Buddist Naming Ceremonies

[Miaow]

Hi,

Have been thinking of getting a Buddist naming ceromony done for Elysha but havent had much luck looking for places in Melbourne that do them (I know there are a few temples up in Springvale)

Wondering of anyone knows where in Melbourne (preferablly south) they would do them and/or some contact details?

TIA

[alicesmum]

hi cathyn
can't help much there, except to give you this link to all the buddhist centres and temples in victoria, with their address and contact details:

http://www.buddhanet.net/aus_dir/bavicorg.htm

out of curiousity, what inspired you to want a buddhist ceremony for your babe? (btw, usually they call them "welcoming ceremonies" rather than naming ceremonies, i think, unless they are going to give them a buddhist name....but i could be wrong).

do a search on this site for "buddhist welcoming ceremony" and you will find a couple of previous threads. one thing to keep in mind is that there are buddhist temples which are mainly, or completely, supported/visited by "ethnic" buddhists (i.e, chinese, nepalese, vietnamese, taiwanese, japanese, korean, thai, cambodian, burmese or sri lankan) and other temples and centres (usually this is a giveaway, as western buddhist orders usually call their meeting places "centres", though not always) and the latter type of centre may be easier to deal with (i.e., communicate in English!) and arrange a more "western style" ceremony iykwim. often, these centres are non-traditional (i.e., not alligned with a particular tradition or culture). however, having said this, there are lots of westerners who have ceremonies at chinese, nepalese, vietnamese, taiwanese, japanese, korean, thai, cambodian, burmese or sri lankan temples too!!!! :D

Sorry if I have confused you. Let us know if you have any success with your inquiries!!

rachel :)

[alicesmum]

cathyn
just had a thought. what you might be best to do is to ring or email the buddhist council of victoria (their details are on that link i gave you which is listed alphabetically). the buddhist councils in all states are umbrella organisations which take a variety of inquiries and direct people to different centres. so they might be able to help in the first instance!!

rachel :)

[Miaow]

Thanks for the link alicesmum:)

IVe always liked the ideas etc of buddism i spose which is way i wanted a welcoming ceremony rather than a christening at present

[rebeccamum]

I'm a Buddhist but didn't have a ceremony for my daughter, my husband is Christian and he isn't really eager to have a christening for her either (I guess it's because we both are not very religous). We agreed to have both ceremonies if we decide to comment a ceremony at all but just haven't had time to think about it since DD was born :p

Rachel's right, we don't really have naming ceremony per se but it's more like a welcoming kind of thing. I'm not sure about other ethnic buddhist but in my culture, we basically take a baby to a temple and have him/her seen by a monk. The monk gives the baby holy water on the head (that actually is similar to christening, isn't it), if parents want the monk to name thier child then they give the child's birthdate & time.

One other thing that our culture still does is to shave our baby's hair when they're about a month old (sometimes their fingernails & toenails) then put them together in a lotus leave, and release it in a river.

Just thought this might be interesting for you :D

[Miaow]

Thanks Rebeccasmum for the info - dont think though I'll shave her head though :)

Both my BF and I were christened but both of us like the idea of a buddist style welcoming - i think though her grandparents would rather a christening they seemed a little shocked when my BF mentioned the welcoming idea ;)

[alicesmum]

i never heard of the head-shaving thing before, or the toe-nails!!! Goodness!!!! Yes, I think the g-parents might be a bit freaked out by that one!! LOL!!! :)

our ceremony was very lovely, and no one was too freaked out by it (maybe a little by the chanting, because it is quite different to hymns you sing at church).

it's always funny to me when people are a bit "freaked out" or shocked when you mention buddhism. i obviously go around in my own little world where it makes so much sense to me, and forget that most people don't know anything about it, or worse, think it's some kind of exotic weird religion!!! hehe :D

have you had any luck getting in touch with the BCV yet Cathyn?

[Miaow]

Hi Rachel,

Sent them an email earlier asking for some info etc so Im hoping I get an answer back soon - thanks again for the link:)