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| Vesak-lantern-decoration on the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple |
I am feeling so lucky, because our new home is located right next to a Buddhist temple, and not far away an another grand Buddhist Monastery's roof raises in the middle of the modern high rise buildings. This area (Wampoa, Toa Payoh) gives home to many places of worship, I have to say, most of them in walking distance from each other. For me it is a special thing as I'm in love with Chinese and Hindu temples, I love their architectures and I love to observe the customs local people practice during festivals. Vesak Day is a public holiday in Singapore. I was eagerly waiting the date 13 May to experience something new again. When I woke up and looked out of our window I saw people were coming in white dresses for early celebration. Our dear neighbour, a Reclining Buddha was already waiting for his devotees in the Sri Lankaramaya Temple. This is the oldest Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist temple in Singapore, managed by the Sinahala Buddhist association.
The welcoming "arch gateway" was decorated with Pandol(Makara) dragon symbol, which is considered as a sign of prosperity and self sufficiency.
Main feature of the temple is a giant (45 feat) Buddha statue, which looks at me when 'am standing at his feet but looks like sleeping by the time I reach his head :)
Vesak is a cultural and religious festival in one. People are celebrating it on the day of Full Moon. It commemorates Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death and his passing into nirvana. Buddha was sitting under a Bodhi tree when he reached enlightenment. Significance of this tree is very important, Sri Lankarmaya temple also has one shrine with the sacred fig tree, which is a symbol of happiness, longevity and good luck.
The welcoming "arch gateway" was decorated with Pandol(Makara) dragon symbol, which is considered as a sign of prosperity and self sufficiency.
Main feature of the temple is a giant (45 feat) Buddha statue, which looks at me when 'am standing at his feet but looks like sleeping by the time I reach his head :)
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Vesak is a cultural and religious festival in one. People are celebrating it on the day of Full Moon. It commemorates Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death and his passing into nirvana. Buddha was sitting under a Bodhi tree when he reached enlightenment. Significance of this tree is very important, Sri Lankarmaya temple also has one shrine with the sacred fig tree, which is a symbol of happiness, longevity and good luck.
During Vesak day devotees go to temples, offering candles and flowers, releasing caged animals(birds) is sad to be a common practice too. People eat and share vegetarian meals this day.
The main part of the festival is the "Buddha Bathing", tradition of pouring (fragrant)water on the (baby) Buddha statue. Buddha's altar is arranged with a garden around him, which represents the Garden of Lumbini where Buddha was born.
The universal massage of this purifying tradition is, that :
"It is simple to wash away physical dirt, but it's much more difficult to cleans one's inner dirt of greed, anger and ignorance."
Pouring water over the shoulders of the Buddha serves as a purification of the above mentioned "dirts" like greediness, ignorance and hatred.
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| Buddha bathing at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple |
The proper way of bathing the Buddha is to pour water on him three times by saying the following lines :
- "May I eliminate of all evil thoughts"
- "May I cultivate good deeds"
- May I help save all living beings"
I missed to bath the Buddha this time, I felt a little incompetent. It seemed some people applies special way of pouring the water on Buddha :)
...I was eagerly posing instead :)
This pic above has been taken in the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery which is an awesome place, definitely an architecture masterpiece, and considered as a National Monument.
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| Mahavira Hall of the Monastery |
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