“JUST AS A CANDLE CANNOT BURN WITHOUT FIRE, MEN CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT A SPIRITUAL LIFE” – BUDDHA
After living and traveling in Asia for over 6 years, the encounters with Buddhism, both Theravada, and Mahayana, haven’t been few. I have always, nonetheless, encountered myself with a contradiction in Buddhism, or more so, with the way people practice Buddhism. It can be inferred from the teachings of Buddha that worshipping is not how one becomes a good Buddhist. Yet seeing people bowed down, praying, and asking for things to Buddha is but the norm. Some may say that what these worshippers are doing is not asking for things but just reflecting on the image of Buddha to become like him. My answer is that this is clearly a minority of the worshippers.
In this series, I try to reflect on the worshippers of Buddha, as a way of letting the viewer understand what Buddhism really means in Asia.
