Taken last year, just before the Wesak Dat procession began. The Dharma class kids whom my mum used to teach. Ain't they an angelic bunch? =)
It's Wesak Day today. Well, at least in M'sia, it is. It's different here though. Yesterday was the Wesak Day procession. The yearly event in which the buddhists from all the different Buddhist associations will gather at the Sek Kia Ee temple and walk around Malacca, with floats decorated with flowers. I don't remember missing joining the procession for the past ten years i think. i guess you can call it a mini pilgrimage.
In my GEM 1900 module, i learned about religious inquiry. i also learned about reasoning, justification, how you must have valid ground and the conclusion must follow from the ground so that the reasoning is justified and sound..etc. i learned about what is blind faith, herd instinct etc. And the biggest question among all is: what is faith?
My lecturer, an eccentric man, asked us whether are we willing to question our faith, our belief before embarking on this religious inquiry.. Well i admit at first i was taken aback. i never thought i'll ever question my faith. Is my faith really true faith or is it blind faith? i never question it because it's always present in the environment that i was brought up. Though now that i think of it, for all i know i might be a christian if i'm born in a different family.
Well, despite going through the readings that question the basis of faith, the different literature arguing about religion, i realised that there is no real conclusion. i guess faith is just when you truly believe in something, or someone, for that matters, that even though there can be no justification for it. You just believe in it.
For me, faith has become such an integral part of my life, that it has become my pillar of support, the strength where i draw upon. The source which i turn to whenever i had a bad day and everything just doesn't seem right. i believe in it because that's how i'm brought up. And for that, i'm grateful.
Happy Wesak Day. =)