Buddha would have no bar of it...

Yet another so-called 'Buddha Bar' has opened, this time in London.


Photograph: Sophia Evans (Guardian)

What is really wrong with the London venue placing a statue of Buddha there is that people on the upper level are looking down on Buddha. Goes to show really, how thoughtless and ignorant the proprietors are and totally not having any understanding.

A number of so-named 'Buddha-Bars' already exist, located in Paris, Subiaco (Western Australia), Adelaide, Byron Bay (New South Wales), Waikiki Honolulu and New York city, with many more elsewhere.

Misappropriating a religious symbol as interior decor with no connection to its religious teachings is highly offensive.

If the proprietors of these venues that serve alcohol are Christian, would they have statues of Jesus inside their bars and restaurants? No, of course not. It would be disrespectful. Catholics would be highly offended if a bar serving alcohol was called 'Virgin Mary Bar'.

Not only culturally inappropriate, but also highly insensitive.

A suitable response would be for monks and worshippers from the local Buddhist communities to enter these places without a reservation and to start burning incense and chanting and praying. After all, there is a statue of Buddha on the premises, so it must be a temple.

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Today was a horrid day weather-wise. I discovered a bank cheque in unopened mail from June this year. Oh, I must open all my mail on time.