Tuesday 12 June 2007

The Last of Buddhist Culture and Arts Festival 2007

Following up with my first visit, I was at the BCAF07 everyday but at different time and boy I was glad cos each day I tend to experience something different.

8 June 2007

Sand Mandala of the Medicine Buddha is completed but it was cordoned off.

8th June - completed sand mandala but cordoned off

Part of HE Gelek Rinpoche and monks chanting.





Attended a performance by i.gemz. Managed to caught a couple of songs before my boiboi start fidgeting. Oh my, they sang so well!




I've also got to witness the colourful send off of the Buddha's relics for safe keeping before they return the next morning. See the two part video.










9 June 2007

Woohoo today can see the mandala up close and the whole Buddha's Feet area which was partly filled on Thursday is full of lotus flowers.

9th June - completed sand mandala opened for viewing up close 9th June - whole area completely filled with lotus flowers


10 June 2007

On the last day of the exhibition is a flurry of activities. Lots of packing and cleaning after 8pm. Somehow when we got there to collect the sand from the mandala, we ended up witnessing the "destroying" of the mandala. They were supposed to have done it earlier but apparently, some VIPs were late for some ceremony, DUH! They have to wait till they completed their rounds before the puja ceremony can be started.

As the mandala represents the universe, an extensive puja was done prior to destroying it marking the impermanence of everything. The puja was led by HE Gelek Rinpoche where he used the vajra to draw lines leading into the centre of the mandala cutting it up 8 parts. (Part 1 & 2) Like anything sacred, a khata (silk scarf) was used to sweep the sand mandala where a brass spoon was later used to scoop & pack the sand into small plastic bags for distribution (Part 3). Devotees were encouraged to donate a small sum of RM20 to defray the cost of holding the exhibition in return for a bag of the sand.

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Also the final send off of the Buddha's relics to Sri Lanka.

10th June - monks filling plastic bags with sands to be distributed 10th June - preparing to send relics off to Sri Lanka

4 comments:

  1. babe, want to ask you if you know where I can get some Buddhist literature suitable for kids? I know some centres have Sunday School and would like to take some stuff with me when I move to Abu Dhabi. I think it's time to seriously introduce Buddhism to my kids!

    You can email me if you don't want to reply here. Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ok kat, will reply you via email.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, looks like I'm 3 yrs late in knowing abt this, but is this an annual event? Was there one this year? Or will there be next yr?

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi petite nyonya, this is not an annual event and there isn't any since this one. sorry, i'm not sure if there's any coming too on such a big scale

    ReplyDelete

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