Nearly 300 artifacts featuring Buddhist culture and fine art heritages
are on display at an exhibition which opened on May 17 in Ho Chi Minh
City.
The event is part of a series of spiritual
and cultural events to celebrate the 2557th Birthday of Lord Buddha and
50 years since Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc self-immolated himself to
protest against the US war in Vietnam .
The
event is jointly held by the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the
Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, the Vietnam Buddhist Research Institute and Xa
Loi Pagoda.
It aims to bring Buddhism culture
closer to people by introducing Buddhist statues and worshipping objects
that date back to the Ly-Tran dynasty in the 11th -13th century, the
Le-Nguyen dynasty in the 18th and 19th century, and more
contemporary pieces from the 20th century.
Buddhism has flourished with remarkable impacts on various socio-cultural aspects in Vietnam.
During the exhibition, the organising board will also introduce
visitors to Buddha prayer-books, documents and lectures on various
topics like Buddhism’s mantra of non-violence, and Vietnam’s
Buddhism heritage and rituals.
Buddhism statues and artifacts from Thailand, Japan and China also occupy space at the exhibition.
Another exhibition on Buddhist culture also got underway at Pho Quang
pagoda. A ceremony to commemorate Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc took place
at a memorial park dedicated to him in district 3.
On show are around 4,000 objects, including calligraphy, paintings, stamps, sapphire and books on Buddhism.
Among them, the largest ever collection of Buddhist stamps from 80
countries around the world collected by Nguyen Dai Hung Loc was
presented, said Venerable Thich Nhat Tu, head of the Culture Department
under the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.
The two exhibitions will run until May 24.
Earlier, on May 16, eight Buddhist records selected by the Vietnam Guinness Book Centre were announced.-VNA