The cave temples of Dambulla

We visited the ancient cave temples of Dambulla, which are adorned with Buddha sculptures large and small and paintings on the cave walls depicting the life of the Buddha.

Somehow, these ancient caves, said to date back over 2,000 years, felt far more sacred and special than the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which we visited later that day in Kandy. According to legend, the actual tooth of the Buddha is housed here; and it is ‘revealed’ daily during a religious ceremony, where hundreds queue to get a few seconds glimpse of the vessel holding the tooth. I can’t help but think that this fixation on a physical relic is completely contrary to the Buddha’s teachings about the impermanence and insignificance of the body as a vessel for the soul, and his discouragement for worshiping anyone or anything. But I guess human beings like to have something to cling to, a crutch for their beliefs, or a symbol of their aspirations.