Divine Buddha And The Cultural Heritage Of A Country

Thailand a country of the Buddha

In September, a group was going to Thailand. Someone dropped out and I was given a chance to go with the group.

Wow! what great luck! I wanted to know about the culture of the country and mainly about Buddhism.

I am thankful to the group that took me along with them for learning about the Divine Buddhas and the culture of the country by making all the arrangements including excellent guides to explain the culture in detail.

Here I was ready to pack and already thinking of the various cities in the itinerary.

I had read that Thailand was beautiful. It had a lot of beaches.

It is also a Buddhist country. In this country, more than 90% of people follow Buddhism.

We landed in Phuket. The airport was beautiful. We learned that it was a land that is famous for its flowers, particularly the variety of Orchids.

We were welcomed at Phuket International Airport with Orchids.

The airport looked beautiful.

Where are the monks and Buddhas?

Just as we went out of the airport, I saw some monks in saffron clothes. They were young children. I was amazed to see them. I was told by the guide that most children take the training to become a monk.

The training as a monk can be for one month or six months, a year, or maybe for life. It is for them to decide how long they want to continue or if they want to live a family life. This training as a monk has to be before the age of 20.

Young men take training as a monk in order to receive good karma and merit.

We checked into Charms Hotel which was delightful.

Everywhere around there were monks with saffron and orange robes.

Our guide told us that in our itinerary we were supposed to visit the Big Buddha which is an important landmark in Phuket.

The Big Buddha is on top of the Nakkerd Hills between Chalong and Kata and, at 45 meters tall.

It can be seen from Phuket Town and Karon Beach because it is on a hilltop.

We went on driving. It became a road trip on the bus. It took us two hours to reach the destination because the town is very crowded during the evening hours.

If anyone wants to visit the Big Buddha they must have enough time with them.

When we reached the hilltop and got down from the bus it started raining heavily.

This is Thailand. It rains at any time and it stops also without notice almost immediately.

The air was very fresh and it was lush green with lots of plants everywhere.

The views are breathtaking. There was a long walk before we reached the Big Buddha.

If you see the photo above in white marble, it has 94 stairs, the guide told us.

The guide told us to enjoy ourselves and look up at the Big Buddha and see the scenery around us. We took many pictures.

As you walk up the stairs toward the big Buddha, it’s absolutely stunning. It takes time to go up but it is worth it. When you look around nature is amazing.

You can look at the clear sky turning cloudy but very cool.

Next, our guide told us at since we were interested in Buddhas we had to see another Big Buddha.

The other Big Buddha Phuket is in Maha Mongkhon Phuttha Utthayan YOT Khao Nak Koet, Phuket, Thailand. This was called the Golden Buddha.

The guide took us to the Golden Buddha because she rightly considered it to be the most beautiful and a must-see in Phuket Thailand👆🏼

The next Buddha which was notable and memorable was in Bangkok. The Temple of the Golden Buddha is a large complex of temples located in the Chinatown area of ​​Bangkok.

It is famous and has a huge golden Buddha statue located inside. It became popular in the 1950s, the impressive Buddha is made entirely of pure gold.

The temple was free to enter but we had to take off our shoes before entering. The building was 4 stories high and we got a view of the beautiful structures and gardens.

It is supposed to be 700 years old.

These Buddhas in Golden we found in the same temple complex. One of my friends clicked this picture.

Background of The Buddha

Buddha was born (ca. 563 B.C.E.) in a place called Lumbini near the Himalayan foothills.

Buddhism was founded in the late 6th century B.C.E. by Siddhartha Gautama (the “Buddha”),

It is an important religion in many countries of Asia.

The Buddha is also called the Enlightened or Awakened One. He began to teach truths out of compassion for suffering.

The most important doctrines he taught were about Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path.

1️⃣ His first Noble Truth is that life is suffering (dukkha). Life is full of the pleasures and pains of the body and mind but pleasures do not bring lasting happiness. Pleasure is tied to suffering because we want more pleasure.

2️⃣ The next Noble Truth is that suffering is caused by the craving of pleasures. We refuse to accept life as it is.

3️⃣ The third Noble Truth states that suffering has an end.

4️⃣ The fourth offers the means to that end.

The Eight-Fold Path and the Middle Way are the combined path to attain Nirvana, where there is only peace and joy.

The takeaways

• ✨Buddhism in Thailand is of the Theravada school, followed by 95 percent of the population.
• ✨✨Buddhism is a key component of the identities of many Thais. Many people daily offer things like spirit houses or feed street dogs to make merit that Thais believe they will live longer and happier lives.
• ✨✨✨Men in Thailand are required to become a monk for a period of time before the age of 20. Most monks remain for a few weeks. Young men do this in order to receive good karma and merit.
• ✨✨✨✨The Eight-Fold Path includes the Right Views, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood/Occupation, Right Endeavor, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration
• ✨✨✨✨✨The Middle Way represents a rejection of all extremes of thought, emotion, action, and lifestyle. The Buddha also advocated a moderate or balanced lifestyle with mental and emotional maturity by practicing meditation and morality.

To wrap up

The divine Buddha was the cultural heritage of Thailand. It has the most beautiful Buddha that I ever saw. When you take a trip to Thailand do go to the beaches and the shopping areas but do not forget to visit the Buddhas that take you back in the history and culture of a country.

Thanks, Anne Bonfert and JoAnn Ryan for the November monthly challenge of thankfulness

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2022.

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