Crowded Buddhist Shrine - Long Khanh Temple - Quy Nhon, Vietnam

People often have a romanticised idea of the Buddhist aesthetic. Actually, people hold all kinds of unrealistic notions about many aspects of Buddhism, but the great cliche is that of the clutter-free, ultra-simple, zen-like atmosphere.
I'm here to tell you that Buddhist temples and monasteries are not like that. Especially not in Vietnam.
This is a shrine in a senior monk's room at the largest temple in Quy Nhon City. Actually, as these things go, it's quite restrained - I've certainly seen far more crowded shrines in my time.
But you can see, there's a certain dedication to colour, and plenty to catch the eye.
I actually like my Buddhism like this: colourful, chaotic, unpretentious and appealing directly to common ideas. I love that life in Vietnamese Buddhist monasteries can be chaotic and crowded, the shrines dusty and filled with tat.

Sakyamuni Buddha

Sakyamuni (Thich Ca Mau Ni Phat vn.) is the historical Buddha, and the central figure of worship that unites all of the schools and sects of Buddhism.



All agree on his life and teaching, though there are some minor disagreements on points of his teaching (did he advocate vegetarianism or not?) and his biography (when exactly did he live and die?).




Sakyamuni is normally the central image in the main prayer halls in Vietnamese temples - on very rare occasions the central image might be of Amitabha, and even more rarely Vairocana.



But almost all Buddhist temples in Vietnam feature a statue of Sakyamuni as their main object of worship.