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.
就其主题而言，伦敦主办的《佛教面面观》节(Many Faces of Buddhism)几乎不应引起太大的轰动。然而，这次佛教文化节是该市有史以来最大的一次。电影、舞蹈与讨论将让位于一门宗教——抑或是哲学。佛教或许已在英国的首都吸引到了部分信徒，但一般公众对其平和的处世方式仍相当缺乏了解。