Buddha in The Bar Ven. Shravasti Dhammika There is a minor uproar going on in Jakarta right now. The up-market French bar and music lounge franchise Buddha Bar has just opened a branch in Jakarta. On Thursday dozens of Buddhist college students sealed the exclusive bar and restaurant after negotiating with the bar's management. 'We've sealed the Buddha-Bar and it will remain closed until the matter is resolved. The management team has also agreed not to open the bar', Indonesian Buddhist Students Association (AMB) representative Widodo said. According to Widodo, the Jakarta administration had issued a letter to France regarding protests.
The bar's local management who had also filed a request for a name change, said 'Until the issue is resolved, the bar will stay shut'. The AMB's protest against the Buddha Bar is based on the group's dissatisfaction at the bar's use of Buddhism in a way that they perceive to be disrespectful to Buddhism. 'The name 'Buddha', Widodo said, carries sublime meanings that are not appropriate to be paired with words like 'bar' that are associated with venues where alcohol is served and where people get drunk. The bar itself is also filled with Buddhist symbols and artifacts. Its presence is offensive to the Buddhist community in Indonesia,' he said. Buddha Bar Jakarta branch is the George V Hotels and Resorts chain's first restaurant in Asia, following successes in London, New York, Dubai, Sao Paulo, Kiev, Cairo and Beirut.The Jakarta police told a group of protesters on Friday that it would summon the owner of the Buddha Bar for questioning over its alleged blasphemy. If proven guilty, owners of the restaurant could face up to five years imprisonment. I am happy to say that so far the Buddhists have conducted their protest in a measured and non-hysterical way. As for the bar's name and its use of a Buddha statue are concerned, I am in two minds. Associating the Buddha with alcohol and indulgence is quite inappropriate (See my post of 9, 9, 2008). On the other hand, if they made a few minor adjustments I think the place could become genuinely and authentically Buddhist and then they could rightly use the name. They should do this - (1) make everyone entering the bar shave their head, (2) drop the prices of everything so they were the same as items at McDonalds, (3) have these words be printed in large letters on the bottom of the menu, 'What will the food you are about to eat look like tomorrow morning when you go to the toilet?' (4) require everyone to share part of their meal with someone at another table, (5) have the bar's band play Brahm's Deutsches Requiem all night and (6) when each person leaves, instead of saying 'Have a nice evening' the receptionist should say, 'One day you will die.' I think that would all go over well with Jakarta's in-crowd, high flyers and expat community. Dont you? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ ** MABINDO - Forum Diskusi Masyarakat Buddhis Indonesia ** ** Kunjungi juga website global Mabindo di http://www.mabindo.org **Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MABINDO/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MABINDO/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
