buddha break

I went back to the East Coast last weekend for a friend's wedding (#3 this year) and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a Buddhist ceremony, and I really enjoyed it. The environment was very intimate, the rites comforting, very spiritual.

All of the attendees got to participate: After the couple's rings were blessed by the monk, the rings were passed through a long string, a string which all of the attendees held. Each person got a moment to touch the rings and offer a blessing, publicly or silently, and then pass the rings along the string to the next person. After your particular turn with the rings, you got to cut off a small measure of the string and tie it around your wrist, a small symbol of how we all impact the marriage and how the marriage impacts us. Very beautiful.