Buddhists attend 'Pindapatta'

JAKARTA (JP): Dharmayana, a Buddhist club based at the privately owned Tarumanagara University, held a Pindapatta ceremony on the university campus in West Jakarta yesterday.

The club said in a press release that this year's event was the biggest ever in terms of the number of participants.

It said the university has held such a ceremony three times so far.

This year's ceremony, a club spokesman said, was attended by virtually all members of Buddhist youth groups from various universities and high schools in Jakarta. He said Budi Setiawan, a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, was among the notables in attendance.

Pindapatta is a ritual Buddhist tradition which has been held since the era of Ancient Buddha hundreds of years ago, up until the current era of Sakyamuni Buddha.

Buddhism followers believe that if someone takes part in Pindapatta, he or she will be liked by many people, blessed with a long life, happiness and reincarnated to a better world after they died. This ceremony is usually held every day in predominantly Buddhist countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Korea, Tibet and Taiwan. (bas)