Buddhist temples to sell cheap essentials

SEMARANG: Six Buddhist temples in Semarang municipality, Central Java, will sell basic commodities at low prices on May 2, in observance of this year's Waisak Day.

The chairman of the local chapter of the Indonesian Theravada Buddhism Council, D. Henry Basuki, was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday that this was only one of a number of social activities organized by Buddhists for Waisak, which will fall on May 11.

Waisak commemorates Buddha's birthday, his enlightenment as Buddha, and his passing over to nirvana (his death).

Each of the six temples will sell 500 packages of daily necessities, said Basuki, who is also deputy chairman of the Indonesian Buddhist Council.

Each package, to be sold at Rp 3,500, will consist of five kilograms of rice, one kilogram of sugar and one liter of cooking oil, he added.