yThe recent questioning of the authenticity of Buddha tooth in Singapore raise an interesting observation.

While the abbot the Buddha tooth temple maintained that it is faith that it is the Buddha tooth that is important, some of the donor felt that there should be some transparency. In this case, he probably decide to exercise his faith and therefore it is a sacred Buddha tooth. But I wonder if the faith has to to with faith in Buddhism or in the late Myanmer monk. He took the monk's word as sutra truth and placed his faith on it. To him, anyone who questions the authenticity of the tooth is questioning the faith (as in Buddhism). I personally do not agree with it. It was a matter of the late abbot or knowing the truth.

If he honours the tooth (man, animal or holy man), it is his own personal stand. The moment he started to tell the public and convinced 60,000 to donate $45 million and 270 kg of gold, it is on longer a personal faith. There got to be some accountability.

It is interesting that so many kind-hearted, devoted donors gave without asking about if it was real or words from some authority. Perhaps they placed their faith in the abbot. It remind me of NKF, where many sincerely believe that they were donating for the cause of patients. I think we need to learn to be more careful and ask good questions when giving for certain cause. Let's be accountable, otherwise we encourage others to give blindly and also encourage people to solicit funds without feeling the need to be accountable.

A unusual blog entry for me, but I just find it disturbing and need to air it.