Members of Pattaya’s Elderly Club
sign up for a city-organized meditation and merit-making trip to Issan.
Warunya Thongrod
Pattaya Elderly Club members donated robes and necessities to monks in two
Issan cities and helped an Issan school as part of a city-organized meditation
and merit-making trip.
About 300 club members joined the June 18-21 excursion, which saw the seniors
make merit at temples in Udon Thani and Nong Khai.
Six groups of members worked to raise funds for the trip, which stopped June 19
at Udon Thani’s Pa Banho and Pa Phuthong temples in Banphue District; Pa
Khantiyanusorn in Namsom District, and on June 20, at Photchai Temple in Nong
Khai.
“This project was focused on teaching the elderly to correctly mediate, which is
an activity that they like and is an activity they prefer to practice,” said
Kanda Nawong, a vocational nurse with the Pattaya Health Promotion office.
The field trip also stopped to pay respect to Luang Pho Phrasai, a famous
Buddhist teacher residing near the Kong River. In addition, the elderly donated
cash to Ban Naken School, selected by members to support children’s education in
the northeast.
“I believe this dharma project is very beneficial for older people because we
not only get to make merit, but make new friends,” said member Sumruay
Kantakhanant, 66. “It’s better than sitting at home and wondering when our
children will take us to the temple. And I didn’t have to pay for this trip. If
I had gone on my own, the cost would have been amazingly high.”
