Legendary Flowers Blooming on Buddha Statue(дзэнский монастырь, Южная Корея)
By Cho Sang-hee, Senior Writer
October 20, 2000
UIWANG, Kyonggi-do, South Korea--
http://www.mykwanyin.com/statue.html... The enigma is that more than a score of tiny white flowers are blooming on the forehead of Kuanyin Bodhisattva, enshrined in this age-old temple perched on Mt. Chonggye in South Korea.
According to Buddhist literature, the legendary flower called "`Udambara'' (Udumbara-pupsa in Sanskrit) blooms once in 3,000 years, as told by the Lotus Sutra. Religious Indians believe the blooming takes place when the Sage King of Future comes to the world.
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The discovery on the tip of the eyebrow of the Buddha-to-be "Kwanseum-bosal'' was made on Oct. 6 by a laywoman believer, Lee Kyong-sun, 40 while praying at the main Buddha hall.
According to monks, it now grows in upright arrays of 21 thread-like twigs that each are one centimeter in length, with a tiny white flower no bigger than the tip of a ball-point pen.
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What is the popular reaction to the Chonggye-sa apparition?
According to monks at the temple, some 7,000 pilgrims are visiting the temple on the hill of Mt. Chonggye daily, as the word spreads via the media and Buddhist community members. Due to the traffic jams on the access road, some people park their cars and walk to the temple. The 3-kilometer entrance will be expanded and paved next year, with construction work already underway.
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"I believe the phenomenon of our temple's statue has a connection to the great teachers of the past,'' said the chief abbot.
The temple is going to hold a series of masters' sermon meetings, with high-ranking monks invited. The number of teachers, 21, corresponds with the number of the flowers in bloom. It will last for more than 100 days, with weekly shifts of the sermon speakers.
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It is the first time that as many as 21 flowers of Udambara appear though the similar kind of phenomenon took place twice recently at temples in Korea recently, at at a temple in Kwangju, Kyonggi-do, in 1997 and at Kwangsu-sa in Taejon in July this year.
The Rev. Chongsang, maintained it is almost unthinkable that the 500 year-old Buddhist statute, which might have been gilded every two to three years over the woodwork, could produce the flower-like growing things.
Botanically the flower may be in category of Ficus (glomerata), or fig. However, botanists regard the appearance at Chogye-sa can be hardly related with the fruitful plant.
In India it is believed as a divine plant along with the bo tree. "
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