Open House At Buddhapadipa Temple 2007

Written by Uppasaka Colin

Saturday 15^th and Sunday 16th September was the Greater London Council’s ‘Open House’ weekend. This project encourages the ordinary residents of London to visit some of the special buildings in London to which they may not normally have access to or which they might otherwise not know about or not think of visiting. This is the second occasion now that Buddhapadipa Temple has put its name forward to be included as a place of interest.That we are truly a place of architectural and culture interest is evident from the comments made by the many visitors who came this weekend. I overheard one woman saying that she had lived locally for 40 years and never realised that a building from such a different culture and of such architectural beauty as Buddhapadipa Temple existed in London and was so very close to her home. Visitors stood in awe before the paintings in the temple. They were amazed to hear that it had taken the 14 artists 6 years to paint the intricate murals about the life of the Buddha and the side-rooms depicting his previous 10 lives. People were delighted to discover the contemporary images that had been mixed in with the Thai traditional iconography. There amongst the Army of Mara was a NASA space rocket and a portrait of President Regan and the Libyan President, Colonel Gadaffi A crumbling Big Ben and a ripped Mona Lisa showed us clearly that these important icons of our western culture are equally subject to impermanence and decay. Grown-ups and children alike became excited when they became engaged in a game of ‘hunt the thimble’ to identify the familiar images on the wall. Some discovered used cans of Heineken beer by the hole opening up to the Hell regions. Some found the Taj Mahal, the Marble Temple in Bangkok, Tower Bridge in London, the Eiffel Tower, Paris. As well as Mrs. Thatcher, there was Mother Theresa of Culcutta to find, the King and Queen of Thailand and even Sadham Husein and President George Bush Senior. I too was shown images that I had never noticed before, although I have been a regular weekly visitor and devotee for the past three years. Someone pointed out to me the image of Superman in the corner of the left hand side-room. I commented to a 9-year-old child standing with me that it’s a pretty cool religion that has a picture of Superman in its temple! The boy just smiled knowingly.

As always, people discovered the peace and tranquillity that is somehow part of the essence of the temple and its gardens. Children had fun exploring the habitats of the ducks, moor-hens and fish in and around the lake and seeing the animals. People were amazed at the lack of fear that the pigeons and squirrels showed towards human-beings and saw what the effect of being kind to animals achieves.
The visitors showed their appreciation of the welcome they received at Buddhapadipa Temple from the monks, the Lay Buddhist Society members and the many supporters of the Thai community by making generous donations to the upkeep of the temple. Others gave generously towards the project to establish a similar temple to Dhammapadippa Temple in Edinburgh in Wales (the proposed Sanghapadippa Temple). The Temple, I am sure, can only benefit from such demonstrations of generosity and goodwill and we look forward to another such event next year.