GENERAL
INFORMATION OF THE BUDDHIST MONASTERY TAM BAO SON:
690 chemin de
la Rouge, Harrington, Que J8G 2S7.
Tel (819)
687- 2183
The
whole land of this monastery, 337 acres, has located
in the Township Harrington since September 1988.
This land has a plenty fresh air to allow Buddhist
religion contribute its traditional culture into the
Canadian culture; so all Buddhist adherents have
feeling of their Buddhist homeland in Canada. It is
a natural convention between religion and social
culture as well. Here, there are four Holy places of
the historic Gotama Buddha:
1)
The Lumbini garden where Buddha was born
2)
The Boddhigaya where Buddha achieved enlightenment
3)
The Deer Park where Buddha start to teach His five
disciples about the four Noble truths
4)
The Kusinara where Buddha achieved Parinirvana.
Among these four important places of the Historic
Buddha there are one main temple with 1000 Buddhas,
the big statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of
the past AMITABHA BUDDHA, the statue of the Buddha
of Compassion AVALOKITESVRA, the Future Buddha
MATREIYA, the statue of Buddha begging for alms, the
statue of protection Buddha ( Vajanapani Bodhisattva
) and the Rahula garden with the statue of
Avalokitesvra. Besides these statues, there are one
dormitory for Buddhist monks/nuns, and one kitchen
with the rest place for Buddhists as well.
All
these construction were administered by the Most
venerable THICH THIEN NGHI, his disciples (monks,
nuns) and his Buddhist members in Canada who
contributed their charity to develop Buddhism in
Canada.
A)
THE MAIN TEMPLE
The
main temple was started to build in June 26, 1995
and was completed in Oct 16, 1995. The opening
ceremony was held on June 29, 1996. In this Temple,
there is one principal Buddha 3 meters high, one
Amitabha Buddha (Buddha of the past) at 2 meters in
height and 1000 small Buddha statues, each of whom
is 30cm. These 1000 small statues with the five
different positions of the Buddha represent five
ways of the Buddha’s teaching. There are one big
bell 3 meters high and one long drum 2 meters in
height as well.
B) THE FOUR HOLY PLACES OF THE
BHODI GOTAMA
1) THE GOTAMA ENLIGHTEN BUDDHA:
BODDHIGAYA
This
deliberated place was opened on August 3, 1991. The
statue was made of bronze in Thailand, stands in
2.50 meters in height and is located under the
special tree with six trunks represent the six
paramitas or the six methods of all Buddhas and
Boddhisattvas to help people. ( Boddhisattvas means
Buddhahood). According to the historical events, the
Gotama Buddha sat under this similar tree ( Boddhi
tree) to meditate, and after 49 days he achieved
enlightenment. He realized that the Buddha mind is
in everybody and recognized that all have capacities
to become Buddha like him. Besides this place, there
is a creek whose name NI LIEN to show a purification
of everyone.
2) THE LUMBINI GARDEN
This holy place
is the place of birth of the Gotama Buddha. The
opening ceremony was held on July 28, 1993. The
statue of the baby Buddha is 1m.50 high with the
seven lotus flowers, and the statue of the Buddha’s
mother Queen Maya is 2 meter high.
According to the
Buddha legend, Queen Maya dreamt about a white
elephant with six trunks going into her hip, after
which she became pregnant. Later, she gave birth to
the Buddha in this special garden stepped over
seven lotuses. On the day of his birth, the Buddha
gave his first message that: “in this world, human
beings are noble possessed of a Buddha nature;
however, human beings suffer from a lot of
difficulties in their lives because of their
stubborn attachment to their egos (self).
The seven flowers
show us the seven directions: North, South, East,
West, the top, the bottom and the middle. The number
seven also represents seven the basic rhythms of
music that everybody understands and uses to
communicate with each other to express their ideas.
3) THE HOLY PLACE OF THE
BUDDHA GIVING THE FIRST SERMON: THE FOUR NOBLE
TRUTHS ( ISIPATANAGAYA or THE DEER PARK)
The inauguration
was held in August, 1994. The Buddha statue in the
teaching position sits 2m.70 high, while the other
five statues of his first five disciples are 2m
each . These five monks were designated as the first
Sangha (the community of monks) in the philosophy of
the Triple GEM ( Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) according
to the Buddhist tradition.
4) THE HOLY PLACE OF THE
BUDDHA ATTAINING PARINIRVANA
This place was
opened on July 22, 1998. The length of the Buddha
statue is 7 meters, is 2.50 meters high, and 3
meters in width. The Buddha lies down with his head
to the North, his legs to the South, his back to the
East and his face to the West. This position is
called peaceful sleeping.
C) THE WELL-KNOWN STATUE
1)
THE BUDDHA OF COMPASSION’S HOLY PLACE:
The
gaya of Avalokitesvara Buddha was established in
May, 1995 and its opening ceremony was held on
October 21, 1995. This statue was made of bronze in
Thailand, stands 9 meters height and was donated by
120 Buddhists. This Buddha is in the female form to
erase discrimination of gender and social classes
among people; moreover, this Buddha always gives
full peace and safety to everybody. This statue was
repainted in August 16, 2000.
2) THE
FUTURE BUDDHA’S HOLY PLACE
The gaya of Matreiya Buddha was inaugurated in
August 3,1991. The statue was made of bronze and is
2.50 meter in height. This Buddha symbolizes the
philosophy of peace, tolerance, and patience
necessary to overcome the difficulties of this
world. According to some Buddhist scriptures, this
Buddha will reincarnate in this world after 9
million years. He will sit under the special tree
whose name is Dragon to meditate only one day, then
he will achieve enlightenment and become a Buddha.
3) THE
STATUE OF THE GOTAMA BUDDHA BEGGING FOR ALMS
This bronze
statue is 7m tall and was inaugurated on July 2,
2000. It represents the idea of receiving blessings
from charity. According to the Mahavagga Vinaya
III.81A.IV.406, monks and nuns beg for alms as did
the Buddha to represent the worthy of offerings, of
hospitality, of gifts, and of respect for these are
the greatest fields of merit for lay people in the
Buddhist tradition.
4) THE BUDDHA OF
PROTECTION or GUARDIAN BODDHISATTVA
This statue is 4
meter high and is like warrior who protects his
nation. This Buddha vows standing in this position
to take care of all Buddhist activities and to
protect safety all monks and nuns who live in the
monastery. This place was opened in July, 2000. This
bronze statue is from Thailand.
5) THE RAHULA
GARDEN
In this garden, stands the statue of the
compassionate Buddha at 1.50 m. It was built in May
1996. It is here that people often come on special
occasions for help.
This general
information about the TAM BAO SON Monastery is our
small cultural contribution to Buddhism made
possible by the Societe Bouddhique CHANH PHAP and
the UNION OF VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST CHURCHES IN CANADA.
We hope we can contribute into the Canadian culture
by getting people into the fresh air of these sacred
sites where cultural, religious and social
differences melt away to reveal truths about human
nature.
Written by Reverend PHO TINH
Conception and realisation this Website by
Reverend PHAP TANH and Minh Ha
Edited by Minh Huan