‘Celebrating’ Wesak
May 21st, 2008 by Steven
Taken on Wesak Day (19/5/08) at the entrance to the Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. The road leading to the temple was lined with stalls selling a myriad number of items, some of which has no relevance to this sacred day for Buddhists. Overall, the scene outside the temple took on a somewhat carnival mood.
As the Venerable Chief Reverend K. Sri Dhammaratana, Chief High Priest of Malaysia, tells a journalist, “there was a time when the Buddhist community throughout the world used to commemorate instead of celebrate Wesak”. He adds: “It has now, of course, turned into a carnival.” (NST, 18/5/08).