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!
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
Your pictures are 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!!!
xoxo
Karen
Even more lovely than Marrakech.
I followed you from M.Kate's blog.
Tibet would, indeed be a wonderful place to visit.
I find that I need to keep silent more too. It's not easy.
And yes, I could practice zipping my lip more often, too!
: )
The flower offerings were gorgeous.
It is always wonderful to see all religions and their traditions..thank you for sharing something so meaningful.
I found you at High Desert Diva. Thanks for sharing.
sharon
off to read more...
beautiful photos.