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Thai Buddhist Holy Water
Upon visiting the temple of the 'Golden Buddha' in Bangkok last year, I happened to pick up a plastic bottle of blessed water. Unfortunately all the writing on the label is in Thai, which I do not read. Any insight as to the history/uses of blessed water from a temple? I keep the bottle respectfully on my home shrine.
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Although the term holy water is not used, the idea of "blessed water" is used among Buddhists. Water is put in to a new pot and kept near a Paritrana ceremony, a blessing for protection. Thai 'Lustral water' can be created in a ceremony in which the burning and extinction of a candle above the water represents the elements of earth, fire, and air. This water is later given to the people to be kept in their home. Not only water but also oil and strings are blessed in this ceremony. Bumpa, a ritual object, is one of the Ashtamangala, used for storing sacred water sometimes, symbolizing wisdom and long life in Vajrayana Buddhism
I felt compassion for you.
I also Wiki'd it...but thought that definetion might be too general.
Im here with you...awaiting the answer.
Anyway, the key seems to be the term "Lustral Water", thank you Telly for the info! I have now seemed to have found the answer I was looking for:
"Lustral water is water that has received a blessing from monks in a sacred ceremony called nam mon. During the Buddhist ceremony, monks are seated on a raised platform with a set of altar tables at the right ending facing the ceremonial attendants. The head monk sits next to the altar where a lustral water container or an alms bowl is placed. Rain water or underground water is placed in the vessel along with a few gold leaves, Bermuda grass or lotus. A beeswax candle is placed on the rim of the vessel and as drops of wax from the candle falls into the water, sorrow and evil are believed to be washed away.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the lustral water is sprinkled on the ceremonial attendants and premises with a bunch of dried Bermuda grass. It is believed that lustral water which is sprinkled on a person’s head will bring the person luck, safety and success. The premises can also be sprinkled with lustral water to bring protection from harm and ward off evil. In some extreme cases, people will go through a ceremony and bathe in lustral water to rid themselves of misfortune and bad luck."
Beautiful symbolism in the 'formulation' of the water! I shall cherish it.
Your question came across as very sincere,
so I felt compassion when I couldnt anwser it.
Glad we got our answer.
After all, the sacredness imbued in it comes fom nowhere but a human influence....
Rather like the relics left to us by Christian saints of old.... bones of the fingers, or teeth.... subsequently discovered to be those of a pig, or dog.....
I'm of the opinion that while such relics engender a deeper more spiritual attitude in us, they as objects themselves, are of little relevance, in comparison to the spoirit of behaviour they evoke, in a person.
When I was a little girl, my cousin accidentally spilled the water contained in a glass bottle, which was in the shape of the Virgin Mary.
The water had come from Lourdes.
In a panic, she hurriedly replaced the water with tap water....
My grandmother, who used the water daily, when she made the sign of the cross (in both leaving and coming back to the house), never had any idea that this had happened, and felt the heavenly spirit of Mary touch her, each time she used the water in the small porcelain font.
Only she was allowed to touch the bottle, and nobody else was to attend to it.
(hence my cousin's guilt).
I don't believe anybody ever had the courage to tell her, and she went on blissfully using the water until it had all gone.
She then had it replaced by the local parish Priest, from Holy water used in the Church.
http://www.harmoniousliving.co.za/Wellbeing/Alternative-Healing/Interview-Dr-Masaru-Emoto-on-the-Emotional-Memory-of-Water/
And two.....
http://www.internationalwaterforlifefoundation.org/research.html
The second link I find intersting, I never use to eat from microwaves if I could help it, and people mocked me for doing so. But the fact that it killed a plant off in a week suggests something we should really ought to think about when being lazy and shoving something in the microwave. I don't have one now anyway.