What’s On In カンボジア Cambodiaカティナ フェスティバル・Kathina Festival
(English report follows after Japanese)
カティナ布地の写真。Photo of Kathina cloth. Photo credit: Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
毎年１０月初旬から、カンボジアではKathinaフェスティバルが始まります。Kathinaフェスティバルは仏教国（タイ、ラオス、ミャンマーなど）で行われる大規模な行事の一つであり、今年は１０月３日から３１日まで約一ヶ月間続きます。
Kathinaはパーリ語由来の言葉で、雨季に三カ月間修業した後の僧侶に捧げる「布地」を指します。仏教の説教によりますと、作物や生き物に不用意に害を及ぼさないように、僧侶は雨季には外出を控える必要があるそうです。外出を控え、修行に励んだ僧侶に褒美として、釈迦が布地をお与えになったという逸話があります。そのため、Kathinaフェスティバルの期間中、カンボジアの人々はパゴダを訪ね、僧侶に布地、お金や食物を寄付するのです。
今般のコロナ禍における私達の状況は、仏教的観点からすると、外出を控える修業期間と考えられます。修業期間明けにはきっと神様からのご褒美がいただけると信じて、この災難を皆で乗り越えましょう！
Every year from the beginning of October, the Kathina Festival starts in Cambodia. The Kathina Festival is one of the biggest religious events amongst the various Buddhist countries, such as Thailand, Laos, Myanmar etc., and it lasts for one month, starting from 3 October until 31 October this year.
The word “Kathina” is derived from Pali language, and it refers to the cloth that is offered to Buddhist monks after the end of their 3-month meditation training during the rainy season. According to the teachings of Buddhism, it is said that in order to avoid harming crops and other living things unintentionally, Buddhist monks should refrain from going out during the rainy season. And at the end, the saying goes that, Gautama Buddha gave cloth to the Buddhist monks for their effort made towards the rainy season retreat. Therefore, during this Kathina Festival period, Cambodians will visit the pagodas and make donations of cloth, money and food to the Buddhist monks.
From the point of view of Buddha’s teachings, the restriction of outdoor movement seems applicable in this current pandemic that we are going through. Like the receiving of Kathina cloth from Gautama Buddha, we certainly believe that good things await us at the end of this movement restriction period, and we will be able to overcome this pandemic together!
参考文献 References：
- Khmer Times, “Annual Kathina Festival Begins”, 4 October 2020 https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50769482/annual-kathina-festival-begins/
- Wikipedia, “Kathina” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathina