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Buddha
Achieve Nirvana in a six-star columbarium in Singapore
A funeral is generally a simple ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or honoring the deceased. However, to make this affair a little luxurious Malaysia-based columbarium operator, Nirvana established the Nirvana Memorial Garden in Singapore. The self- proclaimed “six-star’ columbarium is a luxury place where families can store the ashes of their loved ones for a fee. The whole idea of a columbarium has been given a new and modern twist.
At a recent ceremony in a dark, cavernous auditorium, a deep male voice intoned in Mandarin: “I will live on happily in your image and always remember you.” Green and red laser beams shot out from the foreheads of three 10-metre (33-foot) tall gold-plated Buddhas as soothing chants and ambient music played from cinema-quality loudspeakers. Suddenly, a beam of pure white light from above illuminated the main attraction: an urn containing the ashes of a recently cremated person, sitting on a revolving pedestal shaped like a lotus flower.
From the “check-in’ to the grand stay, the company, which operates smaller projects in Indonesia, Cambodia, Taiwan and Vietnam, consciously replicates the feel of a top hotel. This is the most ambitious and biggest (13,000 square metro) project of the company.
Inside the complex, gold-plated niches, Buddha statues and ancestral tablets await the ashes of the departed in fully air-conditioned “suites” complete with carpeted floors and sofas. As in hotels, customers are issued magnetic swipe cards which open electronic doors and switch on lights designed to produce a soft, warm glow. To date, roughly 50 percent of the columbarium’s 7,518 niche lots have been taken up. Phang also wants to promote Nirvana Singapore as a tourist attraction and plans to furnish a mini-gallery with Buddhist relics.
Golden Door Spa
The oldest spa in North America, started in 1958 with the theme that real food, exercise with professionals in their fields, pampering exceeding anything in the country, and a deep look into the mind/body/spirit connection is the very best thing that a woman, can do for herself. After a week at the Golden Door, most guests head home with an individualized program for a healthier lifestyle than they had before they arrived, and a desire to keep feeling the way they felt here.
The Door, as returning guests like to call it, is a 377-acre plot of rich agricultural land in this copacetic place that founder Deborah Szekely turned into a replica of a Japanese Ryokan or country inn, complete with sliding Shoji screens, wooden bridges over little streams, gardens decorated with stone lanterns and ancient temple bells, waterfalls splashing over hand-placed rocks that represent such figures as the Buddha or a turtle, and a sand garden raked to perfection twice a week.
The physical door itself at the front entrance is actually from Tijuana, Mexico, of hammered Tunisian brass and copper but the rest of the artwork scattered about the property, including wood sculptures from the Edo period and porcelain vases from the Meiji period, are authentic, brought from Japan by Szekely and the architect she hired and took there for a month to study that countrys special beauty.
Zen is in the air, as guests muse among eucalyptus trees and Chinese lantern trees and live oaks and deliberately planted deciduous trees so the latter would have changing fall colors, and it encourages serenity and reflection and calm.
But most guests are here for the intense physical activity encouraged, always optional, that comes with the seven different gyms, each with its own specific purpose; the 6 a.m. mountain hikes up among avocado and pomegranate trees followed by at least three hours per week of individual consultation and workouts with your own personal trainer, and the aerobics and cardio fitness and strength and flexibility classes taught by renowned experts in their field. When we took a belly dancing class it was taught by a professional belly dancer who has performed all over the world, including Morocco. A Balletone, or body sculpting class, was taught by a former dancer with Ballet West. A jazz dancing class was led by the delightful Yuichi Sugiyama, who danced on Broadway and with, among others, the Alice Cooper rock band.
$43,000 23-Karat Gold Luxury Buddha Speakers
Wow. If you’re all up into golden Buddhas then we have a mammoth of a luxury item for you this morning. Say hello to your new best friend, the 23-karat gold Buddha Statue Speakers.
At $43,000 each, these Tom-designed Buddha speakers have been made with the highest quality 23-karat gold to form an impressive statue, which is then hammered on to a stark metal base for a superb and luxurious finish.
The company’s art speaker range features a collection of 14 loudspeakers from organic to sculptural and mysterious designs for every dcor. The art speakers are available in various sizes and placement locations “” floor standing, wall mounted, cabinet tops in pairs or stand-alones.
Banyan Tree Spa Phuket
It is in their hands that our bodies are relaxing. It is between their fingers, that our skin is awakening again. We entered the sanctuary to rediscover ourselves and let our minds rest. Phuket was the perfect place. Banyan Tree was the perfect setting for this moment that can be associated with excellence. The perfection of a place, the quality of care, the prestige of a name, continuing a tradition of hundreds of years, that’s what we wanted to find by entering the pretty name of the spa Banyan Tree Phuket.
Com Loy is the ceremony during which we left our lantern flying through the air. Our wishes were to return to the respective sense of well-being that seizes us when we share a moment of excellence at Banyan Tree Phuket. After a quick passage through the main lodge, our journey into the senses and emotions began.
The doors opened to us! Following the therapist massage school Banyan Tree welcomed us in one of 12 houses in Thai architecture. In these reproductions of royal salas where sculptures of Apsaras and meditating Buddha settled the marriage between physical and spiritual well-being and its celebration began on our bodies.
