Pala, Yangdu and Uncle Bill visit Sleeping Buddha. Pix.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

Joined
Mar 5, 1999
Messages
34,096
ffbd964b.jpg.orig.jpg

top -- Pala, Yangdu and Uncle Bill at the temple (called Wat in Thailand) of the Sleeping Buddha.

bottom -- Uncle Bill and Pala on the temple grounds.

Temples are clean, well kept, and quite expansive. In overcrowded Bangkok where real estate is premium this temple compound is situated on 17 acres as I recall. Very good sized.

This was my third journey to Thailand and temples. Pala and Yangdu are here for the first time so I play a sort of blind leading blind tour guide.

What has this to do with khukuris? Well, some of the wood for our top end handles is coming from Thailand.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
What is the temperature and R.H. during your visit?

It certainly looks like a beutiful place to visit.

Will
 
Howard
you will find Pepsi ad and the like everywhere in Thailand. The weather is hot, and so is food. However, the thing you see is an information board, the info is on the other side. People there make this kind of board from metal sheets, often collected from waste dump grounds. On the good side, generous (!) business give that kind of rubbish away for poor temples and schools for their own use, hence the ever prominent Pepsi signs. No metal is wasted for the poor. The Thais don't make knives from old truck springs. More people like Uncle Bill are needed.
 
Thanks for the information TD. It’s interesting, given the obvious care that is taken of the grounds, that they did not bother to paint over or cover up the advertisement. Perhaps most Thais do not see the deliberate stimulation of desires through advertising as antithetical to the four noble truths of Buddhism.

I do.
 
That reminds me of a story I think I read in Dropping Ashes on the Buddha. A disciple ran to Master Soen-sa (if it was him and not some other zen master in some other book) all upset because a woman had left some awful artificial flowers in front of the statue of Buddha, and they were horribly tasteless and ugly and something must be done! I don't have the book in front of me and can't quote exactly, but in short, Soen-sa went and looked at the flowers and agreed they were tasteless and no doubt the woman who left them was tasteless, too ... but the Buddha doesn't mind. Why should we?

I have to admit I'm not happy about the Pepsi sign either, though.

-Cougar :{)
 
Hmm...Howard, I take your point. The temple was built with donation from the locals, only to have Pepsi ads all over. The thing is courtesy and compromise are the fundamental element of the Thai culture and mentality. If Pepsi gives a piece of scrap metal for the temple to make a notice board, the Thais will keep Pepsi logos on the board so as not to upset Pepsi. After all a piece of metal still has enough value to them that they are willing to overlook the so obvious comercial exploitation, or perhaps they don't really see it that way. The way
multinational business works is a new phenomenon to most Thais who still think that give means give and nothing else. This attitude, of course, leaves a big room for more exploitation. I share your conern. After all, I'm Thai. Born and bred.

By the way, do you think that the Buddha would wake up from his sleep if Rusty were there, Uncle Bill?
 
Disturbing images are welcome. They stimulate thought and development. I wasn’t so much concerned about exploitation by multinational corporations as I was puzzled by the philosophical discord. Maybe there is something to be learned from the juxtaposition of society’s attempt to stimulate desire, and the sleeping Buddha.

Perhaps it is futile and even misguided to try to erase the manifestations of samsara from around the Buddha.

Great story Cougar. And thank you, TD, for the insight into the Thai culture.
 
Remember that one of the Buddha's major teachings was 'pratitya-samutpada' or 'interdependent origination,' which says basically that nothing exists in isolation, that all phenomena rely on the presence of other phenomena for their existence.

You see, profound wisdom can still be salvaged from the crass commercialism of temples!
 
I'm quite pleased and somewhat surprised at the interest in this thread.

You may not believe this but I didn't notice the Pepsi sign when I was right there beside it and I didn't notice it in the pix I took! Either I am very non observant or else I had my mind on things other than Pepsi signs.

The BirGorkha tarwar was handled with some wood my Thai pal sent to Nepal.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
TD: For a while anyway. Remember:

"An Empty sort of mind is valuable for finding pearls and things because it can see what's in front of it. An Overstuffed mind is unable to. While the Clear mind listens to a bird singing, the Stuffed-Full-of-Knowledge- and Cleverness mind wonders what *kind* of bird is singing. The more Stuffed Up it is, the less it can hear through it's own ears and see through it's own eyes. Knowledge and Cleverness tend to concern themselves with the wrong sorts of things and a mind confused by Knowlege, Cleverness, and abstract Ideas tends to go chasing off after things that don't matter or that don't even exist, instead of seeing, hearing, appreciating, and making use of what is right in front of it."
Benjamin Hoff - The Tao of Pooh

------------------
Some people are alive simply because it is illegal to kill them.

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited 05-08-2000).]
 
I bowed to the monitor after reading such a great wisdom from Rusty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top