There won't, almost by definition, be much of a noise made about it, but London is about to play host to its biggest-ever festival of Buddhist culture. Films, dances and discussions will open the doors on a religion – or is it a philosophy? – that may have attracted its share of followers in the capital, but whose quiet ways remain largely opaque to the general public.
The Many Faces of Buddhism season will be given extra impetus by the opening next week of the Victoria and Albert Museum's first-ever gallery of Buddhist sculpture. It is no coincidence. Both the festival and the gallery owe their existence to the Robert H.N. Ho Foundation, a Hong Kong philanthropic organisation founded in 2005 and committed both to the spread of Chinese arts and culture, and to the wider dissemination of Buddhist thought.
就其主題而言，倫敦主辦的《佛教面面觀》節(Many Faces of Buddhism)幾乎不應引起太大的轟動。然而，這次佛教文化節是該市有史以來最大的一次。電影、舞蹈與討論將讓位於一門宗教——抑或是哲學。佛教或許已在英國的首都吸引到了部分信徒，但一般公衆對其平和的處世方式仍相當缺乏瞭解。