Buddhists attend celebration of Waisak Day at Borobudur Temple

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Thousands of Buddhists celebrated on Friday Buddha's Day of Enlightenment, or Waisak, at the famed Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java.

Coming from all over Indonesia and some from abroad, they met at the Borobudur temple for the last set of Waisak rituals which began on Tuesday.

Waisak celebrates the birth, the enlightment and the death of Siddhartha Gautama who became a Buddha (the enlightened one).

This year's Waisak fell on the 2,547th year according to the Buddhist calendar.

On Tuesday, Buddhist priests took sacred water from the Umbil Jumprit village in Temanggung, Central Java and a flame called the fire of nature from a natural source in the Central Java town of Grobogan.

They put the water and the flame in the Mendut temple before taking the elements on a five-kilometer procession to the Borobudur temple for the ceremony on Thursday.

The Indonesian Buddhists Association (Walubi) organized the ceremony at the Borobudur temple that began on Thursday night.

Minister for Religion Affairs Said Agiel Munawar and Minister of Labor and Transmigration Jacob Nua Wea were among the guests.

A light rainfall delayed the opening of the ceremony, in which devotees were sprinkled with the sacred water. Walubi chairwoman Siti Hartati Murdaya lit the flame of peace which the fire priests had taken from Grobogan.

Devotees, Buddhist priests and the ministers then proceeded with the Pradaksina ritual in which they walked around the temple in the traditional clockwise manner.

On Friday morning, the ceremony continued with thousands of Buddhists arriving at the temple to meditate.

The mediation was led by a priest from Thailand Win Jano Mahatera from the main alter at the temple's west side, Antara reported.

After the mediation, Buddhist priest Serlin Tulku Yongdzin Rinpoche from Nepal led another ceremony before a golden Buddha statue at the main altar.

But just as in previous years, the Buddhists elite remained split over this year's Waisak celebration.

Walubi has been criticized by Buddhist figures for its close ties with the Soeharto political establishment. When Soeharto fell in 1998, others Buddhist organizations emerged and have held their own ceremonies.

A number of Buddhist student organizations from Jakarta, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Malang have protested the government's decision to appoint Walubi as the national organizing committee for Waisak.