The construction process of Dai Bi Pagoda is being implemented with good progress. On the occasion of the Great Buddha's birthday this year, Vietnamese artisans in Y Yen and Nam Dinh craft villages completed the Buddha statue and incense burner for the Pagoda
We are pleased to inform you that the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, which is being built in in the village of Simontornya, Hungary, is proceeding according to plan. Over the past few months, excellent Vietnamese artisans have prepared two elements of the building, which are of great importance for the facility.
One element is a censer, which will be placed in front of the Temple's entrance. Incense is a gummy resin extracted from the bark of the Boswellia tree that is most prevalent in Northeast Africa, the Sinai peninsula and Arabia. This incense has acquired great importance in a number of religions, thus we can encounter the use of it during Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim ceremonies as well, as it is considered to be the means of contact with supernatural powers for each religion.
In Eastern Asia, there is an outstanding tradition for the use of incenses, which play an important role not only in the religious life but also in the daily routines. In the Buddhist religion, a so-called censer is placed in front of the temples, in which, before entering the facility, the believers put a lighted incense stick, whose smoke has a soul refreshing effect, it disperses the energies and helps to create the most appropriate atmosphere required for deep meditation.
The other element is a cast copper statue of Buddha that we are going to place inside of the Temple. There are several types of representations of Buddha, which look iconographic texts precisely specify. Buddha always appears as a monk with a shaved head in the representations. The peculiarity of the Gandhara art is that the shaved hair is replaced with hair spirals tightly fitting to the head. In addition, Buddha as mahapurusa, meaning "big man", was wearing special physical attributes that alluded to his superhuman nature. Some of them - the elongated ears, the head lump, the hairball between the eyebrows or longer than average arms - have become indispensable elements of the Buddha representations all over the world. With the right technique and accurately prepared Buddha statue, in addition to providing a good aesthetic experience, helps the meditation. The statue we prepared will be located at a central site in the Temple, believers will be able to look up to him and pray for luck, health, and success.
The elements are still in Vietnam, where they were prepared, but soon they will be transported to Hungary with all the other decorative elements and will be placed in Simontornya, creating the first Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in the country.