In honor of Vesak Day

Hi everyone,

Friday is a public holiday, Vesak Day, which is the commemoration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. It is the most important day on the Buddhist calendar. I decided to go to the Buddha Tooth Relic Museum and Temple to take pictures since it seemed to be the most "tourist friendly" temple. All visitors are free to take photographs of most areas of the temple and there were plenty of cameras out so I felt pretty comfortable snapping away. The lighting is sort of odd, it is sort of dark and bright, at the same time, you'll see. I love that Singapore celebrates so many different holidays, Vesak Day, Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji, Deepavali and Christmas to name a few. There are so many fun and exciting things to see, do, learn and explore that is very different from what I am used to in California.

The back of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.

The lanterns have names hanging from them. Some are families and some are companies.

Inside the courtyard in front of the temple.

The red square box to the right is where you can purchase incense to burn during your prayer and then place in the giant urn in the middle of the picture. 

For Vesak Day you can come into the temple and make a donation and then wash the Buddha. Washing of the Buddha is the single most common ritual on Vesak Day in Asia. According to legend when the Buddha was born he stood straight, took seven steps, raised one hand and declared "I alone am the world honored one" to indicate he would unite heaven and earth. There is a line of people waiting to wash the Buddha and another group of photographers taking pictures of everyone.

Gorgeous temple. The gold was super shiny and the rest of the room was sort of dark with areas of brighter spot lights so it was hard for a newbie photographer to get a good picture! This one turned out pretty good.

Here is the roof top garden with the Ten Thousand Buddha's Pagoda housing the Vairocana Buddha prayer wheel. 

The prayer wheel. It is large enough for about 15 people to walk around it together. Just happened to be empty when I was there. You hold on with one hand and walk slowly around chanting. 

Happy Vesak Day everyone! For more information about the temple, please visit: www.btrts.org.sg