Buddhists attend celebration of Waisak Day at Borobudur Temple
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.