Inauguration of the Santacittarama Temple

Santacittarama. Rieti, 11 June 2023

The official inauguration of the Santachittarama Buddhist Temple took place on 11 June, the last of three days in which it was possible to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of its foundation on 21 March 1990.

At the time it was a small villa in Sezze Romano, in Latina, offered by Vincenzo Piga, one of the leading Buddhist scholars in Italy, to fill the lack of Theravadin monasticism in our country.

Among the hills of Poggio Nativo, in Rieti, the first Theravadin Sangha (monastic group) in Italy took up residence, with mainly Thai and Sri Lankan monks.

Even if Ajahn Chandapalo, the English abbot who has lived in Italy for decades, is still at the head of the Sangha.

“The Garden of the Serene Heart”, is the meaning of its name, and among its walls and the vegetation, the Dhamma, the teaching of the Buddha is studied: the Satipaṭṭhāna, the important Buddhist term in Pali which means “establishment of awareness” or “presence of awareness”.

The inauguration was to take place in June 2020, after the gilded bronze stupa brought from Thailand, weighing four hundred kilos and three meters high, was finally placed. In October, Kathina was celebrated, which I have already written about. The following months were waiting for the important event but Covid and the lockdown prevented the celebrations.

 

This is why the ceremony of these three days was one of the most awaited and loved, with over one hundred monks arriving especially from Thailand and for all three days, Mrs. Romanee Kananurak, Ambassador of Thailand in Rome, presided over every function: from the opening one in which the trees were planted up to the most important one on Sunday.

In this last one, the highest honors went to Mr. Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, the Thai billionaire businessman of Chinese origin, former surgeon, founder and owner of Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, Thailand's largest private healthcare group, and a regional airline, Bangkok Airways.

He was given the privilege of presiding over the Sīmā Ceremony, after the Paritta Recitals and Dhamma talk by Luang Por Dhamrong Sucitto that started the day, before lunch.

The ordination hall of a Buddhist temple is located within a boundary (sīmā) which defines the space within which all members of a single local community must assemble as a complete Sangha in a designated place for ecclesiastical acts.

 

In Thai tradition, the boundary of the main building (ubosot) is marked by eight boundary stones known as bai sema, which denote the sīmā. The sema stones stand above and mark the luk nimit (ลูกนิมิต), stone spheres buried at the cardinal points of the compass delineating the sacred area. A ninth, usually larger stone sphere is buried beneath the main Buddha image of the ubosot.

The cutting of the ropes sanctioned the symbolic foundation in the earth of the nine spheres, on which the faithful had stuck fragments of golden paper.

The Royal Thai Embassy in Rome, hundreds of faithful arriving from all over Italy, the mayor of Rieti, Chao Prakhun Somdej Phra Mahathirachan Abbot of Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimol Mangkalaram who presided over the ceremony, even a famous rock star who arrived from Thailand, met united in one white embrace to the sangha of Santacittarama.

An unforgettable Sunday.

To know more about Santacittarama: https://santacittarama.org/

Italian version