Dedication of sand mountains to relieve sins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3HLldDL_jk&feature=player_embedded

Pchum Ben ceremony in Wat Triratanaram, North Chelmsford, Massachusetts

The Final Days of 2008 Ancestors Memorial Ceremony
Remembering All The Deads

Saturday - Sunday September 27 -28, 2008

Organized by the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks Center

We, Buddhist monks and temple committee, would like to inform you, community members, and Buddhist devotees from all directions that wish to offer merits (dana), observe the precepts, and meditate in order to honor your ancestors, mothers, fathers in the tradition that has passed down to us since the ancient and uphold your own national identity and religion, are cordially invited to make contribution of the four merits to the Buddhist monks.

Due to this year, the actual final day of the Ancestors Memorial Ceremony occurs on a weekday, Monday September 29th, where many of our Buddhist devotees commit their times to their daily livelihood by attending to their employments, the final days would be move back two days to Saturday and Sunday September 27 and 28, 2008.

Location:

The Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks Center of United States
Wat Triratanaram
21 – 25 Quigley Avenue
North Chelmsford, MA 01863
Phone: 978-251-2587, 978-251-2709, or 978-251-1198

THE 2-DAY CONCLUSION OF ANCESTORS MEMORIAL CEREMONY

Saturday September 27, 2008

9:00AM Arrival of lay people, pay homage to the Triple Gems, chant Paritta, alms offerings to the Buddhist clergies, ancestors, deceased parents, families, relatives, compatriots, and other beings.

6:30PM Arrival of lay people, pay homage to the Triple Gems, chant Paritta, ...more.

Sunday September 28, 2008

9:00AM Arrival of lay people, pay homage to the Triple Gems, chant Paritta, alms offerings to the Buddhist clergies, ancestors, deceased parents, families, relatives, compatriots, and other beings.

6:30PM Arrival of lay people, pay homage to the Triple Gems, chant Paritta, ...more.

Therefore, we would like to extend our cordial invitations to you, your families, colleagues, friends, community members, and compatriots to join with us in honoring our ancestors, deceased parents, relatives and beings, who experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, in the three dharmas: Truthfulness, Forbearance, and Gratitude.

For more information: http://www.templenews.info/index.htm

Building Boom Revisited – Are these the first signs? [Comment by an oberver in Phnom Penh]

Saturday, February 9, 2008
A comment by an observer in Phnom Penh
Originally posted at http://about-cambodia.blogspot.com

The investment and building construction companies didn't count on Khmer culture when starting this building spree. Khmers have commented that living in apartment buildings, crammed in with other families, reminds them of the Pol Pot times and its not their culture to live like that. As such, no one has been buying these properties. Two Korean companies building on separate locations in Toul Kok have had to stop construction halfway through because they have no advance sales of their properties to provide the funds for further work. The government has bailed one of these companies out by injecting the cash they need to continue building, in exchange for a share of the company.

If the government wants to continue doing this it will soon run out of money. [Note by KJE, the author of About Cambodia blog]