Thai Vacation, Part V-Buddha

Not much to write in this entry, just an assortment of pictures of statues of the Buddha from some of the different temples in and around Chiang Mai. Fascinating in their variety and often very beautiful. My favorite is the green one. The material is glass, but our guide said it was a copy of a statue in Bangkok, and the original is made of emerald. I'd love to see that.

You see a number of monks and worshipers. We happened to be at this wat on a Full Moon Day, which is a day when a lot of people come to pray and be blessed by the monks.

The tiny specks of gold you see on the statue above are bits of gold leaf. Worshipers buy pieces of gold leaf and attach them to the statue at a place where they are experiencing pain in their own body, praying for healing.

 The reclining Buddha, this is the Tuesday image. This one is quite long and is in a wat in the old city of Chiang Mai.

The prosperous, or "Happy Buddha." At one of the wats we visited a man came up to me and rubbed my belly for luck, and said "Happy Buddha". Since he was also blessed with a large belly, I rubbed his belly and said the same thing.

 In front of the large bronze Buddha you can see a smaller green statue, that one is made of jade.

This one is made of green glass and is a copy of a statue in Bangkok. That one is made of emerald.

Saturday's image of the Buddha. The Buddha Seated under a Naga (Seven Headed Serpent), in Meditation. This pose depicts the meditation Buddha being protected from falling rain by the spread out hood of the Naga. I was born on a Saturday. The Naga appears threatening but is really a protector of the Buddha. I think there's a message there.

Mexica was born on Wednesday, and this is the Buddha for that day, collecting alms in his rice bowl. Remember the Buddha was a prince and he visited his father, who was upset to see his son begging for food. I see this as a symbol of humility.