This Hindu priest is not waving hello to me. He is imitating the Protection Buddha which is to have the right hand raised, palm outward so as to offer protection or to ward off fear, delusion and anger.
Or maybe he just trying to wave off another foreigner from taking his photograph?
While on a photo walk with local photographer Charlie Kwan we explored Singapore’s very compact Chinatown. This being Singapore with its mixed culture, right in the middle of Chinatown is The Sri Mariamman Temple, which is the country’s oldest Hindu temple.
As a Christian I love to learn and immerse myself in world religions. I strive to understand people’s faith and to appreciate their worldview.
Singapore is a perfect place for such an endeavor because in matter of moments you can hear the call to prayer from a mosque and then right around the corner you can step into a Hindu temple and be overwhelmed by the sights and smell. In fact, right after we left the Hindu temple we walked five minutes to a Buddhist temple.
I thanked the Hindu priest for his time and then as any true American would do gave him a high five (that last part I made up, but I was thinking about it).
Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Southeast Asia.
Happy Travels!
Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography
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The downfall of the attempts of governments and leaders to unite mankind is found in this- in the wrong message that we should see everyone as the same. This is the root of the failure of harmony. Because the truth is, we should not all see everyone as the same! We are not the same! We are made of different colours and we have different cultures. We are all different! But the key to this door is to look at these differences, respect these differences, learn from and about these differences, and grow in and with these differences. We are all different. We are not the same. But that's beautiful. And that's okay.In the quest for unity and peace, we cannot blind ourselves and expect to be all the same. Because in this, we all have an underlying belief that everyone should be the same as us at some point. We are not on a journey to become the same or to be the same. But we are on a journey to see that in all of our differences, that is what makes us beautiful as a human race, and if we are ever to grow, we ought to learn and always learn some more. Cheap Flights to Singapore
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