August 29, 2019
The Ngaring
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Each year on a summer day, all the people in the village, dressed in the best, make their way to the monastery and stand outside the main hall to face a row of monks and receive their blessings. The monks of Ritoma Monastery have just completed a retreat where they recited mantras and they are preparing to pass on the power of the blessings accumulated from their meditation onto the villagers, to offer them the merit and good fortune that will evolve from it.
They bless the water passed to them from copper vessels and sprinkle it onto the hundreds of heads standing below; men, women and children. It is a joyful event. They monks will then begin their summer retreat and the villages will wander for a while, exchanging news and gossip, children will play and all will return to their everyday occupations. |