Since rain was playing the spoilsport today, we could not visit thein attractions in Ninh Binh, #Vietnam. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we ended up visiting the sprawling Bai Dinh pagoda complex. It is interesting on many counts.
Buddhists in Vietnam belong to Mahayana sect. Therefore, depiction of buddha's face is closer to that from Mathura school unlike that from Theravada sect, followed by Tibbetans, Laddakhis etc
The tall pagoda in the complex was built by Indians and has descriptions of Buddha, his life story in Sanskrit (I can already see political Neo Buddhists frothing over). The guide (a Buddhist herself) was in awe that we could read it and expressed her high regard for devbhasha
It had a replica of Mahabodhi temple at Gaya, Bihar in the main shrine. We could see references to India all over the place
What I found most amazing was the fact that a large part of this complex was constructed after 2003. Remember, this is in a communist country where people are "atheists". It is so large that the 1st shrine is 4 km from entrance and the rest of complex too takes up another 4 km.
And I have found so many pagan/ folk/ancestor worship shrines in Vietnam too. It kind of tells me that people don't become "secular" or "atheists" or "communal" depending on the type of current government. Countries retain their belief systems, sometimes hidden , sometimes not so
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