Nirvana?

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering.

Suffering is caused by craving or attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds. This is often expressed as a deluded clinging to a certain sense of existence, to selfhood, or to the things or people that we consider the cause of happiness.

Suffering ends when craving ends, when one is freed from desire. This is achieved by eliminating all delusion.

Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the path of the Buddha.

Our long journey today took us up North into Bangkok. The first 100 miles we drove along the Thai coast through very simple little fishing villages. We saw little harbors, fishermen scraping dried little fish that looked like sardines off the tables in the sun. The air smelled like a blend of fish, incense and garlic everywhere. 

At the end of our coastal route we climbed up a hill to a beautiful Buddhist temple, the temple of Khao Thongchai. Based on the size and quality of the temple buildings this must have be a very important site in Buddhism. A 60-foot golden Buddha sits in front of the temple, overlooking the Thai sea. 

My father and I agreed that Buddhism and the celebrations of this religion we have witnessed so far don't really feel like the religions we are used to. The temples and shrines don't intimidate. Their churches don't instill fear. There are no depictions of suffering, men nailed to crosses and hellish demons on the walls. The images that are on the walls depict life in the village. The people getting together and celebrating something as a group. People are smiling on these pictures in the temples, working, talking...it seems like this is a religion from a person (Siddhartha Gautama) for the people. No fear of hell here.

We got un-enlightened pretty quickly when we approached Bangkok on a 6-lane highway. This monster city of 10 million people must be the reason why we have holes in the ozone layer and global warming. The whole place is covered with a blue-grayish smog cloud that makes your skin tickle, gives you a dry cough and a bitter taste in your mouth. You feel like you're sucking on a truck exhaust when you walk around here. But the Oriental Hotel that will be our home for the next two days is a very nice oasis in all this chaos here.

Tonight we're going to the Suan Lum night market...we were told to be very careful here. Lots of shady tourists and even shadier locals. More tomorrow!