The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

[householder]

Has anyone (in the UK) watched?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ist_World/

Pretty simplistic as expected, but full of pretty shots of various impressive monuments. Never heard of the one in LA though! Nice little shots of Wat Pho too, which I'm about to jet off to in 6 hours!

[cooran]

householder said:: Nice little shots of Wat Pho too, which I'm about to jet off to in 6 hours!

Can't see the movie here in Australia - but enjoy your trip!

with metta
Chris

[PeterB]

Yes, we watched it two nights ago.
First off its wildly ambitious. It attempts a potted history of Dhamma in all its cultural and developmental diversity in one and a quarter hours........
Secondly its choices of location seem odd.
The presenter for example to illustrate Zen visits a Chan Temple in California, but hardly even mentions Japan..
Having said that the presenter ( Bettany Hughes ) is clearly sympatico and is articulate and highly professional.
She is a historian who has fronted a number of TV history documentary. She is both learned and telegenic, which keeps her busy in front of TV cameras.. There is input from both Uma Thurman's dad, and Richard Gombrich who comes across like a parody of a Teutonic academic...
It is beautifully filmed.
I think it may well arouse an interest in some of its viewers. And thats about as much as one can expect from a populist TV programme isnt it ?

[Mawkish1983]

I just watched it. I think the presenter pronounces Theravada in an odd way and badly misrepresents some of the Dhamma (for example; kamma and punabbhava). I think it fails as a sightseeing film (it missed some key locations in favour of big shiny statues) and as an educational film. I found it disappointing.

[PeterB]

I just watched it. I think the presenter pronounces Theravada in an odd way and badly misrepresents some of the Dhamma (for example; kamma and punabbhava). I think it fails as a sightseeing film (it missed some key locations in favour of big shiny statues) and as an educational film. I found it disappointing.

I think she was actually rephrasing Gombrichs rather odd interpretation of kamma.

[PeterB]

I can only recall six of them David...
Bodhgaya
Bodhinath Temple in Katmandhu
The Temple Of The Tooth in Kandy
Wat Pho in Bangkok
Angkor Wat and
Hsi Lai Temple in San Francisco.

Since it can only be viewed in the UK, can one of you who saw it list the 7 wonders mentioned in the documentary?

I have a similar list here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1905

and here:

8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

My list is probably more 'Theravada' biased, compared to the BBC version, which I am sure will have plenty of Mahayana buildings.

[David N. Snyder]

I can only recall six of them David...
Bodhgaya
Bodhinath Temple in Katmandhu
The Temple Of The Tooth in Kandy
Wat Pho in Bangkok
Angkor Wat and
Hsi Lai Temple in San Francisco.

Thanks PeterB.

Hsi Lai is actually in Los Angeles. http://www.hsilai.org/en/index.html

It is the largest temple in the Western Hemisphere, in terms of square footage, about 105,000 square feet in about 10 buildings. My wife and I visit it often.

[PeterB]

I beg its pardon...Just shows why I shouldn't try to rely on my memory...

[Mawkish1983]

I just watched it... ...I found it disappointing.

Wow, my post was negative! Sorry, I must have been in a grumpy mood that day.

[imagemarie]

I just watched it... ...I found it disappointing.

Wow, my post was negative! Sorry, I must have been in a grumpy mood that day.

And here's me thinking you were telling it how it is

[Mawkish1983]

I just watched it... ...I found it disappointing.

Wow, my post was negative! ...

And here's me thinking you were telling it how it is

I was, but I could have tried to find some positive points to mention (even though I still cannot think of any)

"If you cannot say anything nice..." springs to mind.

[datlone]

Where did the Biggest Reclining Buddha of Afganistan go?
Where did the Golden Mount of Burma go?
Where did the Historic Ancient Buddhist temples go?
Where did the Tripitaka Marble Slabs (worlds largest book) go?

Hsi Lai Temple in San Francisco? I am pretty sure there are many other Wonders in Asia more wondrous than this.

It is obvious that the narrator didnt do the research properly.
And she didnt even know what she was talking about regarding Buddhism.

Such an disappointment.

[Skeptic]

These Wonders of The Buddhist World also deserves to be mentioned:



Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand



Shwezigon Paya, Nyaung-U, Myanmar



Uppatasanti Paya, Naypyitaw, Myanmar



Bagan, Myanmar



Shwemawdaw Paya, Bago, Myanmar

[David N. Snyder]

Since the BBC show topic has also morphed into what should be the 7 or 8 wonders of the Buddhist world in general, I have merged it with this existing topic.

In the OP for this topic, my choices are based on:

Maha Bodhi Temple (most important site for Buddhists and in Bodh Gaya)
And additional choices based on having at least one representative from Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma, considering their importance to Buddhism, especially Theravada Buddhism.
World's largest book of any kind (the one in Burma, the Tipitaka on marble slabs) seems very appropriate
Angkor Wat (largest Buddhist temple in the world, which is also a Theravada temple since about the year 1200).
And then gotta have the internet, after all here we are discussing Dhamma on quite an invention that connects kalyana mittas from around the world.

[householder]

The Internet doesn't translate well visually for TV though!

+1 for Shwedagon. Haven't been to the other sights in Myanmar yet - Naypyidaw is a full day's return journey from Yangon and I didn't have enough time here for that, but will do next time.

My initial reaction was that the place had a similar atmosphere to Boudhanath Stupa which I visited last year, but it's markedly more mundane. It's a religious site and there's plenty of devotion and meditation and ritual going on, but that's intertwined with general social congregation and activity. It's quite hard to describe - it's awe-inspiring but at the same time without pomp.

[Skeptic]

7. The Global Pagoda is a monument being built in Mumbai, India. The Global Pagoda is built out of gratitude to the Buddha, his teaching and the community of monks practicing his teaching. Its traditional Burmese design is an expression of gratitude towards the country of Myanmar (Burma) for preserving the practice of vipassana.

The inside of the pagoda is hollow and serves as a very large meditation hall with an area covering more than 6000 m2 (65,000 ft2). This magnificent structure represents the rapid spread of the Dhamma assisted by teachers such as S. N. Goenka who is the leader of the project and also that the Dhamma is coming back home, to India.

Great picture of Global Vipassana Pagoda:

Pagoda_at_Mumbai_.jpg (143.5 KiB) Viewed 1853 times

[David N. Snyder]

Excellent photo, thanks! I used it to update the photo on this page:

http://www.dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=Global_Pagoda

[Skeptic]

These beautiful pictures also deserves to be in this topic:



Uppatasanti Paya, Naypyitaw, Myanmar





Sagaing Hills, Myanmar





Buddha statue near Monywa, Sagaing region, Myanmar - second tallest statue in the world



Shwedagon Paya, Yangon, Myanmar



Ananda Temple, Bagan, Mynamar



Thanboddhay Paya, Monywa, Sagain region, Myanmar

[dhamma_newb]

Thanks for sharing Skeptic. Great pics!

[cooran]

Thank you so much, Skeptic! Burma (Myanmar) has magnificent Buddhist Pilgrimage sites!

with metta,
Chris