Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Buddha's Birthplace - Lumbini, Nepal



Shrine
Friendly Bhikkhu
Originally uploaded by nospuds.
Bianca was a bit ill with a cold so for the first time I headed off by myself for a morning to Lumbini which is believed to be the birth place of the Buddha. It wasn't your usual religious Disneyland and luckily I arrived not long after sunrise. The main park was a peaceful place (even when bus loads of pleasent smiley international pilgrims turned up).
A friendly Bhikkhu (monk) walked slowly over to me with a lovely smile on his face. We chatted about life the world and everything with the 10 phrases he knew of english and with lots of smiling as the sun rose in the morning sky.
When I asked to take a picture of him he wanted to sit as shown in the picture but I will always remember the gorgeous smile with the missing teeth.
Even though we are over 2500 years after his birth there were still young buffalo boys herding their animals with a stick through very basic fields. I felt I got a sense of what it could have been like all those years ago.

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