Glasswork at the Vaidurya Buddhist Lodge, Bukit Mertajam

Earlier in the month I went for a tour of some of the temples in Bukit Mertajam and will be publishing the results over the next couple of weeks. I went with my friend, Tan Jee Peng, who is an acupuncturist and herbal doctor, known to everyone as Dr. Tan.

The first collection is from the Vaidurya Buddhist Lodge, where we were very hospitably received by the Head Monk and teacher at the temple, Ven. Chen An.

The temple has around 10 monks and Dr. Tan’s Mother-in-Law is also living as the only nun there. Many of the monks have come from China to study and teach in Malaysia.

When he was young Ven. Chen An had a lot of medical problems which were helped by his devotion to the Medicine Buddha, sometimes known as Bhaisajyaguru or Vaidurya, and so when he started his own temple he has dedicated it to that Buddha.

The thing that struck me about the temple was the beautiful glasswork, both panel-doors, statues and even the crystal glasses used for the offerings all stood out, and so we have a very thematic collection.

After the photography we were very well looked after by Ven. Chen An who served us Chinese tea, gave us a number of invaluable books illustrating Mahayana Buddhist iconography, and then saw to our dāna.

I send a big sādhu to him for his kindness and care.

For the high-definition files, slideshow and more photographs please see the SOURCE.

Medicine Buddha