The therapist separated us to better find ourselves again after a treatment consisting of traditional Asian methods. I sat on the refined couch and the doors of this mini-palace closed. My feet were slipped into the hot and perfectly perfumed water. Flower petals were invited to the celebration of the senses. Slowly, the hands of the therapist massaged my feet. The movement helped me to relax. And then, after putting a towel around my waist, I lay on the table arranged in the center of the pavilion surrounded by tropical gardens. The flavors of flowers and various aromas have spread to my nose. I let myself be carried by the outstanding benefits of these massages. I was eager to discover what you had reserved for me, but the therapist kept the secret.
Was it the one called “Vitality Restored” in which the actions of a Balinese massage would help me find a good energy I did not have? Then the hands began to wander over my body. Relaxing music invited me to close my eyes and the virtues of care “Tranquility Hydro Mist” had their effects. Slowly, the fingers of the therapist stopped going through my body. Too bad, the moment was excellent!
I imagined that during this time you were enjoying this care-massage called “Signature Master Therapist Experience.” The precise and delicate movements of trained experts that mastered a degree in this school opened by Banyan Tree in 2001 have certainly had reason for this stress you were feeling lately. If this is not the case, but I doubt it, you will discover throughout the week we spend at Banyan Tree Phuket, various treatments and massages that will invite you on a journey to discover your senses.
Christie fetches $14.3 million for Buddha Sculpture
A wooden sculpture of Dainichi Nyorai or Buddha carrying religious objects sealed was in its torso for almost 800 years. It was lately exposed at Christie’s auction where it brought back $14.3 million breaking the earlier record set by a Rakuchu Rakugai screen that fetched $1.76 million in 1990. Taking pleasure in the presence in the sphere of Japanese work of art by making a world record, the figurine is accredited to Unkei, measured as one of the two best sculptors of the early Kamakura period in 1190s, when Buddhist art was actively practiced.
It was sold off on 18 March 2008 by Mitsukoshi Ltd and the presale estimate was $1.5-2 million. Made of Cyprus wood, the Buddha is clad in generous attire and is positioned in a lotus position with a tiara and trinkets, and hair in a topknot.
Its whereabouts were indefinite until now when it was sold to a dealer of Buddhist art most recently. The identity of the buyer is not to be disclosed. The knowledge of the owner considering Buddha statue to be hollow underwent an X-ray at Tokyo National Museum and it was identified that it carries three memorial items, representing Buddhist cipher viz. a wood pagoda, a crystal pagoda and a crystal ball on a bronze stand.
The Chinese guardian lions from Harrods
This festive season bring home a pair of lions from Harrods to watch over your riches. Commonly known as Fu Lions or lions of Buddha, these lions have been considered as the traditional symbol of a family’s wealth or social status in China. Harrods offers a chance for people all over the world to own the ornate Chinese guardian lions to flaunt their status as well as protect it too. Priced at $32,000, a client can order only up to eight lions from the store.
Buddha statue floats atop the stunning TON speakers
Buddha is known for his tranquil appearance and peaceful demeanor. But if you don’t need a tranquil Buddha statue for your room, then opt for a floating Buddha with a pair of speakers at the base of the statue, designed by a company called TON, the statue gives off a glow when light is reflected off its 23-carat gold-leaf exterior. The prices for these speakers start at $13,250 a piece with an additional $43,000 for the Buddha. There are no centre channels or subwoofers included in the set.
Onassis Buddha: A Gem-Set Bowenite Magot by Faberge May Fetch $500,000 Plus
Pictured above is a gem-set Bowenite Magot by Faberge that is exhibited at Christie’s auction house in Geneva on 9 May. Known as “Onassis Buddha,” it is a finely carved figure, with expressed hands, head and ruby tongue and was first bought by Aristotle Onassis in the early 1960″²s and since then was kept on the “Christina” yacht. News is it may fetch $ 500,000-$700,000 during an auction sale in London on 11 June.
Most Expensive Soup
Kai, a London restaurant formerly known as Mr. Kai, recently served a bowl of the most expensive soup in the world. The primarily Chinese restaurant’s expensive dish was priced at $214 USD. They call it “Buddha Jumps over the Wall.”
So named because, as a vegetarian, the Buddha was forced to sneak out of the monastery and “jump over the wall” to enjoy it, the soup typically calls for such expensive ingredients as abalone, quail eggs and shark fin. Kai’s soup delivers on the shark fin and abalone while also including scallops, ginseng and gold. It also delivers on the typical one to two day prep time and then some. Kai requires at least five days notice to prepare the expensive soup.
Kai is located in Mayfair and is owned by former barrister and 2004 Olympic trap shooter Bernard Yeoh. The world’s most expensive soup is prepared by Kai’s head chef Alex Chow.
“The Guennol Lioness” Ancient Statue at Sotheby’s Auction
An Update: The Guennol Lioness, Mesopotamian sculpture gold sold for $57 mn at New York on 6 December.
Identified as the Guennol Lioness, an antique granite figurine of a majestic lioness with over 8 centimeters (3 1/4 inches) tall is expected to fetch $18 million at Sotheby’s in New York on 5 December.
The sale is organized by Steel Baron’s heir. The sale would follow the auction of Bronze Horse head (10 mn), Buddha statue (3.3 mn “” 4.5mn) and Bond’s ball ($5, 00,000).
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