Buddhists attend 'Pindapatta'

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)