Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Yesterday was a holiday, so Rohaizad and I went out to lunch with our friend William. He showed us this Italian place in a hawker's center out in Bukit Merah ... amazing! Here Rohaizad and I are preparing to eat lasagna and spaghetti. We brought our own wine; you can't get wine at a hawker's center.

William works at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, so he took me on a tour of the temple after lunch. This is a beautiful mandala made by the nuns out of sand.

This statue of Buddha is carved out of one enormous piece of wood.

Surrounding the huge Buddha statue are 100 Buddhas. Here are a few of them. Each one is hand-made and unique.

In addition to the pure gold stuppa where the tooth relic is kept (behind bullet-proof glass), William showed me relics of Buddha's blood, brain, liver, bones and other assorted body parts. If these relics are venerated, they will multiply. Then they are shared with other temples in the world. If they are not venerated, they vanish.

I spent some time in the museum which has dozens of beautiful Buddha carvings and took a couple of spins around the world's largest prayer wheel. There is a lovely garden on the roof of the temple and this flower here is the Buddha Tooth Relic Orchid and can only be found in this temple - no where else in the world!