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Makha Bucha at Wat Dhammakaya
zenguitar
Bad BuddhistNew England Veteran
On a more upbeat note, some great pictures here.
Thousands of Buddhists gathered at Thailand's Wat Dhammakaya on Wednesday to observe Makha Bucha, a religious holiday that marks the anniversary of Buddha's mass sermon to the first 1,250 newly ordained monks 2,558 years ago.
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Comments
Nice cosy bijou little place they've got there.....!
Wow! The dimensions are just....breathtaking!
One of Thailand's most controversial temples.
Just curious, why is that?
Vinlyn like to throw in the odd occasional spanner in the works. "Rolling my eyes"
The images are beautiful, the sentiment generous.
It's irksome to have negative comments thrown in for no particular good reason.
What's your point, Vinlyn?
I am sure many folks accused the Buddha himself of being such a spanner.
point being?
@Federica
I am both pleased and disquieted to see such a uniformed display of a Buddhist practice.
Pleased for the beauty of the photographs,
disquieted for what feels like Buddhism being co opted by Disneyland.
What is spiritual materialism anyways? Not always an easy thing to discern or even speak of.
Anyway, while I do think that any such questioning will be poorly received,
a Buddhist practice is not a popularity contest, even when surrounded by its cheerleaders.
I took Vinlyn's comment to be simply that and the fact that a post about Thailand can no more pass by without him commenting than I seem able to do about Zen.
Sigh!!! The ego is such a tricky beast.
At leas they're practising, and doing so at such an ornate and frankly stupendous temple may be no different to some than it would be practising under a tree, in a quiet forest, at dawn.
I took vinlyn's comment to be sour grapes and frankly, unnecessary.
And you're right, the Ego is a tricky beast. Sometimes giving it voice is appropriate. At other times, less so.
As the adage goes, "If you can't say anything nice...."
Are you seriously comparing Vinlyn to the Buddha? Wow....There's flattery for you.
@federica said:
Actually @vinlyn may have a point. See here under "public accusations":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phra_Dhammakaya
He may well have a point.
Was it necessary to voice it and 'rain on your parade'? There's a time and a place.
I just felt this was neither.
Ok, nuff' said by me.
You folks feel free to continue arguing the point if you like.
The pictures were impressive, the sheer size of the place I just found utterly mind-boggling, the structure of the dome, mesmerising, the symmetry of the seated monks and laypeople, stunning.
I took it for what it illustrated, that's all.
Thanks, I didn't feel he was raining on "my" parade. The pictures are beautiful indeed, but I am always grateful when people give me accurate information about religious groups, Buddhist or otherwise. It can spare a person some major disillusionment later on.
Zenny's see Buddhas everywhere!
To simply point out a fact about some temple is not a "rain on your parade" statement. I assume that if someone finds something interesting about a particular temple, they might like to learn more.
No axe to grind. And, you will note, I took no position on whether the criticisms of the temple were valid or not. No point of view. Just a truthful statement.
I visited the temple in its much earlier years before all the modern architecture, and found it a fairly bucolic environment then, although my Thai friend with me was nervous about being there because, "The government is watching this temple". And, over the years it has gained a fair amount of negative publicity. However, upon my visit, it seemed rather nice. And, considering its success in many aspects, a lot of people do like it, while others complain that it has sapped attendance from some more traditional Thai temples.
But for others they may prefer:
That must be some cool stuff...I'll have whatever you're having then....