On June 11, 2012 (April 22 the
lunar year of the Dragon) the Administration Board of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen
School together with a huge crowd of monks, nuns and lay Buddhists had a solemn
ceremony to welcome a Buddhist delegation led by Most Venerable Pallegama
Nayake, Abbot of Atamastanadhipathi Monastery, Sri Lanka, who came to Vietnam to
offer the Bodhi tree to the the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen School.
This Bodhi tree is part of the
Great Bodhi tree Jaya Sri, which Most Venerable Bhikhuni Sanghamitta,
daughter of King Asoka, had gotten from the Original Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya
and brought it to Srilanka to plant while she was disseminating the Dharma and
developed the Bhikhuni Sangha there upon the request of her brother, Sir
Mihinda, in 249 BC. King Devanampiya-Tissa
of Sri Lanka had the tree planted in Anuradhapura the same year. Later, the local people named it "Sri-
Maha-Bodhi". This sacred tree has
been proliferating for 2,261 years.
Buddhism in Sri Lanka has two
national treasures: one is the relic of the Buddha’s teeth enshrined at
Ruwanweliseya in Kandy; the other is the Great Bodhi tree Jaya Sri in Pahala
Maluwa. According to Anguttara Nikaya,
“ the Bodhi tree must be well respected and worshipped. Only when any of its parts obstructs the
roofs of houses, temple shrines, or becomes rotten, or the birds sitting on the
branches contaminate holy places could humans cut the branches.” By the second half of the 18th century the laws had been presented and passed in Sri Lanka that anyone who destroyed temples, and the Bodhi tree, and all religious properties would be prosecuted and sentenced to death by the Sinhala Government. With the above-mentioned values, the fact that Most Venerable Pallegama Nayake brought part of the sacred Bodhi tree to offer to the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen School in Vietnam was truly a very special event of wonderful Dharma meanings and implications.
In fact, on June 6, 2012 (April 17 the lunar year of the Dragon), a Vietnamese delegation of many monastic and lay representatives from many monasteries of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen School from North to South Vietnam (Trúc Lâm Đà Lạt, Thường Chiếu, Trúc Lâm Yên Tử, Sùng Phúc…) had come to Sri Lanka in their pilgrimage to the Bodhi tree, in order to welcome its part to be offered and planted in Vietnam.
At 9:30am on June 11, 2012 (April 22 the lunar year of the Dragon), the two Vietnamese and Sri Lankan delegations arrived at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport and later went on to Thường Chiếu Monastery, where Most Ven. Pallegama Nayake offered the Bodhi tree to the Most Venerable Head of the Administration Board of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen School. The historical ceremony took place at the Main Shrine Hall (Đại Hùng Bảo Điện) with the solemn sounds of the Prajna bell and drum echoing the whole monastery, awaking every Buddhist to this Dharma wonder.
After that the Bodhi tree, which
had been transplanted into a white pot, was respectfully carried to the hut of the Most Venerable Trúc Lâm Thich Thanh Từ, Head of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen School, so that he
would welcome it with blessings. Upon
the order of the the Administration Board of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen School,
the Trúc Lâm Zen Monastery in Đạ Lạt was assigned the responsibility to plant and
take good care of this sacred and historical Bodhi tree.
After the end of the receiving
ceremony at Thường chiếu Zen Monastery, at 8pm the delegation departed for Trúc
Lâm Zen Monastery, Đà Lạt. On June
11, 2012 the tree arrived in Đà Lạt, and was respectfully kept in the Main
Shrine Hall, waiting to be planted the following day in the monks’ Inner Ward. The ceremony of offering blessings
and planting the Bodhi tree solemnly took place in the morning of June 12, 2012
(April 23 the lunar year of the Dragon) with the participation of a huge crowd
of monastic and lay Buddhists and representatives from all zen monasteries from
North to South Vietnam.
After the ceremony with both
Theravada and Mahayana rituals, Most Ven. Pallegama Nayake, Abbot of
Atamastanadhipathi Monastery, signed an offering document to Trúc Lâm Zen
Monastery in Đà Lạt, and handed it to the Trúc Lâm Abbot.
Source:
http://thuongchieu.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3152:caybodetvtl&catid=18:tin-tc&Itemid=313
