When I visited the Grand Mosque in Kuwait, several times in fact, I´ve asked myself why did I do it. Afterall,I am not a Muslim.I was born and raised as a Catholic in a very religious manner. We are taught to go to Church and recite the rosary, even have attended Catechism and engaged actively in many religious activities.As a kid however, I thought being Catholic is the best, or as I´ve perceived it to be.Seeing the Pope was an ultimate dream for most of Catholics, let alone visiting Rome or attending a holy mass from Vatican.

But my views changed as a person as well as my religion.I have faith in a divine grace but I no longer engaged myself to various religious acts.On the other hand, I truly respect all kinds of religion i this world and acts of faith.As I grew up and explore other world apart from what I´ve known, I realized that life is not all about having a religion and faith without deeds is dead anyway.

Anyway, this post is not about my religion.It´s actually about my random thoughts when I visited a religious site or this time,a Buddhist temple in Singapore a year ago. It was a nice visit and glimpse to a wonderful sacred place of worship that really left an impression on me, plus, the place is really impressive and so beautiful.

I love exploring and learning about other cultures and lifestyles from other countries and I found visiting a temple is not bad idea. When we are in Seoul, we actually visited quite a few temples and I´ve got the same impression.The red and gold carvings and overall Buddhist architecture is typical for Buddhism place of worship.There are many details that I don´t understand but then I find them so interesting.

The teachings of Gautama Buddha are very noble and I loved to read them.His quotes and life lessons are very practical and somewhat humbling.

As typical for many Buddhist temples, the main features of Buddhist architecture include stupas (dome-shaped structures containing relics), pagodas (multi-tiered towers), viharas (monastic complexes), and chaityas (prayer halls). They are often adorned with symbolic decorations such as the lotus flower, the dharma wheel, and images of the Buddha.In the Buddha´s Tooth Relic Temple, I have seen some of these Buddhist features.I haven´t got the chance to take photos of them all discreetly but seeing them for real is really nice.

As a normal respect for visiting holy places of worship, one should dress up properly and modestly while going inside. No sleeveless and shorts as possible.Many temples required to remove footwears while entering the temple and observing complete silence which is also almost the same as visiting a Mosque or Masjid in Kuwait.In Kuwait, I even wore an Abaya and walk barefoot to pay my respect of entering a holy place of worship.

There are lots of Gold and more gold plated adornments in a Buddhist temple.This hall is where the grand 15ft Maitreya statues.The ambiance is very solemn and the red colour is also very dominant.Seeing hundreds of Buddha statues can be overwhelming for a non-believer but all of them looks different if you really pay close attention to them. It holds different meanings as well. I am not familiar with all of them but common feature is that Buddhas are seating in a padmasana pose in a double lotus flower adorned with different features like mudras or hand sings,animals, fruits, figures and other Buddhist implementations.I was kind of curious because in this photo below, it looks like he holds a rat or some kind of rodent animal.

Golden Buddhas are a sight to behold since it signifies infinite wisdom and power.At first I was really curious to see a real tooth displayed inside this temple but I did not see it or I just missed it because of all that glittering gold! They said that the Buddha Tooth Relic is housed in a giant stupa made from 320 kilograms of gold! Just imagining it made me shiver. I was thinking what is so special about this tooth? They said that the tooth of Buddha is four times bigger than a normal human tooth because it continues to grow signifying his infinite powers.If his tooth grows, how about his bones and skull?

For normal humans, the moment our children starts losing their milk teeth, we tell them stories about the tooth fairies.My daughter even had a tooth box to put her old tooth from the dentist– I don´t know,as a keepsake ?! Times really changed because as a kid I never did that...

Contrary to Muslims, in a Buddhist temples, there are lots of colorful bouquets of flowers and candles with prayer offerings that adorns the prayer halls.There are lots of believers and the prayer halls are almost never empty. I have seen the same in Seoul´s Buddhist temples as well.Here in Germany, churches have a corner where prayer offerings are made through lighting a candles or incense.In some churches here, the candles are LED! That realization made me wonder for a minute.

When I saw the Duomo in Milan, the tourists surprisingly always outnumbers the people who went there for worship.There is an attraction inside that shows a light up above the ceiling which believes to be one of the preserved holy nail (Sacro Chodo) from Crucifixion of Christ.I think that´s also same like a religious relic amongst others.The times people spent taking photos and touring the church is far more than the minutes spent praying or having some quiet time inside it. Architecture seemed like a distraction–a beautiful boulder for the sense of worship.Same scenario in Vienna, empty of worshippers, and where churches and cathedrals are more famous now only as a place of tourism,and not a holy place to hear a mass or worship.

It was still raining outside so my wandering thoughts continues and lingers to the infinite details that I am seeing inside the Temple.The ceilings are quite exquite as well and the other rooms are all greatly done.

Soon it was time for us to get out and see the real world out there.The rain finally stopped and I continued our walkathon in the streets of Chinatown.Singapore indeed is a place of different worlds to see. The historical richness of this place cannot be underrated and I am glad to be able to see a bit of it.

If you´re interested how it looks like inside the Temple, here´s a video I´ve found that is very informative and cleverly done.

Have you ever visited a Buddhist temple? what are your thoughts about it?

Until then, Namaste & Tschüß!