NHK WORLD TV CHANNEL telecasts many documentaries featuring Japanese culture and traditions. One such is Core Kyoto. In this morning's episode "Seven Lucky Gods...", it featured a few shrines in the country. It is amazing that many Japanese shrines have aspects of Hinduism in them.
Although Budhdhism began after Gauthama Budhdhaa was born, it became very popular in India as well as South and South East Asian countries. Tibet, Bhutan and places such as Ladakh follow one type of the sect whereas Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Srilanka etc. follow the other, with some differences in their rituals.
Having worked in Bhutan and Cambodia, two Budhist countries, I have personally seen how the old Hindu tradition of meditation is followed strictly in households and schools in Bhutan as shown in the following image:
When I was working in Bhutan, all K-12 Schools were Boarding Schools. There used to be mandatory meditation by students for at least two hours daily.
Similarly, I have seen how the ancient Hindu tradition of receiving food by Hindu monks from households is still being followed in Cambodia as shown in the following image:
No comments:
Post a Comment