Happy Vesak from Piya Tan
When seasoned travellers meet, one of things they often like to share is their experience of having watched a beautiful sunset, even of what they regard as the most beautiful sunset. Searching the Net, I notice that I am not alone in claiming that the most beautiful sunset I have watched is the one at Sentosa, Singapore. As the sun is setting, it displays a dazzling natural canvas of bright colours, and as the ruddy ball of day descends low enough on the horizon, its ruddy reflection spans the still waters towards us.
The Buddha throughout Buddhist history is often seen as the sun. The ancient scriptures call him the “kinsman of the sun,” linking him to the most ancient race and family of mankind. However, if we look deeper and wider into the texts, we would see this metaphor as representing the fact that the Buddha is spiritual light, the sun that awakens us to a new day.
No matter where in the world we watch the sunset, we are still watching the same sun setting. Only the ambience is different, and each of us might swear that we have watched the greatest sun. And we are all right. We are right because we have watched one of nature’s most beautiful events, one that occurs daily, but missed by many.
继续阅读“The Most Beautiful Sunset” →