Happy Birthday Buddha!

I celebrated Buddha's birthday over the weekend by attending the annual Buddha Birth Day Festival. The Chung Tian Temple have been organising and hosting this much loved and popular festival at Brisbane's Southbank Parklands since 1997. From humble beginnings of an approximate 5000 visitors, the festival has significantly grown over the decade and is now considered to be one of Queensland's most prestigious cultural events. Attracting in excess of 150 000 visitors each year it is recognised as the largest Buddha Birth Day Festival in the world. "Harmony in All" was the theme this year, promoting a peaceful existence and appreciation of Australia's multicultural identity. Here are some photos I took on the day.


A small section of one of the many Flower Offering Ritual displays



The colourful Bathing Buddha ceremony staged at the Suncorp Piazza


A Lion Dancing performance outside the Cultural Arts marquee


And it was just after taking the above photo that my camera batteries died. And I stupidly forgot to take spares with me. Aaarrrgh! So I didn't take as many photos as I'd hoped to. Although, as part of the festival there is a fantastic photographic exhibition by Anthony Anderton called "One Road - Many Paths" at the Tony Gould Gallery, QPAC. While the festival is now over, this exhibition continues until May 31. The exhibition features photos that were taken on assignments throughout Tibet, China, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia & Thailand. Also included are images of Buddhist traditions in Brisbane. The good news is, if you're not a local & are unable to attend this exhibition, many of the images can be viewed at Anthony Anderton's website.

"Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent" - Dalai Lama

I like that theory. I think I need to practice the latter more. Zip!

Comments

Sarah McBride said…
what a great exhibition and festival.
Your pictures are beautiful!
bunbun said…
Wow, this is lovely, and I love how you close it with the Dalai Lama quote, which is beautiful.

I love your photos, of course, and I know the frustration of camera batteries dying all too well. On my honeymoon I lost our charger in the first hotel, so I could only take pics the first two days of our trip! Oh well, it was a great experience.

Thank you for sharing this, it was a great thing to read at the start of my day!!!
Anonymous said…
Oh my gosh, how beautiful is all that?! I love the flower offering display that you showed... very pretty. Must be incredible to see in person! What a cool celebration. Thanks for providing Anthony Anderson's site to look at. Amazing how his photography is so serene, it's actually calming to look at his pictures, even over the internet. Wonderful post Tracy!
xoxo
Karen
Elizabeth said…
What astounding colors!
Even more lovely than Marrakech.
I followed you from M.Kate's blog.
Tibet would, indeed be a wonderful place to visit.
Tizzalicious said…
That looks so awesome!
Anonymous said…
Gorgeous photos!

I find that I need to keep silent more too. It's not easy.
Victoria said…
Gorgeous photos!
And yes, I could practice zipping my lip more often, too!
picciolo said…
looks like you had a great day, I love your photos, especially the flower offerings.
: )
That quite an impressive amount of people attending a festival.

The flower offerings were gorgeous.
What a wonderful blog..Just enjoyed all the pictures..They are beautiful.
It is always wonderful to see all religions and their traditions..thank you for sharing something so meaningful.
Had to comment on the Dalai Lama's comment..It is so true, sometimes it is good to be quiet..I am learning that..We always say, "Less is more"..
A Wild Thing said…
Yes silence can be golden, love the photos and what a grand celebration for the wise Buddha.
I found you at High Desert Diva. Thanks for sharing.
sharon
Kellybot said…
Beautiful pictures!
Anonymous said…
Gorgeous pictures!
XUE said…
an old chinese saying : an angry man opens his mouth, a wise man keeps his closed. i try to follow this as much as possible!
woolies said…
hello, just stumbled on your blog. So how do they know when Buddha's birthday is??
off to read more...
littlebird said…
Great photos, especially the first and last ones : )
amy said…
too bad you ran out of batteries, what an interesting event to go to. there's nothing like that here in Wisconsin. we have state fairs. haha! we lack culture, that's for sure.

beautiful photos.