delight.
May you have the same sort of victory,
May you win victory blessings.

 

Aparājita-pallaṅke
Sīse paṭhavi-pokkhare
Abhiseke sabba-buddhānaṃ
Aggappatto pamodati

At the head of the lotus leaf of the world
On the undefeated seat
Consecrated by all the Buddhas,
He rejoiced in the utmost attainment.

 

Sunakkhattaṃ sumaṅgalaṃ
Supabhātaṃ suhuṭṭhitaṃ
Sukhaṇo sumuhutto ca
Suyiṭṭhaṃ brahmacārisu
Padakkhiṇaṃ kāya-kammaṃ
Vācā-kammaṃ padakkhiṇaṃ
Padakkhiṇaṃ mano-kammaṃ
Paṇidhī te padakkhiṇā
Padakkhiṇāni katvāna
Labhantatthe, padakkhiṇe

A lucky star it is, a lucky blessing,
a lucky dawn, a lucky sacrifice,
a lucky instant, a lucky moment,
a lucky offering: i.e., a rightful bodily act
a rightful verbal act, a rightful mental act,
your rightful intentions
with regard to those who lead the chaste life.
Doing these rightful things,
your rightful aims are achieved.

Khmer Wedding Program – Presentation Transcript

1. Khmer Wedding program
2. Wedding Ceremony Day: The make-up girl arrive at the bride’s home to make-up for the bride, changing the traditional dress for the bride and groom for Pithi Hae Chamnoun.
3. Pithi Sout Mon (Monk Chanting): The start of the ceremony, invite monks to pray and give wishes to both the bride and the groom. This is normally celebrated among families, relatives and neighbors. We believe that the prayer will also indicate to the soul of death relatives as message to let them know that we are celebrating the wedding and become wife and husband from today…

Pithi : Program

4. Family dinning: After the monk’s chanting, the bride and the groom change their dress and the first day is end up with eating together with families and relatives of both families, and whoever else presented.
5. Pithi Hae Chamnoun ceremony: The groom escorted by his Best Men, parents and his relatives arrive at the bride’s house. The groom  with Best Men, parents and relatives wait outside the bride’s house until she comes out The groom offers the wedding flowers to the bride and together enter the house.
6. Khmer traditional singer sings the song (Fruit song): Offering the fruit to the bride’s parent after the bride changed her dress while the groom and Best Men relax and wait for the Pithi Exchange Ring
7. Pithi Exchange Ring: Bride and the groom exchange their wedding ring. Rings are presented in the nicely ring box
8. Pithi Kat Sok (Hair cutting ceremony): The parents and the respected guests perform “Pithi Kat Sok”(haircutting). The Bride and Groom sit next to each other while the bridesmaids and the best men sit beside them. On the table are the wedding gifts that the groom brought for the brides parents. Two singers dance around the bride and the groom and pretend to cut hair from them. The cut hair is placed into the Khang Thong (the golden bowl). Later this cut hair is discarded as this is believed to get rid of the unhapiness from their lives. All the rest of the falmily and friends and do the same.
9. Pithi Liang Choeung ( Feet cleaning ceremony): The wife cleans her husband’ feet. The groom give a money envelope to the bride and the bride enters a room.
10. Pithi Sen (Pray ceremony): The groom wait for the bride to come out of the room for the next ceremony, Pithi Sen. The Moha start to play the KMOUS to ask for the bride to come out from her room and to sit close to the groom for Pithi Sen. Singer sing the song Beak Veang Noun.

Beak Veang Noun: Open the door and let the bride out

11. Pithi Bangvil Popil (TurnPopil) ceremony: In this ceremony, currently married couples are asked to gather in a circle around the bride and groom. Three candles are lit and handed from person to person. Each participant passes his or her right hand over it in a sweeping motion towards the couple, sending or throwing a silent blessing to them. Only married couples are asked to participate, as it is believed that they will pass along the special quality or essence which has preserved their union. The candles are passed around the circle clockwise seven times to complete the ceremony.: Popil: Candles light
12. Pithi Jong Dai Ceremony: First, the groom is invited to greet the parents and the elderly people. A musician sings song and dances in front of the bride’s room. When he has finish he says “Chay hang! Sous hang!” A woman takes the brides hand and lead her out of the room.

Jong Dai: Put the red rope around the wrist

13. Pithi Preah Thoung Toung Sbay Neang Neak: The groom hold the bride’s Sbay(Scarf) and follows her to enter the room. This follows by this legend…
14. Legend: There are many legends concerning the ceremony, but the most famous one is the story of Preah Thong (the first king of Cambodia) and Princess Nagi (daughter of the famous Naga). Preah Thong was offended by his father and was exiled to the KokThlokIsland, where resided the king of Cham. One night he saw a beautiful lady on the beach and he immediately fell in love with her. This lady was the daughter of the king of Naga. In order to marry her he had to travel to the underground kingdom of Naga. As a human being he did not know how to get there. The young princess told him to hold her scarf and follow her. Between them, they mysteriously descended into the ground. The King of Naga admitted him and inhaled all the sea, sending his troop of soldiers to enlarge the Kingdom of Kok Thlok. This new kingdom is called Kampuchea .
15. Reception All families, relatives, friends, are invited to joint the reception. And usually held in the Restaurant where reserve enough space. Guests were invited by invitation card and the envelop, so they will come along with that and put the money inside as gift. Big drink, big celebration for old friends and dance to keep the party entertained.
16. End of ceremony

Thank you !