Sunday, May 20, 2007

Samsara is nirvana

This past weekend saw the 12th annual Buddha's Day and Multicultural Festival in Melbourne, sponsored by the Taiwan-based Fu Guang Shan, a Mahayana school of "humanistic Buddhism." Not everyone in Melbourne (like the folks waiting for a tram above) noticed that Fed Square had been transformed into a vast temple, with lines of people making offerings of flowers and incense. (Click photo to enlarge.) On the other hand, how many Buddhists realized that the smile of the Buddha on the big screen may have been in response to the amateur cancan dancers on the stage below?