1/3 - [color="#0000FF"]the photos in 3/3 are all that's really important[/color], but they're posted because of something I've read in the Rajeev2004 blog:
rajeev2004.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hindu-temple-in-china.html
Uh, no. Because:
Anyone who imagines that Hindu Temples have in any way or to any degree to do with "Indian soft power" would be much more gratified visiting bollywho shows (="Indian soft powah") than turning up at Hindu Kovils.
However, the Chinese worshippers who're coming to - what in the video looks like a typically Tamizh - Hindu Kovil to obtain darshanam are there for very valid purposes: heathenism. This, along with the fact that Chinese traditionalists tend to be true heathens (see the pictures 2 posts down), is why they are welcome.
1. The video speaks of a Guan-Yin vigraha having being installed in the Kovil for the sake of Chinese worshippers who had started dropping by there. Again: Guan Yin used to be a Daoist Goddess who was hijacked by Buddhism and whose identity was forcibly merged with Buddhism's male Bodhisattva, all because Buddhism wanted to ride on the wave of the Daoist Goddess' immense popularity among the Chinese and among all the lay populations in E and SE Asia where Daoism has had great influence since ancient times. She remains popular, but only in her original female form (because that is the Goddess' real form, despite the mask of Buddhism).
So: just because Guan-Yin is claimed by Buddhism as a bodhisattva does not imply that the many Chinese worshippers appearing at the temple are the Bauddhified laity (they could be, but needn't be): they can very well be Daoists too (as seems to moreover be indicated by how 1. they were apparently worshipping their Gods in another Temple nearby before coming to the Hindu Kovil to pay their respects, 2. a comment mentioned this was Singapore, where there are lots of Daoists and 3. the typical use of the sticks embedded in the usual sand-coloured stuff in the beautiful large golden bowls that are placed in front of the Gods).
2. There has been a long history of contact between Hindu and Daoist religions, throughout SE Asia and into E Asia. SE Asia became quite a marriage (meeting place and gradual seguing) of Hindu and Daoist - of course alongside native - religions, and this is seen in multiple ways, including in the presence of the occasionally more Hindu-style rather than Chinese-style dwarapalakas for a few Daoist temples in those SE Asian countries that are closer to India, as well as in the keeping of vigrahas of Hindu Gods alongside the Daoist ones in some SE Asian Daoist temples. I've even seen a photo posted of a Daoist Kovil in IIRC Indonesia, whose sacred Chinese language plaque hanging over the temple was followed by a plate containing the "international" translation/import (in Roman script) of the temple's identity: "Jaya Bhakti" it says, I kid you not. Note it's still very much a Daoist Temple, not a Hindu one, despite the translated name sounding so Hindu.
In our era, Daoists can be seen taking an earnest and sincere interest in Hindus, Hindu Gods and Hindu religion *because* Daoists are actually able to relate to the Hindus: they see Hindus as sort of their likenesses elsewhere. Indeed, [color="#0000FF"]with no Hindu present and no Hindu instigation, and years before this thread came to be, Daoists have documented themselves explaining to their own kind how Hindus perceive their Hindu Gods etc: in an online Daoist agora one or more threads were created on Hindu religion. Some SE Asian Daoists had asked questions about certain remarkable similarities that they had noticed between themselves and the Hindus in their vicinity concerning festivals, festival timings and religious observances. So a Chinese-origin Daoist who knew more about Hindus' religion decided to create some threads to impart what he had learnt about the Hindus and their Gods. An entire thread was on the Goddesses of the Hindus, and the writer just proceeded to refer to these as 'Divine Mother Goddesses'*.[/color] [Just like how these Daoists referred to the vigrahas of Hindu Gods that are found in certain SE Asian Daoist temples as "Lord Ganesha" etc. Images of these were collected under their Daoist Temple moorti photo section. Note that as always these photos showed that they were the Hindu forms of the Hindu Gods and not the Bauddhafied forms of Hindu Gods.]
[color="#0000FF"]* This is particularly the terminology that the Daoists use to refer to their own Daoist Goddesses. The thing to notice is that, without external prompting, they willingly, naturally and automatically applied reverence to the Hindu Gods, because they understand Hindus, and understand that Hindus have a similar (i.e. heathen) perception of the Gods as they do. Indeed, this "the Hindus surely view their Gods like we do ours" assumption is the fundamental basis from which they proceed when they learn and teach each other about Hindu religion. It's a heathen mindset.[/color] It's something you never see in the incessant drivel about Hindu religion/Gods written by alien dabblers let alone the anti-Hindu aliens (and which I've also never seen in the English-language writings of Hindus even <- rather serious).
Cont. in next
rajeev2004.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hindu-temple-in-china.html
Quote:Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Chinese Worship at Hindu Temple
<youtube video>
Indian soft power on display
Posted by Inferno at 7/11/2012 11:53:00 PM
Uh, no. Because:
- Hindu temples exist for the purpose of heathenism alone, not to serve as some political sales gimmick (nor as a tourist spot nor architectural marvel nor for people to gape at its "art").
