Reports and Opinions By Larry Joseph Calloway
With a name like Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, it doesn’t sound like a tourist attraction, but I was captivated at this new Singapore museum, built with $50 million in private donations from the Chinese business community.
As an old journalist, I could not resist the customary year in review, particularly this year. The world is so full of a number things — east, west, north and south.
As the tour guide struggled through the life of the Buddha I watched a depressed monk smoke a cigarette and stare out toward a pile of skulls pressed against glass. I wondered what he was thinking.
On the eve of a return trip to Southeast Asia, I recalled a village scene 40 years ago that to me defines the difference in practice between the two “vehicles” of Buddhism. Theravada is not as lonely as Mahayana.