The mailbox sums up life nicely–Bangkok or other places. That’s kind of the nature of perception. We are here and not somewhere else. Memories, traumas and desires might try to take us away from here and the present, yet all we really have is this moment to experience.
Buddha is big here in Bangkok. The largest gold covered statue of Buddha in paranirvana about to die, is joined by huge extremely obese Buddhas,
gold Buddhas, jade Buddhas, teeny Buddhas, Buddhas standing
and sitting, Buddhas covered in robes for the winter (vs. the spring and rainy seasonal robes).
Here a Buddha there a Buddha everywhere a Buddha.
These Buddhas are accompanied by things one should not do in front of the statues. The Heart Sutra which says ” no form, no sensation, no perception, no formation, no consciousness” might add, “no food, no shoes, no pointing of ones feet, no bare shoulders, no Buddha tattoos, no Buddha furniture,” and when you are finished puzzling over this last, your can move on the obscure admonition, “no dangling dolls.”
You may have noticed that in Thailand Buddha generally is covered in gold. Thai temples like bling a lot and the one non gold Buddha we saw was the emerald Buddha which was really ” only” jade.
With all of the can’t dos, bowing and prostrations going on, non-Buddhists and many Buddhists themselves may think that Buddha is god, the eastern equivalent to Jesus, Allah or any of the various Hindu deities. But he is not and Buddhism does not actually worship any gods and is classified by some religious scholars as not a religion. Bowing in front of a Buddha statue is an acknowledgement one’s own possible enlightenment or even better that one is already enlightened but our various habits and desires hides that from our own realization.
So here I am in Bangkok, walking around with my friend Dave Robb, temple visiting, Buddha bowing and sight seeing. Here is where we are until we are not which comes quicker than any of us expect since we are not often paying attention in the first place.
And don’t forget, we are all Buddha, gold or not.
Alan Lessik 
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