Please note: Images in this article were taken before current COVID-19 safety measures were in place.
[Vision: Night light show of elephant – Buddha – singers and band playing – People enjoying the various night lights – singers – Buddha]
Ian Green – Chairman – The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion
Today is the start of the Illum8 Festival. So this happens every year. It’s a three day festival.
[Vision: Visitors in The Stupa admiring the Jade Buddha]
The highlight of today’s event was the unveiling of the Jade Buddha.
[Vision: Blessing being performed by a Vietnamese monk]
And that was followed by a blessing by a Vietnamese monk.
[Vision: Visitors enjoying the service and praying – ladies with lotus flowers]
After that everyone’s had the opportunity to come up and make an offering, or just to have a close look at the Jade Buddha.
[Vision: Visitors in The Stupa taking photos – people making offering to the Jade Buddha]
It’s been a non-stop line now, so I don’t know how many hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people have been through.
Male visitor outside The Stupa with family
[Vision: Vietnamese monk and others praying]
We come here today to visit the temple and the Jade Buddha as well. This place is very, very peaceful.
[Vision: Lamas creating beautiful artwork]
And we love to see a lot of Lama and see their beautiful artwork they have done in the temple.
Lady visitor on first visit to The Stupa
This is actually our first time being the Stupa itself, so it’s very beautiful.
[Vision: Jade Buddha]
It’s massive.
[Vision: Ian speaking]
The Stupa’s got lots of uses.
[Vision: Outside The Stupa – visitors walking around grounds]
Usually it’s open on a daily basis, either for Buddhists to come as a place of pilgrimage, or for tourists to come.
[Vision: Visitors posing for photo in the grounds of The Stupa]
And I think the majority of visitors are actually tourists.
[Vision: Visitors at night buying food – visitors enjoying The Stupa during the day]
And they come because they, you know, it’s a very unusual sight to see something like this.
[Vision: Ian speaking]
But also when they’re here they’re very overtaken by the peace and the serenity and the compassion of the place.
So people love to come, and then they love to come back and see it again.
Female visitor with red scarf
We saw it when it was first starting to be built, and we just wanted to come back and see it sort of, you know, develop.
[Vision: Dancers performing at night]
We love coming to Bendigo.
This place makes you just feel really special.
[Vision: Drummers and dancers performing during the day – visitors buying food at night]
This Illumin8 Festival we’re expecting around 10,000 people to come.
[Vision: Night lights of 3D illuminations – man performing with fire]
We’ve got many 3D illuminations, performers and singers from many, many different cultures.
[Vision: Fireworks]
So there’s just so much happening. It’s going to be a wonderful evening.
[THE VICTORIAN CONNECTION]
[For more news and stories go to The Victorian Connection – connection.vic.gov.au]
[VICTORIA State Government]
[Speaker: Authorised by Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne]
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