Pilgrimage in the Ostentatious Outlook: Fake or Innovation
Author: Eleanor Choke-jaya
Date: 1st December 2019
Keywords: #pilgrimage, #innovation, #fake, #event, #monk
Length: 1204 words
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When the Temple1 initiated the grandiose pilgrimage project in 2011, although it received some attention from the Temple’s critics, the project has proven to be an event that people looking for. The public was thrilled; it was a very success in the first year.
The second year, at least, the organizing Temple was able to start talking about the event people know what it was. And the locals were excited and they turned out participating and support. It was such meritorious community effort; everybody got behind it.
The pilgrimage is not a totally new thing but the 2011 pilgrimage event was done in the innovative way and being introduced to the society. The Temple decided to make such an initiative move.
Generally, pilgrimage is not a kind of event that is exclusive to any one as we can see this sort of event existing in various places in the area where there are temples because it is the wonderful thing to do. It can be seen that now many temples under their own ways arrange their own pilgrims.
The Temple’s pride and fulfillment coming with the first year success was seeing what people are going to understand from witnessing this special that it is the incredible hard work that involve in religious activity, not only focus on the glamour outlook, or the festive side, nor the nonsensical scandals surrounding the Temple who is the main organizer. Also general public now can see how tough it was to put every aspect of the event together.
More people started to realize it is a huge, huge religious commitment with so many people’s life-long sacrifice behind it. Thinking about the livelihood alone, there are a few thousand people working for the organizer’s organization. The public can see that to make this grand-scale pilgrimage happened, each one of them takes on different roles and functions effectively and it is always very cooperative. Everyone is very much as a team player even though the organization-like Temple is so large. They always know what their people in charge are doing and together they are very focus on pushing forward every aspect and element of each temple’s project toward the goal.
The preparation work of the pilgrimage takes more than six months; it is like staging a military operation. There are volunteers from all walks of life. The thought behind that at the moment is to be able to kick off the event because within a week before the kick start, the media, television, newspaper and online are starting to focus on the activity and going to interview them; and the Temple wants to make sure that the public realizes also when and where they can join in this fabulous event. Every people can be part of this experience and it is really showcasing the look of the event.
It is not an easy task; the Temple intended to be transformative; they want to do big and bold things to create social movement, increase awareness, form alliances to make a positive impact to the society. The Temple’s people truly believe that time will prove that what they have done is correct and beneficial. We are now living in a very polarizing time so what the Temple is trying to do is to bridge the gap through the means of charitable project. And they do not expect it to be easy.
They know there are some of the distraction, some of the ferocity; for them, they tried to keep their head down, not listen to the noise and just work really hard to make a positive outcomes that will benefit the life of many people in meritorious way. At the end of the day, if they want to think about difficulties most of people in the society face like mother loses the child, cancer victim, etc. or how hard the Lord Buddha himself had been through before attaining the Buddhahood. All these will give them the real energy.
As can be seen, the Temple’s effort and hard work paid off handsomely. The pilgrimage becomes a historic record that says it pioneers the revival by them. This recognition is built on what they do; it is not built on what they say. But it is only a mile stone; the Temple is still thinking of bringing stronger purpose to the mission; the purpose which is also more relevance to general public interest.
The Temple is very transparent and open about what it has been doing; and continue to advocate other temples to be active in religious roles. When it is time to move to the reality, Dhammakaya temple understand the thing to make it come alive is to provide other temples with the know-how that has been distilled down to simple steps that each temple can take. They are also ready to provide the skill-based training to equip other temple’s personnel’s with a skill set needed. And as each of them understands the individual step then they can multiply it regionally and nationally; then it becomes small step big success. And Dhammakaya followers know many other temples are now going to override to deliver.
Things at these moments are busier and more interesting; the Temple’s people can see more things to accomplish on the daily basis. Every monastic and laity wants to do a good job for the Temple as they know it is historic. This is obviously another side of their roles and contribution which are not displaying on the front or being mentioned; it makes them genuinely honor each other of their incredible selfless hard working both in here at the head quarter and across the globe.
The Temple devotion is not fake; they take on thing by its true essence rather by superficial understanding of the religious context. They work on the pilgrimage, organizing it to be full of bold quality of Buddhist principles, specificity and imagination, showcasing more of the wow factors to boost the public sensation, deriving greater values from the invested resources. All involved process by which new ideas generated and converted into authentic but contemporary
religious service.
During the pilgrimage period, people can see unbroken line of crowd waiting hours along the assigned route to welcome the pilgrim monks, and the excitement they have when seeing the beginning of the line of yellow saffron-don monks in sight. It is a phenomenon. A kind of phenomenon that cannot be communicated in words of how so powerful and overwhelming it is, that it explains how much the waiting crowd are sharing the same value and inspiration. The participation gives them religious fulfillment that any experience with the sense of ‘fake’ can never do.
The reason Dhammakaya temple decided to take on the greatest risk in creating this revolution is they see it is apt at the time and they want to outreach new constituencies. Of course, imitators of this kind take less risk because they will start with the innovator’s initiations and take a more effective approach but can never own a historic statement as being the first one of its kind. But for the Temple, they think in the position being a breakthrough risk taker as they are, is much happier because they have the chance to celebrate the better new ways of doing things before anyone.
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1 Dhammakaya Temple was established in 1970 in Klong-luang, Patumthani, Thailand by Chandra Khon-nok-yoong
The pilgrimage was named Dhammachai Dhutangha starting in 2011 and has been held annually since. The 2018 pilgrimage started on 2nd March till 31st of the same month.