- They have nothing to do with some generic "Indianness" and everything to do with Hindu religion alone.
- The Hindus belonging to Hindu Kovils (either as worshippers or as those who perform the poojas) aren't present there for silly Indian pseudo-nationalist objectives like "indian soft powah".
- It's the Chinese heathens' own heathenism that makes them visit Hindu Kovils, and there's no other reason.
Anyone who imagines that Hindu Temples have in any way or to any degree to do with "Indian soft power" would be much more gratified visiting bollywho shows (="Indian soft powah") than turning up at Hindu Kovils.
However, the Chinese worshippers who're coming to - what in the video looks like a typically Tamizh - Hindu Kovil to obtain darshanam are there for very valid purposes: heathenism. This, along with the fact that Chinese traditionalists tend to be true heathens (see the pictures 2 posts down), is why they are welcome.
1. The video speaks of a Guan-Yin vigraha having being installed in the Kovil for the sake of Chinese worshippers who had started dropping by there. Again: Guan Yin used to be a Daoist Goddess who was hijacked by Buddhism and whose identity was forcibly merged with Buddhism's male Bodhisattva, all because Buddhism wanted to ride on the wave of the Daoist Goddess' immense popularity among the Chinese and among all the lay populations in E and SE Asia where Daoism has had great influence since ancient times. She remains popular, but only in her original female form (because that is the Goddess' real form, despite the mask of Buddhism).
So: just because Guan-Yin is claimed by Buddhism as a bodhisattva does not imply that the many Chinese worshippers appearing at the temple are the Bauddhified laity (they could be, but needn't be): they can very well be Daoists too (as seems to moreover be indicated by how 1. they were apparently worshipping their Gods in another Temple nearby before coming to the Hindu Kovil to pay their respects, 2. a comment mentioned this was Singapore, where there are lots of Daoists and 3. the typical use of the sticks embedded in the usual sand-coloured stuff in the beautiful large golden bowls that are placed in front of the Gods).
2. There has been a long history of contact between Hindu and Daoist religions, throughout SE Asia and into E Asia. SE Asia became quite a marriage (meeting place and gradual seguing) of Hindu and Daoist - of course alongside native - religions, and this is seen in multiple ways, including in the presence of the occasionally more Hindu-style rather than Chinese-style dwarapalakas for a few Daoist temples in those SE Asian countries that are closer to India, as well as in the keeping of vigrahas of Hindu Gods alongside the Daoist ones in some SE Asian Daoist temples. I've even seen a photo posted of a Daoist Kovil in IIRC Indonesia, whose sacred Chinese language plaque hanging over the temple was followed by a plate containing the "international" translation/import (in Roman script) of the temple's identity: "Jaya Bhakti" it says, I kid you not. Note it's still very much a Daoist Temple, not a Hindu one, despite the translated name sounding so Hindu.
In our era, Daoists can be seen taking an earnest and sincere interest in Hindus, Hindu Gods and Hindu religion *because* Daoists are actually able to relate to the Hindus: they see Hindus as sort of their likenesses elsewhere. Indeed, [color="#0000FF"]with no Hindu present and no Hindu instigation, and years before this thread came to be, Daoists have documented themselves explaining to their own kind how Hindus perceive their Hindu Gods etc: in an online Daoist agora one or more threads were created on Hindu religion. Some SE Asian Daoists had asked questions about certain remarkable similarities that they had noticed between themselves and the Hindus in their vicinity concerning festivals, festival timings and religious observances. So a Chinese-origin Daoist who knew more about Hindus' religion decided to create some threads to impart what he had learnt about the Hindus and their Gods. An entire thread was on the Goddesses of the Hindus, and the writer just proceeded to refer to these as 'Divine Mother Goddesses'*.[/color] [Just like how these Daoists referred to the vigrahas of Hindu Gods that are found in certain SE Asian Daoist temples as "Lord Ganesha" etc. Images of these were collected under their Daoist Temple moorti photo section. Note that as always these photos showed that they were the Hindu forms of the Hindu Gods and not the Bauddhafied forms of Hindu Gods.]
[color="#0000FF"]* This is particularly the terminology that the Daoists use to refer to their own Daoist Goddesses. The thing to notice is that, without external prompting, they willingly, naturally and automatically applied reverence to the Hindu Gods, because they understand Hindus, and understand that Hindus have a similar (i.e. heathen) perception of the Gods as they do. Indeed, this "the Hindus surely view their Gods like we do ours" assumption is the fundamental basis from which they proceed when they learn and teach each other about Hindu religion. It's a heathen mindset.[/color] It's something you never see in the incessant drivel about Hindu religion/Gods written by alien dabblers let alone the anti-Hindu aliens (and which I've also never seen in the English-language writings of Hindus even <- rather serious).
Cont. in next