DELIGHTS, NEAR AND FAR

Every week/weekend in Tampa Bay has a lot of activities, but this weekend has more than most that fit my tastes. One you don’t want to miss is the enormous Jade Buddha for Universal Peace at the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Town and Country (that area of Tampa on the west end of Hillsborough Avenue).

All of the pictures in this post, and the video at the end, are of my visit there yesterday. I went with a friend and we both enjoyed ourselves. It’s like stepping out of the stream of obligations and stresses, just for a little. I recommend going early in the week because the Buddha will only be there through March 14th.

I’d been told about the event by another friend who had read Jessica Balanza’s article in the Tampa Tribune. The address of this article has changed twice, so I want to quote some important information in case it disappears completely; she says:

Valued at $5 million, the precious stone has been making its way around the world to allow people to take in the size and rarity of the statue. The tour began in 2009 and is expected to last several years before the statue makes its way back to its permanent home at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia.

The Buddha, which arrived Tuesday after a stop in Orlando, will be unveiled at an 11 a.m. Saturday ceremony. Other days during the stop the public can arrive as early as 5 a.m. to check out the statue. The Buddha will then head to Sugar Land, Texas, before making its way back to the Sunshine State for an April 9-18 stop in Miami.

There is detailed information about the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace, its tour, and its permanent home in Australia at jadebuddha.org.au/en/.

The people at Phap Vien Minh Dang Quang, the Town and Country Buddhist monastery that is hosting the Tampa exhibition of the Jade Buddha, are very kind, very welcoming. If you’ve never been to something like this, please don’t hesitate to go. You’ll feel comfortable–everyone there speaks English as well as Vietnamese. The Phap Vien Minh Dang Quang website, www.phapvienminhdangquang.com is only in Vietnamese, but if you use a browser such as Google’s Chrome or a translation page such as Yahoo’s Babelfish (babelfish.yahoo.com/), you can get enough English words and sentences to guess at what’s intended. (Accurate computer translation of any language has a long, long, long way to go!!!)

There is plenty of parking at Phap Vien Minh Dang Quang which is at 5607 Town N. Country Blvd., Tampa, FL 33615; 813-317-4160; map. The people of Phap Vien Minh Dang Quang are serving food, both free and for a small donation, in case you get hungry. It was the best soup I’ve ever had–no exaggeration!

Also this week (Friday, the 12th through Sunday the 14th) is the 29th Annual Florida Antiquarian Book Fair at the St. Pete Coliseum. See floridabooksellers.com/bookfair.html for all the details.

Friday, March 26th, through Sunday, March 28, there’s another “annual”: the 15th annual Philfest (www.pcfitampa.org/philfest/philfest.html and www.pcfitampa.org/philfest/philfest2010/philfest2010.html) by the Philippine Cultural Foundation (www.pcfitampa.org/. Philfest will be at the Bayanihan Arts & Events Center (www.bayanihanartscenter.org) at 14301 Nine Eagles Drive, Tampa, FL 33626; 813-925-1232; map. I’ll be there, reporting for Asia Trend Magazine (www.asiatrendmagazine.com) and Inkwatu.

Please take a second to watch the video below which is just a slow pan around the grounds of Tampa’s Phap Vien Minh Dang Quang Buddhist monastery and the Jade Buddha exhibition. Also, please check out this blog post, Illuminating the World in Peace, by friends, Say and Bee Lee, on their visit to the Jade Buddha exhibit. Their post has even more photos of more statues, some that I missed completely.

Tagged as: attractions, Buddhist, churches & temples, favorite articles, Florida, SPIRITUAL, Tampa

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