A welcome traditional broth with rice noodles and fresh coriander, followed by hot unsweetened tea. Local Vietnamese Buddhists started the celebration of the Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát holiday with a feast in the hall of the Pagoda shrine in Most. The latter is not as important as Vesak, but the Vietnamese minority ranks it among the most popular. You can find a gallery from the celebration below in the article.
Celebration in the Pagoda sanctuary in Most. | Video: Martin Vokurka
The holiday is held in honor of an awakened being, who is worshiped by millions of people especially in Southeast and Central Asia as the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, which is the embodiment of awakened compassion, a kind of Eastern equivalent of the Christian Jesus associated with the celebration of Easter.
While a large part of the inhabitants of Mostek decorated their surroundings with Easter eggs, bunnies and pom-poms in the past few days, the Vietnamese hung a picture of their legendary protector above the stairs in the hall of the Pagoda. She resembles a woman in her clothes and appearance.
“She’s like a mother. He helps people, good and bad, because he likes everyone. Even bad people can become better,” said one of the Buddhist women kneeling among dozens of people in a decorated hall with several altars in the Mostec temple. The organizers also placed towers with fruit, sweets and water next to them. There were flowers everywhere.
Pagoda Bridge
The Buddhist cultural center Pagoda Most is located in a former shopping center in U Stadionu Street. It is used for meeting the Vietnamese community, maintaining traditions and organizing various events.
Several families with children also arrived to meet the monk, whose narration was often accompanied by joint laughter. During the long ceremony, a boy of about six fell asleep on a carpet in the middle of a praying community that was singing and playing percussion instruments. The highlights of the meeting included the turning off of the lights and the night chanting with candles in the shape of lotus flowers.
Buddha
Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama – enlightened or awakened one, lived two thousand years ago in Northern India and is the founder of Buddhism. The historical Buddha, shocked by the realization that people are suffering, left the comforts of home and sought a way to free himself from the miseries and cycle of life through various practices.
After many failures and mistakes, he finally, with the help of meditation and calming the mind, reached a state in which he recognized the cause of suffering and began to teach people the so-called middle path, that is, avoiding extremes. His teachings are still spreading today, influencing hundreds of millions of people, especially in Asia, and cementing the Vietnamese community in Mostek.
You might be interested: Vietnamese people in Litvínov threw away their worries and celebrated the new year. They thanked the Czechs
